Oh what a great Dad this man is

My first thought was that his first draft didn’t even mention his sons and it was rejected and his editor said “you have two sons, you need to show that you take being a father seriously”

So he cobbled in a few mentions of them to tick the ‘Im still a Good Father’box.

But that’s probably just me being mean and petty.

Look, my husband also used to work away from home, for three month stretches, for 6 months of the year. I had three small kids.

That was his job and we both agreed to that lifestyle, he was a scientist and had to be out in a remote station to do his work. It's not that uncommon in the military, with certain jobs like sailors, and some others.

It is absolutely hard for families, although some spouses like it and seem to thrive on it. But I seriously doubt his wife was blindsided about the nature of his military career even if it was a problem for them. He's likely always been away for months at a time.

There are women who have these kinds of careers too, btw, I used to know a women in Special Forces who was often away, often unexpectedly, and often without a clear end date. Her husband held down the fort at home, her child was not a teenager, btw, she was under 10.

I can't really imagine the women of FWR being critical of her for that. It seems like a double standard otherwise.

This guy's kids are teens, and he said that on one occasion he was in the woods for two months. A whole thread to be critical about that when there is almost zero information about their family life? It seems very random.

@MavisMcMinty @NeighbourhoodWatchPotholeDivision

I read somewhere that a lot of counselling for women suffering from cancer included the fact that their husbands were doing naff-all to help with the household & at times left them altogether.

Whereas women rarely left.

Its's unbelievable how so many people - women as well - think that women are a function of the house and there couldn't possibly be anything amiss with a man deciding to remove himself for months at a time at his convenience leaving it all to her.

I think it's because he left her to actually bring up his sons while he "didn't want to be away from his sons for too long".

He chose to leave them for weeks at a time. Rather than actually taking on his share of the parenting.

I don't understand how you are coming to this conclusion, OP.

The article gives barely any information about his marriage or why it ended. For all we know his wife could have been having an affair while he was away with the military, it's not an uncommon scenario.

As for income he likely has a pension.

He might be a complete tit, but I don't understand why anyone would pick him out for a whole thread without some actual information.

Hahahaa so I dumped my family to think about this

I saw the naked rambler with two similarly naked companions once, when I driving home from work. They were walking towards me on a country lane just a mile or two from Exmoor, and I didn’t notice their nakedness until I’d whizzed past them, or I’d’ve tooted my horn approvingly.

That is my Naked Rambler story.

That story is so painfully sad...

I didn't want to be away from my two sons for too long, so I would come back often to connect with them. The longest stretch I was away in the wild was just under two months*

How was he supporting them during this time? What opportunity did his wife have to find herself in the forest?

Self-indulgent twat.

Bagpipes would be the icing on a particularly wanky cake.

Christ, what was the response to that disgusting excuse of a human being?

39 years old and too sexually incontinent to be able to contemplate celibacy for 7 months while his girlfriend goes through gruelling chemotherapy. Notice bow he only grapples with whether it's physically risky to her. It's implicit that if it isn't medically risky, her possible lack of libido due to chemotherapy will be immaterial.

She's expected to dispense sex whether or not she gets any pleasure from it.

And he's 39! I expected and got more consideration from 19 year old boys in my time!

Imagine a 26 year old wasting her time on him. If I was her mother, I swear to god, I wouldn't be answerable for what I might say.

Not all of them, but it's a significant, under-discussed issue. This was posted on FB once. I have seen other posts like it, but this is via Ask Aubry on twitter.

That is very interesting! I was a cancer nurse specialist for 20 years, and found that many divorced men were actually cared for in their final weeks/months by their ex-wives. One of my dearest friends had a terrible marriage to a terrible man, he hounded and stalked her for YEARS after their divorce, yet when he got terminal cancer she took him in and nursed him until his death.

Another thing I noticed from my job was that widowed men, the husbands of my patients, often got married to someone else within 6-12 months of their bereavement, and I don’t remember any women who did the same.

"Ancient humans focused on family, community, and the natural world, and I think we can learn so much from that."

I can only assume he means that others should focus on the family and the community.

For all I know, she met Tony the Car Sales Man and gets bent over a sedan hood thrice nightly.

She "gets bent over" by some random bloke, whilst single-handedly raising the kids. He gets to spend all his time finding himself in the woods.

Not quite seeing the balance here unless it's that all the men in the equation seem very well satisfied with their lot.

You must be really bothered by my post, I'm sorry about that.

But:
1- his dcs werent teens when he went away 6 years ago.
Presumably he had his kids at least 12 years ago as they're teens. 2023 - 12 = 2011 so likely had them just after leaving the military and after he'd become a survival school instructor and they'd always known dad as ex military and outdoorsy.

2- whether they are teens or children, they still needed their father
Which is probably why he quit the marines.

3- ofc it’s the mum who ended up ensuring the dcs were ok - financially, putting a roof over their head, health wise (remember it’s the US with all the health insurance issues), emotionally etc…
This is offensive to any parent that's not live at home. And I didn't see in the article a breakdown of financial input he has with the kids, for all I know, his instructor pay and youtube revenue pays a healthy alimony (remember this is the US where alimony can be serious)

4- is the fact he was away a lot before that a good enough reason fir him to bugger off to find himself that she isn’t allowed to find it unacceptable then? Maybe she should have stayed married too maybe?
I didn't see in the article where she was forbidden from doing anything or not allowed to find it unacceptable? For all I know she supported his endeavours in the military and being a survival expert etc.

5- at no point does the article say he came back ‘home’ for weeks at a time at the beginning.
At no point in the article does it give the wife's opinions and yet here is everyone guessing her feelings based on a single line that they were seperating. For all I know, she met Tony the Car Sales Man and gets bent over a sedan hood thrice nightly.

@KissTheRains
1- his dcs werent teens when he went away 6 years ago.
2- whether they are teens or children, they still needed their father
3- ofc it’s the mum who ended up ensuring the dcs were ok - financially, putting a roof over their head, health wise (remember it’s the US with all the health insurance issues), emotionally etc…
4- is the fact he was away a lot before that a good enough reason fir him to bugger off to find himself that she isn’t allowed to find it unacceptable then? Maybe she should have stayed married too maybe?
5- at no point does the article say he came back ‘home’ for weeks at a time at the beginning.

I mean, you want to go and live in the woods? Go fur it.
You want to live like one if the pioneers but still use SM, earn money from it (why when an old can is enough to earn water?). And a small notebook isn’t going to make a book either.
And it still doesn’t change the fact he left his dcs, had no money (at least to start with) to support them. He is an absent father. Nothing else.

Let's be honest. If the woman had posted a description of the relationship prior to the breakup on Relationships, there would have been 20 pages of LTB by now.