So, I usually feel like I can read a room pretty well, but the other day I had a terribly uncomfortable interaction.

I met a mommy friend at bible study. Her husband is in the Air Force and mine is in the Army. We were talking, and somehow got on the topic of like the various stereotypes of each branch. We had an ENTIRE light-hearted conversation about it.

We were at the park the next day and she was talking about her husband feeling frustrated because at drill he says the officers are lazy and keep giving him additional tasks while they do nothing. I was completely joking, and in defense of her husband, said offhandedly, “Well, it is the chair force! Haha.”

She immediately got serious and said, “I find that very disrespectful and I do not appreciate it at all.” I felt terrible I had offended her, but I also felt like she overreacted a bit. We had just had a lighthearted conversation about this exact thing.

Additionally, she is always saying negative things about officers. She knows my husband is an officer in the Army. She was saying how she doesn’t understand why anyone with a degree joins the military. She has referred to them as “lazy” multiple times.

She is a Navy veteran, so I find it really strange how disrespectful she is toward officers. However, I always ignore it. It didn’t bother me until she straight up called me out. Then while I was feeling like crap for offending her, I realized she says some out of line stuff herself.

My husband said I wasn’t out of line, and that friends from different branches joke with each other about stereotypes all the time. He suggested I only be friends with officer wives. 🤦‍♀️ I just never realized there was such a divide.