My soon to be husband is in the merchant marines?

my fiance and i will be getting married in february of next year. In march he will be leaving for the merchant marines for about 8 months. eversince we laid eyes on eachother we were inseparable. there hasnt been a day that we didnt see eachother. after couple months of dating we got our own place and we've been living together for about a year. now, i only have 4 months to be with him and he'll be gone for so long. are there anyone out there whos married to a merchant mariner? i heard they cant even tell you where exactly there are on the sea..how often can i talk to him when he leaves? im sure its going to be hard..how did you guys get through with it?