What to Know
A major change is coming for Jill Duggar and her husband, Derick Dillard. More than a month after Jill revealed that Derick is pursuing his dreams of becoming a JAG officer for the Marine Corps, he’s officially headed out for Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. But since this is the first time Jill has been left alone with the couple’s three sons, people have serious doubts that she’s going to be able to handle it. After all, 10 weeks of training is a long time.
Derick left for training over the weekend.
Jill and their sons are hanging back in Arkansas to hold down the fort while Derick is done, though Jill has shared that the idea is that they will join him in Virginia after the initial 10 week period. They won’t just be separated physically, though; when Jill shared a family photo from when she saw him off at the airport, she wrote that they would have “limited to no communication” with him during this time.
“Ok…military fam, give me your tips on surviving the little-to-no communication period while also internally stressing out for him!” Jill wrote in her caption. “(I saw someone said they call the first week of their spouse being gone to training/deployment/etc. their ‘wallow week.’ Then they create & develop their new routines and all after that…I think I’m gonna borrow that!) lmk how you process best!”
Jill and Derick have been pretty much inseparable since they got married.
This is going to be a huge change for Jill. Through all of the ups and downs with her family, Jill has had Derick’s support through it all. Besides, solo parenting three kids for more than a two month period of time most certainly isn’t for the weak!
And as critics on Reddit pointed out, Jill has also struggled to be apart from Derick when work kept him busy in the past. During an appearance on sister Jinger Duggar’s podcast in January, Jill shared that after the stillbirth of their daughter Isla, Derick’s high pressure career as an assistant district attorney was tough on her.
“I was crying every single day, and he was stressed,” she said, admitting that Derick felt so torn between wanting to support her and wanting to be focused on his work that he ended up leaving that job.
A lot of critics don’t have faith that Jill can stick it out.
“She’s going to have no choice — she can’t just call him weeping while he’s in training and demand he comes home. She will have to figure it out no matter what,” one commenter wrote.
Another commenter speculated that Jill’s struggle with being alone might come from growing up with 18 siblings and the trauma she’s shared that came with her upbringing. “I wonder if she just has so little experience being alone that she finds it daunting. Like she doesn’t know what to do with herself and that causes anxiety more than she needs Derick there specifically,” they said.
Here’s hoping Jill can prove the haters wrong and kick butt these next 10 weeks. It’s a long time, but it’s not forever!
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