AllMilitary.com

April is designated as the Month of the Military Child. I will be posting resources, articles, and stories about military children in our Spouse and Family section in the blog this month. Please join me! I would love to hear any stories you have to share about your military child. Please feel free to post them here in the comments section, or email them to at claire@kneedeepinthehooah.com

Here’s a couple of favorites from the mouth of my own little Emma. She was about 3-4 years old when these occurred:

This happened in July 2007, during a visit to Ft. Benning:

When we were going into the bay to wait for our soldiers to come down for Family Day last week, a platoon of soldiers (Emma calls all soldiers ‘Michaels’ because that’s her soldier brother’s name) marched by singing a cadence. Emma stood with her eyes fixated on them, and then she excitedly turned to me and said “Mama! The Michaels are singing!” Then when she saw them all marching she said “Mama the Michaels are singing AND dancing!” Since then she keeps asking when we can go back and see the “singing and dancing Michaels.” Later that day a platoon walked by in formation, but were not marching or “singing.” Emma looked up and said “Those aren’t singing and dancing Michaels.” I think she is going to like being a military brat!

On her 3rd Birthday, June 8 2007:

She got a little birthday card from him yesterday. He wrote it out on her birthday, but it only made it to the mail late last week. She carried that little card around with her all day today. Mr. Hooah! doodled a little bunny rabbit in the card for her, so she keeps saying “Look! Look at what my papa drew to me!” She slept with it last night. Here all this time I was worrying about how I would be able to keep the bonds between her and her papa strong while he is away, and now I realize I just need to keep doing what I do. I will keep telling her that her papa loves her and misses her, and I will let God and Emma’s sweet memories do the rest.

And after her papa came home, but her Michael was still in Iraq, she hit me with this one…

Then about two weeks ago we were driving to Damon’s work, and Emma spotted a horse out in a meadow as we drove by. “Mama! I see a horsey!” She was so excited so I asked her what color it was, and it morphed from being a brown horse, to being a brown horse with red and pink hair (a punk rock horse I am to assume). Somehow this talk of horses then morphed into a talk of modes of transportation.

This was not a connection I was expecting her to make. She is not old enough, in my mind anyway, to understand that a horse and an airplane are similar in that they are vehicles we use to get from one place to another. So, Emma pipes up and loudly proclaims “Mama, I am going to fly on the airplane!” To which I reply “Oh really now?! And who is going to fly with you?” Emma reassured me that her papa was going to take her onto the airplane. “Oh really? So, you and papa are going on the airplane? And just where are you and papa going, little girl?”

“Mama! Papa is going to fly with me to Iraq and we will get our Michael.” she squealed loudly!

I am glad I had my sunglasses on. How did she come to know and understand that Iraq is a place? How I pray that she will not have to know much more than that, for a very, very long time. How I pray for the day when she can see her Michael walking down that long ramp and into the arms of his anticipating family.

To which I want to close by saying that she did indeed see her Michael coming down that ramp, and in his hand was a little play horsey just for her.

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I just posted about pro-active self defense. I had become pretty complacent and was taking my safety for granted, until something happened last week that reminded me that “it” could happen to me…

CLICK HERE (you won’t leave Allmilitary.com)

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This is a cross post from Assoluta Tranquillita:

Click to see detail image:

That is the official flyer of an incredible weekend in May that the Combat Warrior Crisis Network and The Independence Fund are hosting. Happening 14 - 17 May, this Independence Ride is CWCN’s way of giving back to some of our bravest warriors.

Some information (since I can’t figure out how to improve the quality on that flyer):

The Independence Fund and Combat Warrior Crisis Network are working together to bring about 250 wounded soldiers from all over the country to Pensacola. We have DOD and VA support.

Take a look at this video and see some of the great work these groups do for our wounded warriors.

I don’t need to tell any of you that these events, this work on behalf of our wounded warriors, takes money - LOTS of $ for plane fares, lodging, food, etc etc.

