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Domestic Violence Awareness – Be the Advocate
If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, find out more about available support and resources. To speak with a Department of Defense Victim Advocate, contact Military OneSource at 1-800-342-9647, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).This is not a cheery, happy-go-lucky subject. I much prefer those topics of conversation but there are times we need to step out of our comfort zone and be there for those we love, help those who need help and take the time to educate ourselves. National statistics reveal that it affects more than 4 million people a year, with almost 17,000 of them murdered by an intimate partner…
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Caring For Families is an Air Force Way of Life
Military life has a heart, a voice, and brains galore! Family presence, once a background nuance has been raised to the top level of prominence. Communication is the lifeline in this forceful body: in shape, in motion and in communion with all levels, ranks and backgrounds. Every branch of service has it’s unique concept for hosting this life line: the Navy has the Ombudsmen and the Army has the FRSA. The Air Force has their own new program: Key Spouses.Programs come together, and on paper are workable. Then… when real people enter and dedication, love of country, zeal for esprit de corps, Key Spouses zoom… Off the Key Spouses go…
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Army Suicide Prevention – One Family’s Struggle – DoD Blogger Roundtable
When you are in a boxing match the blows are tough but are felt less as you fight, it is not till after the match or the next day that you really feel them! What a great example to better understand combat stress! Major Jeff Hall, US Army and his wife Sheri, agreed to meet with the DoD Bloggers Roundtable to discuss their lives with combat stress and his struggles with suicide. Jeff’s comparison of boxing to the effects of combat stress and peace time fit the warrior ethos! We may not feel the pain of combat stress while engaged in combat or even combat support but it can kick…
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Writing One’s Own Check List
He is so punctual. Life’s ticks are on the calendar. The mileage is documented for the car. Emails are even spell checked before going to family members. “If you are going to do it, do it right!” He bends for others, dismisses gaffs that just up and happen, but his approach to his personal lifestyle: check list, counter check and move forward. My response: I couldn’t agree more, but let me do it faster, and I’ll check with it in a bit. Today a glitch occurred. An event entered the mix without being entered on the calendar. Nothing prohibited it from being terrific, but someone important to Dale was left…
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Friends: Partnerships in Growth, Understanding and Enjoyment of Life
ChiTown: city of lights; waterfront; museums; skyscrapers; fabulous food; frothing fountains; multiple museums and friends. Chicago: bursting with art, star light, the philharmonic symphony pulsing in the park The Loop rumbling with near mile wide highways, rumbling with trains and full of the drum of the ‘L’s”… a beautiful noise. Overload of joy, memories, shopping and walking. Long ago, and in a far away time… Dale and I went to college 20 miles north of the big city. Too poor to travel into Chicago often, even though the intrigue of it called We dreamed of knowing this city like our own. We knew we wanted to stay on a…
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Touch Pad Touches Home
Here we are yet in Nashville. Fun city for so many. A tourist attraction. Land of hospitality, southern drawl, sweet tea and genuine warmth. We are here because our Daniel is working on his breathing. Working on getting that heart rate down. Doing Olympic type feats like getting out of the bed, marching down the hall, dragging a pole, pumps, tank all while sporting a back flapping cotton gown. Always the edgy one in the family.The rest of the family are in their homes in Ohio, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Connecticut and Florida yet they are in contact continuously. Facebook, iPad, iPhone, instant messages: touch pads. We are letting the…
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Caring for Our Wounded/Disabled Heroes! Two New VA & DoD Efforts to Help!
Military Appreciation Month was extremely busy with activities for military community members. The month included recognition programs and much to be thankful for; such as a successful mission to find and eliminate Al Qaeda’s leader. But life continues and now some military members are preparing for a PCS or deployment (again), some are in basic training (best wishes to a cousin’s friend at Ft Jackson) and many are helping out those affected by natural disasters such as flooding, fires and tornadoes (and we just started hurricane season). For some military members life changing events have had a significant impact on their lifestyle. Severe injury, retirement, separation, etc are at the…
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Using Your GI Bill? What You Should Look for in a College or University!
Recently I had an interesting request from a respected university that is on several military installations. What would you recommend for a college seeking to improve its veteran outreach? I spent some time before the meeting to relive my experiences and look at current issues and came up with some brainstorm ideas for them! Now I’d like to turn these ideas around for our readers who are considering going back to school, getting a new degree or using their GI Bill to expand job opportunities after their service time! To be the best prepared student and get the best return on your dollar (a lot of blood, sweat and tears,…
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Staying Healthy: Time for Us
An intimate relationship is one of life’s greatest pleasures. But it also takes planning and work. We all need to make being together a priority. Otherwise, life takes over and the relationship with your spouse takes the back-burner. I ran across a blog-post this morning that I would highly recommend reading from Warren Baldwin, titled “Marriage: The Difficult Years“ While we often look at the similarities we share with the person we love, the differences cry out for recognition. Our bodies, communication, and emotional/mental processing are different. We both crave intimate connection with our spouses, but experience it differently; one uses communication to bond, the other to convey information; one looks for…
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Deployment and Finances
Deployment … Changing of the Guard … Total upheaval … “Change” doesn’t even begin to describe what deployment was for my family. I was juggling so many balls while my husband was gone for a year that they could have put me in the circus… (or possibly the funny farm?) One of those proverbial balls: Finances. The family budget and bill paying are somethings that my husband does for the family, and he does it well! Bills are paid on time, the budget is allocated correctly, and interest-payments are kept to a minimum. So what was one of my major stresses in the months before and after he left? How…
