You've stated this twice, and I think the implication here IS a shot at the military in some indirect way. Nevertheless and regardless of what your intention is, why are saying this guy should feel shame? Didn't realize that's what you did? Think about it, you've said that if it were you, then you would be blaming yourself for making a bad choice.
SORRY, THE ONLY BAD CHOICE(S) HAVE BEEN THE WIFE'S and potentially another folk. There are occupations all around the world that require significant time away from marital partner, you don't hear a story like this about every one of them or few would ever work those jobs.
Well you raise an interesting point about shame. While I think the shame should firmly be upon the cheating partner, and not on the OP who has been poorly treated, I think that as a human being a sense of shame in this sort of circumstance is unavoidable, justified or not. I would feel ashamed if my wife cheated on me and my kid was calling another man Daddy, even if I
hadn't been out of the country for a length of time. I think that's just part of human nature. Unfortunately. Because the guy didn't do anything wrong.
You are right that there are a lot of occupations around the world, other than military service, that mean you will be away from your family, and they all involve a choice - do you take that job, that opportunity, that career, knowing that you will be leaving your family behind...TRUSTING that they will be there for you same as always when you return. Or do you put family first and stick to them, feeling that they need you to be there, and that you need to be there for them, in order for your family to be strong.
Some families/partnerships can obviously survive long absences on one side or both...and some evidently can't. If I was in the situation of the original poster, I would feel that I had made the wrong decision not to stay with my family. And, as I said in an earlier post, maybe he didn't even get to make that decision...maybe he had no choice, as his career in the military dictated that he would have to leave them. Hence my first post in this thread.