This is where you come in. PLEASE, for the price of just one day’s worth of lattes or whatever you can afford, you can help these guys. They need YOUR donation to make this year’s Independence Ride happen.

Go to the Combat Warriors Crisis Network’s site here, and check out their programmes such as Take A Soldier Fishing. Then donate. They have PayPal to make it really easy for you to get involved and tell our warriors that you care. The PayPal link is on this page here.

The founder of the Combat Warriors Crisis Network is Mike Nashif. Active duty soldier, he is also on FaceBook. If you have any questions, you can either go to their website, or find Mike on FaceBook.(hint: he is on a certain brat’s “friends” list…lol)

The Combat Warriors Crisis Network is a 501c(3) registered group, so every dime you give them goes to their programmes.

Their site says:

Who is Combat Warrior Crisis Network?
CWCN is a Faith Based 501 (c) 3, non- profit public charity and Ministry, an Affiliate Subordinate Ministry of Chaplain Fellowship Ministries Inc. Intl. Our focus is to provide the Armed Forces with an alternate view or means to assist the healing process after a combat related injury.

Our Mission Statement:
We strive to show that there are people out there that care, and want to help. There are resources in both the public and military communities, many armed forces members are not aware that exist. One of the programs we offer is Take a Soldier Fishing.
Our organization focuses on the ever growing need to support the service members AND their spouses before, during, and after deployments. Fishing and the outdoors are our main focus for support and assisting our participants in learning positive tools to assist with stress. (here)

Check out Take A Soldier Fishing here, too.

Another way you can help financially? By buying an event t-shirt from The Independence Fund. The t-shirt picture is at the top of this post. And where do you buy these great t-shirts for this event? Right here, of course, on The Independence Fund’s site! When you have donated, be sure and read all about this event, and The Independence Fund while you are there!

We all know heroes that we see on a daily basis. Now, we have an opportunity to make sure that “The Heroes are coming” to Pensacola for an unforgettable weekend.

I have given you a few options for ways to donate whatever you can afford. Let’s get ‘er done!

Thank you.

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I found the following article at the Ft. Gordon Signal:

“The National Military Family Association’s Operation Purple camp program will once again be accepting applications online, beginning March 16, at www.operationpurple.org

The program aims to help military kids experience carefree fun while also learning coping skills to deal with war-related stress, and fosters relationships with others who know what they are going through because they are experiencing it, too.

Operation Purple camp also helps kids to gain confidence and teaches them to be stewards of the community and of the environment.

In 2008, military children ages seven to 17 had a chance to stay at the free, week-long, overnight camp at one of 62 locations in 37 states and territories.

Camps are free to all participants, thanks to support from the Sierra Club and the Sierra Club Foundation. More than 20,000 kids have participated in the program since its inception.

War takes its toll not only on the troops who fight in the field, but also on the Families who wait and worry at home. More than 155,000 kids have at least one parent who is deployed in the war on terrorism. That number doesn’t include those experiencing routine, but often lengthy, deployments and separations from loved ones through military service.

Many of these children have more than one parent or Family member deployed. The OperationPurple camp program, created in 2004, imparts the message on these young heroes that “they serve, too.”

Any military child can apply, but priority is given to those who have a parent, guardian, or Family household member deployed between September 2008 and December 2009.

If all spaces are not filled with campers who meet the deployment criteria, the remaining camp slots are filled with any military child from any service branch, the National Guard, Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

For more information about the program, visit the Web site

www.operationpurple.org

For information about the National Military Family Association, contact them by phone at (703) 931-6632, or by E-mail at families@nmfa.org”

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The headlines rang out on the AP wire last week that the Army’s charitable arm called the “Army Emergency Relief” or “AER” was “hoarding” its funds. I have read the article. I have read the Army’s response. I have read the arguments both for and against holding back such a huge reserve for a non-profit, and as an MSW with an extensive background in non-profit management I have to say that I do take serious issues with having that large of a reserve and no plans on extending services or expanding the base of a client outreach (for example reaching out to Veterans who currently do not qualify for services during a limited time while we are in a financial crisis in our Country).

