How do wives "wear their husband's rank"?

It means that a wife is acting like she is in charge of something when in fact, she really has no power. An example of this is a company commanders wife who would always look down her nose at the wives of other soldiers because of who her husband was.

In some cases, like in terms of the FRG, a higher ranking officer's wife will indeed be put in charge of some things, but this is not a command position and does not confer any real "power" to her. It just means she is given the task of coordinating things for the benefit of all the families of the soldiers and not just a chance for her to try to act like she is better than anyone.

In terms of Yahoo Answers, people often get this confused. When people list their source as "proud army wife" or "navy wife of 10 years" or something along those lines, this is not the same thing. This is, at worst, a person answering a question and assuming that they know the answer because their husband is in the service. Sometimes they do get it right and sometimes they don't, but this is not the same thing as wearing their husband's rank.

A specific example would be when the wife asks a new acquaintance what rank her husband is. They basically want to know where you fall in the "hierarchy." Then the way they treat you is based on this or if they should be hanging out with you or not. So pathetic. I knew of a rear admiral's wife who was absolutely kind to everyone, you can tell how secure she was and had no need to tell everyone what position her husband held.

It's just what it sounds like... a woman who marries someone in the military of a high rank and treats everyone around her like she's better then them because her husband out ranks their husband (and in some cases he out ranks that person directly)... I've seen it happen, she'll tell people what to do, make rude comments (behind your back and to your face), take over group projects, and even try to tell you how to live your life.... I had a Capt's wife try to get rude with me once at the hospital on base (she didn't like what my 2 year old had on), then realized I was a veteran (Marine Tattoo) and not just some sailor's wife and she shut up

It might also mean when wives love to act as if they know the everyday hustle and bustle of the military because they are married to someone who serves..ive seen wives try to describe what deployments are like..gimme me a freakin break please

Theres is a HUGE difference in being there and being married to someone who is there.

It means that the wife feels her husband's authority, status and rank transfer to her. It is annoying and shows the character of the woman.

that is one reason i never cliqued with the other military wives- so many times women would ask my husbands rate before they even knew my name. i grew up surrounded by military bases in hawaii and they never had the best reputation either. i'm a military wife proud of my husband, but don't so much want to be considered a typical military wife;)

When I looked at your question it only took a Nano second for the phrase "on their ugly tongue" to pop up.

2 of us filled in as a Little League coach for a guy on leave. some of the Moms got in our face as a group to make sure we understood that we would do what they wanted as their husbands were officers and they could tell us what to do. It was amazing and we ignored them. It got to the point that a Bird Col. came to see us. He told us he had heard about the incident and if things got out of hand we could count on him to point out to his wife and son or any other that they need to back off.

Saw it in the PX and commissary more than once too...just nose in the air attitude telling some guys wife or the service member what they should do.

Saw the same thing in corporate life too.

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