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Military Kids Website Also Helps Parents, Educators
Technology has come a long ways since I was a military-brat PCSing around the world in the 80s and 90s. I didn’t have to deal with year long deployments but I remember Dad being gone for six months at a time for training and schooling. Fast forward a ‘few years’ and I watched my husband head off to Iraq with the Ohio Army National Guard. I had a few print pamphlets and a couple of Internet articles I could share with teachers that weren’t accustomed to having military-children in their classroom but there wasn’t much more support then that.I am so glad to see our military families getting the support they need! The Defense Department…
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Away for the Holidays – Care Package Ideas and More
There are a few Christmases that stand out in my life. I remember our first Christmas in Iceland after being separated from my dad for six months while we waited for a house to open up at Keflavik NAS. He had to report without his family but just before the holidays new friends opened up their home to us so that we could be together as a family. Our house would be ready when they returned from a vacation back to the states. That was the Christmas of Homecoming. (Although a new home, but home none the less). Another very memorable Christmas for me was the year my husband was in…
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Let Them Be Little
… because they grow so very fast This past Friday my oldest son graduated from high school. How can this be? Josh was three the first time I met him and has been a piece of my heart ever since. His dad and I dated for several years and we grew closer as a unit of three until we became a family in 2001.Josh was in 1st grade when I became step-Mom. He was 8 when he became a brother(and he became a brother again and again in 2005 and 2010). He started his freshman year in high school while his dad was in Iraq. Sometimes I want moments of my day, week, month to go fast…
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Mother’s Day Greetings in the Stars and Stripes
When we think about soldiers, sailors, marines, coasties, airmen on Mother’s Day we most often think about the mom sitting back at home hoping their Hero is safe and out of harm’s way. Not often do we think about that Hero thinking of her own children who are back home and missing them to pieces. But it is true. Women comprise 200,888 or 14.3 percent of the DoD Active Duty force. (She Serves, too) I’m sure they could use a message of support this upcoming Mother’s Day! Once again Stars and Stripes is printing messages in their overseas additions for our loved ones! When my husband was in Iraq my…
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VOW to Hire Veterans Act and “WOW” Come Together for Veterans Seeking Employment at Sears!
A VOW from Congress and a big WOW for Sears! Citing Labor Department statistics with 900,000 unemployed veterans in October this year and with more returning from Iraq as the war ends there, David Works, Senior Vice President Talent & Human Capital Services for Sears, excitedly explained to MilitaryAvenue how they were increasing vet hires at Sears Holdings. A Navy veteran of fast attack submarines, David highlighted the efforts of Sears to increase veteran hires by 10% in 2012 with veterans filling positions from hourly associates to store managers, global logistics, corporate level and more with military experience a plus for new hires! Challenging other corporations to support our veterans,…
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“I’ll be Home for Christmas” is the new theme song of troops in Iraq – DoD Blogger Roundtable
The last division in Iraq should be home for Christmas! That is the goal of military leaders. After almost nine years of war in Iraq, the less than 20,000 troops still there are getting on planes and heading home – the 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii is the last major unit in Iraq and as the New Dawn stage of the war prepares to transition the last 7 bases to Iraq (6) and Department of State (1) control. A new relationship is beginning with the New Year! U.S. Army Brig General Bradley Becker said a plane full of the division’s troops landed in Hawaii last night. The pace has…
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Give to the Max Day: Our Military Kids
A few years ago hubs was in Iraq and I was the temporary-single mother of three boys. I am now a sometimes-single mom of four boys and life has forever changed since Iraq for our family. There was a recent amicable discussion amongst friends about the needs of grants and scholarships and such when the soldier is off in a war zone. A lot of times the pay is a bit higher because of the danger they are in … so is there really a need for great organizations like Our Military Kids, or free YMCA memberships, or other financial support? My answer? A resounding YES! Life was busy. But American…
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The End in Sight? Iraq Withdrawal Continues! DoD Blogger Roundtable
We are finally leaving Iraq… well maybe not… the diplomats are still talking… the troops are left holding their breath. According to current agreements as of December 31st 2011, the 41,000 military personnel in Iraq will have left and the final 22 bases will have been closed or handed over to the Iraqis. Eight years of conflict leaves a lot of material, equipment and trash. We have gone from a high of 505 bases and 165,000 troops to the current levels in a short time but the count down to the end of the mission continues rapidly. One point six million (1.6M) pieces of equipment have been moved from the…
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Rebuilding and Cleaning Up Iraq – “The Right Thing To Do” DoD Blogger Roundtable
American forces are preparing to leave Iraq on December 31st and in fact, some of our folks are “looking at their watches” but what have we accomplished after a war, the loss of too many American lives and huge expenditures of our national treasure? Brig. Gen. Rock DonahueThose thoughts ran through my mind as I talked with Brig. Gen. Rock Donahue , director of U.S. Forces Iraq J7, the senior engineer in Iraq during the DoD Bloggers Roundtable. Gen Donahue carefully went through the statistics, the huge effort, that, our men and women in the military community have made to clean up Iraq during and after the war. He was…
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PCS from Iraq! Good Stewards of American Taxpayer Dollars – DoD Blogger Roundtable
PCS Fun 1 million pieces of US Government owned equipment still in Iraq! Imagine the most difficult PCS you ever faced? I remember one that was so complex it makes my head hurt! We had most of our household goods going into temporary storage and some into long term storage (3 years) and a small amount being flown to the overseas PCS location. We had to have family travel stuff and I was going to school and had personal items and professional goods being shipped to that location. I am sure my director of logistics (my bride who experienced 18 PCS moves) would have more details but then I took…