The AER has a very huge reserve and that is reassuring to some, and bothersome to others. It is not criminal, that’s for sure.

I think that the main concerns being raised about the AER are ethical in nature, and they will be very hard to address for the following reasons:

1. There is no criminal behavior and the AER certainly appears to be right on board with their fiscal responsibility. This is an objective measure, and they have passed public scrutiny of open records.

2. They are not in the position to talk directly to the allusion of dubious practices with soldiers, fund raising, and the issues raised in the AP article around incentive giving as these would have happened in different chains of command. The AER can only be held responsible for such things if they were, as an organization, encouraging this type of thuggery with soldiers and their families.

3. The people who actually can file a complaint about fund raising practices and intake procedures for AER are people who are not free agents. They are subject to a leadership who has an interest in this very organization. When the authority over you handles every significant detail of your life — from your pay, your ability to advance at work, and whether or not you will be punished with added and severe PT (which was reported by some soldiers per the report).
Coercions used to encourage a donor to give should be truthful and free of any threats. All non profits use one type of coercion or another - whether it’s pulling on your heart strings or helping you feel the urgency of their need, they play on your emotions. There is nothing wrong with this when it’s being done in a way that’s honest and in a way where donors do not feel that they will some how have a negative consequence for not giving (other than the nagging of their conscience maybe).

I am not saying that the AER encourages this type of money collecting behavior, but there has got to be a very safe and clear way for soldiers to file complaints when they are threatened when they don’t give and rewarded when they do. There needs to be a clear and safe way to report it and there needs to be a quick and swift way to deal with anyone in a position of leadership who would use threats as a way to raise funds for the AER.

As far as the disbursement of funds, the AER claims that no soldier has ever been turned away who has a legitimate need. Again, the question that needs to be asked is, are all legitimate needs being brought to the AER? Are negative experiences keeping soldiers away or causing them to seek AER only after the situation has reached a level of crisis that could have been averted from earlier intervetion?

I received a few emails from people who read that I wanted to write something up about the report from the AP. I wasn’t happy with what I read, but I can’t say I was surprised.

Granted these are anecdotal because there is no way I am going to give enough specific information for these families to be identified, but their stories all had a few similar threads that ran through them:

None of the families knew that the AER was a non-profit agency. They thought that it was the Army’s money they were borrowing — like a payday advance without the charges.

Three of the people who wrote to me had to go to the AER because the Army screwed their paycheck up several pay periods in a row.

All of the people who wrote said they felt lectured and demeaned when they asked for money and that going to AER again for help would be very hard because of that experience.

Every single one of them told me that I could write generally about them, but feared retaliation if they went public with their complaints.

My final conclusion? AER is fiscally sound. I do not agree with the amount of the reserve they have, but it is not criminal. I do have serious problems with the ethical issues around the Army and supervisors being directly involved in program execution because clearly there is a conflict of interest. The only way to effectively address this is to have a true and objective barrier between the soldier-recipient and his work environment. The two need to be separate.

I hope the AER launches its own investigation and seeks input from past recipients in a way where they feel free to give honest and critical feedback. Being fiscally sound is not the same as being programmatically sound. I hope to read good things in the future about AER and how they resolve these problems.

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I wrote and published this at KDH on Saturday, and wanted to share it here. ~ Claire

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Of course there are marked differences between who we (the normal public that is) consider to be a hero and who we consider to be a coward.

I was reading this morning the account of the execution of a coward who murdered a hero. The differences in their deaths, and in particular the strength in their stride is what stood out for me.

