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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 15
M
Junior Member
Junior Member
M Offline
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 15
I've written here once before a few months back about things I had found out about my husband. Recently, I found out a lot more and I am just going out of my mind.

My husband and I have been married for almost 2 years. He was deployed to Iraq from July2007 to February2008. When he returned in Feb, I noticed things like he and I were not making love as much as I had expected, or as much as he led on he wanted to when he was away. He was also on our computer for up to 8 hours a day, while I was alone taking care of our dog, the house, etc. I became suspicious and looked through the history on our computer. There I found he had been contacting women from various adult dating/sex sites. I confronted him immediately extremely upset. I explained that this WAS NOT porn, that these were real women. He denied that and said it was just porn. We "worked" things out half heartedly, but I always had a strange feeling about it. From that day on, I was VERY distant.
Recently, I accepted a job where we are both from, 3000 miles away, so that we could have housing, income and benefits for when he is finished with his service. I was booking a flight for him to visit, and needed to get into his email account, so he gave me his password. I was curious and went into his sent mail. There I saw he had been emailing women his pictures, and answering personal ads from craigslist. Once again I asked him about it, he denied everything. I refused his calls, as well as his families calls, for a few days. When I was ready, we talked and he told me the "truth." Explained that he liked the idea of the women being locals, but all he was after was nude pictures to masterbate to. He called it voyerism. Well, we patched things up again, but I still had that feeling. I'm visiting him now, and I decided to go through all these accounts with him. He agreed. So far, I've found that he has been answering personal ads since before we were married, and one in particular struck me the hardest. A few days after we were married, I had to leave for 10 days for my job. I noticed an email that was sent by my husband two days after I left, and it was to a women who was inviting him for sex, which he replied "I'm Down" but at the bottom, there was his own craiglist listing which she had replied to, and it said his stats and that he was available for nsa sex, "no strings attached" sex! Another one around the same time said in the subject heading "Off Duty!!!!!" and in the email "Im Home!!!!" He has denied he's ever cheated physically, says he doesn't remember writing that, but that it's obviously true, and that he had the intentions to cheat, but isn't sure if he would if it ever came to that. We are at a standstill, I am starting counseling as soon as I return home, and when he gets out he will continue with me. He has also been seeing a therapist here for his own problems due to the war, PTSD, and I've told him that his doctor must call me and inform me that he's told her what's going on. My question to those who have been cheated on, HOW DO YOU GAIN THE TRUST BACK? I don't know that he's telling me the truth that he NEVER cheated, I don't believe him. I've been right on with my intuitions so far. I am devastated, and I feel so stupid that I didn't see these things earlier, perhaps before we were married. Any advice would be appreciate, sorry for such a LONG posting.

Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 274
M
Member
Member
M Offline
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 274
Regardless of whether or not your H had a physical affair, what he did was hurtful to you and has wounded your relationship. What he was doing is probably considered an emotional affair...or a long line of EAs. He was getting some of his emotional needs met by these other women even if they were only talking online.

There are some people here who have tried to work through things while their spouse was on tour...call out to those people and ask for help. I'm sure that there are things specific to working on it while you are so far apart.

Ask him to be transparent. Ask for access to all email accounts/passwords, all cell phone records, all transactions he has with other women. Some of this is harder due to your circumstances, and again, there are some here who have dealt with that challenge.

I am afraid that from the way you describe it, he hasn't been completely honest with you yet (even if he hasn't had a PA). You can spend months or years questioning, or you can ask him to come clean and the best way to know for sure is with a lie detector test. I know it sounds overkill, but it may save you a lot of heartache. It will force your H to decide if he is willing/ready to be honest. And you cannot even begin to rebuild trust before you feel like he has been completely open and honest.

Bottom line...you have to have full disclosure before he can begin to gain the trust back. At this point, whether or not you have all of the information, he has not shown himself to be open and honest because you keep finding out more things when you dig. He must tell you EVERYTHING and commit to being completely transparent before you can work on trust.

Good luck and keep posting. You have every right to feel the way that you do. Your H may not have slept with another woman, but he has hurt you the same.

MogiSola


BW (me)
FWH (him - he's earning the F)
3 boys (4, 5, and 7)
M 1997
LT EA/PA 2004-2007
D-Day #1 Feb 2006
Joined MB.
D-Day #2 Feb 2008
D-Day #3 Aug 2008
Began REAL recovery Sept 2008.


Joined: May 2002
Posts: 2,965
T
Member
Member
T Offline
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 2,965
How do you gain the trust back?

YOU don't gain it back.
He EARNS it back.

He has to be 100% honest.
He has to be 100% transparent.
He has to set boundaries in place that you are comfortable with, and he has to have a means of enforcing those boundaries that you believe will work.

And that's just a start.

Trust is not a gift.
Trust is earned.


Moderated by  Fordude 

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