A retired Air Force Sgt. has set out to send more than 3,000 pizzas to the troops for the 4th of July. Wouldn't it be great if all of our media outlets covered these positive news stories about our troops and those that support them every day?
My MIL forwarded this video to me today. It is such a touching story. I'm amazed by the generosity and dedication of this one woman to try to help family members through the grieving process by giving them yet another way to remember their soldier. It just goes to show that one person can make a difference.
Only one more week and we'll finally get to start watching a new season! I received this email and just wanted to share the information, as well as the links to trailers and interviews.
I wanted to reach out to let you and the “Married to the Army” readers
know that Lifetime’s smash hit, “Army Wives,” will return for a 2^nd
season next Sunday, June 8^th at 10pm et/pt. The critically acclaimed
drama series details the lives of five women trying to stay connected to
their military husbands while adapting to turbulent life on a strict US
Army post. The “Army Wives” characters, who were lauded as the “top 10
TV characters of 2007” by People magazine, saw their fair share of
infidelity and steamy romance, family drama, vicious rivalries and
heartbreaking deployments last season. Be sure to tune in to Lifetime on
Sunday, June 8^th at 10pm for a whole new season of drama and excitement!
For more information about the show, including exclusive interviews with
the cast and a recap of Season 1, head right here:
http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/army-wives
Watch the season 2 trailer right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hObynGPvhCo
There's been a great deal of talk about the proposed changes to the GI Bill. It makes me a little nervous since my husband is in the middle of utilizing his GI Bill benefits. With the proposed changes introduced by Senator Webb, a veteran will have tuition covered at public schools and receive a monthly stipend equal to the BAH of a married E-5 in the same area as the school.
It seems that for most, this will be a great increase in benefits. Of course, for those attending school in higher BAH areas, the benefit is even greater. It would actually make more financial sense for us if he drove an hour in the opposite directon to school where the BAH is nearly $300/month more. Since tuition would be covered regardless of the school he chooses, the cost of tuition would no longer be a consideration or a barrier.
He opted for the kicker just before he got out of the Army. Instead of paying $1,200 into the system, he paid $1,800 in exchange for greater monthly payouts ($1,251 vs. $1,101 each month). However, there's no mention in the new proposal of an increase based on that kicker. It will be really disappointing if he paid more into the system and will then receive the same benefits as everyone else who paid $600 less.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out. What are your thoughts?
A Four Year Journey
May 2008
I can hardly believe it has been four years since I created Married to the Army. In some ways, it seems so long ago but in others, it seems like it was only yesterday. I will never forget being at MEPS and asking them to change the date my husband was leaving for basic training because it fell on our wedding anniversary. They agreed but let me know it was the last time I would have any control over something in his Army career. I laughed - having no idea just how true that statement would turn out to be.
Along with many other spouses, I felt very isolated and alone when he left for basic training. I had family and friends nearby but it was the first time I had been separated from my husband for any significant amount of time. I searched the library, bookstores and internet for any information that I could find about life as an Army spouse. While I found a few books, they seemed to be very outdated and based on the military as a whole, rather than the Army. On the internet, I found a great deal of information about being an Army soldier but very little about being an Army wife.
As I became more frustrated with the lack of information, my determination to change all of that grew. Shortly after he left for basic training, I began writing about my experiences – missing the first few phone calls, writing letters as a main form of communication and preparing for graduation. At that point, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with those articles, I just knew that I felt better by writing them.
In January of 2004, it dawned on me that I could create a small website with general information about being an Army spouse. I never really anticipated it would grow beyond a small presence on the internet. I created the name, registered the domain and began to work on the design for the website. I cringe when I look back at that original design now with the pink, white and black color scheme. Luckily, I’ve taken the time to redesign the entire website three times and I’m finally content with the look and feel.
In April, when my husband was assigned to his first duty station and promptly deployed overseas, my intention was to start a business offering marketing services to small businesses. Married to the Army (MTTA as it’s affectionately called) would just be a hobby that I could work on in my free time. Little did I know that in four years, MTTA would be the main part of my business while the marketing services would seem to fall more into the hobby category.
MTTA was officially launched in May of 2004 with a handful of articles and a group on Yahoo for chatting. If I remember correctly, when that Yahoo group was full steam ahead, we only had a few dozen members. I was excited to check the stats for the website after the first full month of being live and seeing that I had close to 30,000 hits! Wow! I laugh at how excited I was about that as the website averages close to one million hits a month now. Hopefully in a few more years, I’ll be laughing about being excited about a million hits.
In four short years, the website has grown from a handful of articles to over 400 pages of content. We’ve outgrown two chat groups and are now on a third on a separate server under the domain name of ArmyWifeChat.com. Those few dozen members from the Yahoo group have multiplied to more than 500 active members at any given time. I taught myself how to make jewelry and began offering military name bracelets on the website. Shortly after, graphic design began calling my name and I now offer more than 60,000 products through Cafepress for every military family member.
The website has been featured in numerous newsletters, websites, magazines and newspapers. In addition, I’ve participated in several radio interviews and podcasts. The most exciting publicity for me to date was being featured in a television documentary by Georgia Public Broadcasting entitled “Instant Iraq”.
Since 2004, I’ve received and answered thousands of emails. It absolutely makes my day to receive an email from someone who says that they found the website to be a helpful resource. My entire purpose with this website was to make it easier for Army spouses and families to get the information that they need as well as to be supported in their journey in the Army lifestyle. Receiving emails that the website has made their journey easier is the greatest gift that anyone could give to me.
A lot has changed since I started my website. We moved three times, we endured four deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism and my husband was medically retired from the Army. If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn’t change a single thing. Being an Army wife has made me recognize an inner strength that I had no idea existed. Finally, I feel like I have found my calling. I have a job that I absolutely love that enables me to interact with other Army spouses from across the globe on a daily basis. It is the most rewarding career that I have ever had and I can’t imagine a better way to spend my working life.
It has been quite a ride and one that I hope continues for quite some time. Thank you for letting me take a walk down memory lane.
This past week, my husband and I traveled to Washington, DC to attend the luncheon honoring the Military Spouse of the Year, Chelle McIntyre-Brewer. We were honored to be her guests. I first "met" Chelle on the message board for my website and we've gradually been able to get to know each other better. Now, we talk to each other a few times a week on the phone and she has become a great friend.
I think that being able to "meet" so many different people has been one of the greatest benefits to starting the MarriedtotheArmy.com website. When I started it, I really thought it would just be another way that Army spouses could get additional information about the Army lifestyle. I had no idea that I would be fielding so many emails each day or be able to meet people who I would eventually consider to be very good friends.
In addition to meeting Chelle and her family, I was also able to meet a few other people from the message board including Veronica (AKA "V"), Josalyn and Addie. I've been talking to V online since 2003 so to finally be able to meet in person was very exciting. Its fun when you can truly put a face with a name.
Congratulations Chelle! I know you will represent us well as Military Spouse of the Year.
A photographer took more than 6,000 pictures of the Vietnam Wall to create a virtual experience. While visiting the Wall in person is definitely a moving and emotional experience, you can now pay tribute to all of those who gave their life during Vietnam from your home computer. The website allows you to search by name for those who gave all and also allows you to leave comments, share stories or post photos. I found my dad's cousin this morning and learned more about his death thanks to the comments that my uncle left.
Check it out. Its an amazing site.
This is an amazing article written by Lt. Sean Walsh about the 4,000 plus military members that have been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a truly moving piece and I hope you will take the time to read it.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1725642,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-full-world