The Hero:
On the evening of October 29, 1999, Winchester Police Sgt. Ricky Timbrook was shot and killed during a foot chase that led him down a dark alley. Timbrook knew his would be killer, Bell.  He had put him behind bars before for illegal firearm possession, and his criminal history as a known drug dealer. The young police officer did not hesitate to chase this criminal down a dark alley. He did not hesitate to pursue someone he knew would be a threat to innocent civilians. This is what heroes do. They do not possess powers that give them super-human strength. They do not possess mutations that make their flesh impenetrable by bullets, knives and other weapons. What they tend to possess is a love for law, order and the intestinal fortitude to do something about it.

Heroes run toward danger. They don’t do it for the thrill. They don’t do it carelessly. They do it because unless good men pursue evil, then evil will most certainly pursue the innocent. Timbrook’s life was taken by a coward when his beautiful young bride was pregnant with their first child.

Police Officers and Firefighters know all about sacrifice in the line of duty. The loss of a Police Officer or Firefighter is also a huge loss to our Country.

The Coward:
I don’t make it my practice to give cowards much time or space on this blog. I like to devote my time and focus on our heroes. I do have to draw the contrast here though, because this is what hit me in the story this morning.
Remember above when I noted that the Hero’s legs ran toward danger? He ran toward the source of the threat in order to neutralize the danger. Here’s what the coward did when it came his time to face justice:

When the door between Bell’s cell and the death chamber opened, the inmate thrust his hips backward and wouldn’t step toward to the gurney where the lethal injection was administered. Six stocky corrections officers pulled him through the doorway and lifted him onto the gurney.

The hero ran courageously into a dark alley to pursue someone who was a danger and a threat to innocent civilians. The coward refused to take his last steps himself and needed to be carried and lifted to the gurney.

The hero did not deserve death, but he took the threat as a job hazard possibility. The coward deserved death, and even in the face of the last chance to apologize to the wife and mother he made a widow, he refused.

Bell maintained his innocence in the face of damning evidence. He refused his last meal and ate a cheese sandwich because he arrogantly thought that justice would not really knock on his door. I find a little comfort in that scene. Bell arrogantly thought he could kill a hero and get away with it. My only regret and sadness is that it took 9 long years for that justice to be administered.

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A couple of weeks ago a fellow Army wife wrote a note and sent it to the rest of us military wives who are all connected on Facebook. She sent a note telling us of a young couple’s hardships. We were already familiar with this couple because many of us remained in prayer for them while they watched their youngest baby die of cancer last year. We sent gift cards to local eateries that would deliver meals. Had we been close by to where they were, then they would have had a home cooked meal every night, but we did the next best thing and showered them with love, support, notes, and practical help in a time of great need.

My friend sent an urgent message. The family was coping as best they can, but they were sinking financially and things were not getting better. The soldier had joined the military and entered in as an E2. He left a good paying job to serve. Before he signed on the dotted line the family had lost everything they had in a flood. Their home and every single thing they owned. They did not have any flood insurance since they did not live in a flood zone. It was not mandated or even recommended by their bank. Shortly after this the young man signed up to be a soldier they got the devastating news that their youngest child was dying.

What could we do? They had no household items. They have two other children and in their kitchen cabnits they had 3 cereal bowls and a couple of spoons. They had not been able to recover their losses enough to afford new dishes.

They had a sign on bonus coming, but it was delayed. Really even with the bonus there is no way they could get everything they needed. We were not going to stand for this! They are one of ours.

My friend, who’s a very experienced military wife knew exactly what to do. She went to Walmart online, set up a gift registry and sent out notes to every military family she could think of.

Within two days there was nearly $400 worth of household goods, gift cards, and other items on their way to the family.

Our dear friends were reminded that when you are in the military you do not stand alone. Not on the battlefield in war, and not in the battlefield of cancer and family disaster.

That’s how we play the game!

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I seriously don’t know what the curse is… if any of you have a name for it, please inform me. I need to know what offering I must give up to appease the military gods! Here’s the deal…

Every single time my husband leaves to do anything military related, whether it be for a day or for months, there is always some freaky catastrophe that happens. I can almost count down to when the roof will cave in as soon as he gets the call.

Bryan headed out to meet his Reserve unit this weekend. They wanted him to meet the guys and hang out for a day - this is the unit he will be joining when he finishes his AIT and takes his DC after that.

The last time he went to meet the CO of this unit, it was an unusually freezing cold day before the holidays. The minute he left, the heater stopped working! I kid you not. Yesterday when I got up out of bed I realized I could not walk a straight line. I did not drink too much wine the night before — no this was a full blow flare up of the Ménière’s Disease that I have suffered with for the past few years. The flare ups are sudden, unpredictable and vary in severity. Great. Thanks.

When he first left for Ft. Benning, the very day he left, as a matter of fact, Emma came down with her first ever ear infection that night and stayed sick for a week.What’s up with that?

If any of you know a cure for this disease, other than leaving the military, please post a remedy. I am dreading when he leaves for his AIT. I just know the septic tank bed will collapse, or the garage door will fail while closed and we won’t get it open, or all of the vinyl siding on the house will fall off all at once.

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Phil Sussman is a photojournalist who tells the stories of our soldiers through his camera lens. He is currently covering news and events at Ft. Lewis, in Washington state. He posts pictures of training events, recreational events, and ceremonies.

His blog “As Seen On The Northwest Guardian” is relatively new, but his pictures and write ups are high quality. Stop by, take a peek around, tell him “hi” and put Phil Sussman on your blog roll.

It’s definitely a blog worth watching. I am not sure if Phil will go with the Stryker Brigades when they deploy again (speaking of Toy Soldier’s too maybe), but he will probably, at the very least, show us some of the training that our Stryker soldiers go through and what they do to prepare.

The picture in this post and the excerpt below are both a sample of what you will find on his blog.

~ picture and article excerpt by Phil Sussman on October 21, 2008.

Posted in Portraits

Staff Sgt. Christopher B. Waiters, receipient of the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in Iraq’s Diyala province.

The DSC is the second highest military decoration that can be received by a member of the US Army.

Staff Sgt. Waiters, a combat medic, reacted after a Bradley Fighting Vehicle was struck by an IED and began to burn with three occupants still inside. He parked his vehicle, engaged two enemy personnel and ran 80 meters through small arms fire towards the flaming Bradley. READ MORE

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Indiana State National Guard has some great service support organizations that aid families of the Guard. These programs are such a huge benefit to families who are not nestled into a base somewhere. It’s nice to know they have places to turn to in times of need and crisis — especially during deployment.

Read below:

Service Support Organizations

By Sgt. David G. Bruce
Indiana National Guard

From DVIDS

There are many ways to support the military. Some choose to show their support by putting a magnet on the back of their car or flying a flag in the front yard. Others choose to support the Indiana National Guard through service support organizations.

Service support organizations offer programs to assist service members in a variety of ways. Some of these organizations are national in scope, while others are concentrated at the local level.

One such organization is family programs of Joint Forces Headquarters of the Indiana National Guard. There are three areas of family programs: the state youth program, family readiness and family assistance.

The state youth coordinator manages the various youth programs. One such program is the Kids Camp, said Belinda R. Ireland, Family Assistance coordinator.

“Kids Camp is an annual event where we take about 200 kids to Camp Atterbury for a week,” said Ireland. “We also have a State Youth Council comprised of 20 children ages 14 to 17. They meet quarterly and do CPR training. They go around the state to different armories to do briefings and find out issues and things that our youth want to be involved in.”

The state youth coordinator also has resources for counseling children with grief and separation anxiety, said Ireland.

Another area of family programs is the family assistance team with 15 locations in Indiana.

“We serve all branches but focus on the Guard,” said Ireland. “We are what they call a one stop shop for guardmembers.”

According to Ireland, the family assistance team can help with finances, legal issues, aid with Tricare, ID cards, benefits and entitlements. Read the rest of this entry »

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