Continuing our 18 year legacy of Army Wife Talk Radio, welcome to our very first Mission: Milspouse podcast! We’re now serving all military spouses, of all branches and all components, and we couldn’t be more excited! We’re here to globally empower military spouses with resources and support so they can conquer adversity, foster confidence, and thrive in this military life.

A lot can happen in two years. Families grow. Duty station assignments end and we begin packing for that next PCS (Didn’t we just get pictures hung on the walls?) We anticipate, weather, and recover from deployments.

For the last 12 years online, we’ve been known as Army Wife Network. Our podcast, Army Wife Talk Radio, just completed its 17th season. And now, after two years (yes, two years!) of work, planning, dreaming, hoping, pivoting, learning, and growing, WE DID IT. (Are you crying? I might be crying. But don’t worry. They are happy tears.)

We have officially rebranded and expanded. Army Wife Network is now Mission: Milspouse, serving ALL military spouses, of ALL branches, and ALL components. Sharita joins us this week to talk us through some of the wonderful changes!

Sharita has been married to her beloved infantryman husband Brandon for over 12 years. Sharita is a Tiny Human mama of two kiddos, a 9-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. She is also a smallish dog owner, aspiring runner, writer, speaker, and spiritual leadership coach. 

Sharita has been volunteering with AWN since February 2014, when she published her very first blog post.  Since then, she has served on the Command Team as Blog Editor,  Deputy Commander, and in October 2019, she transitioned into the role as AWN Owner and Commander. Now, with our new 501(c)3 status as a non-profit, she is overjoyed to serve milspouses and their families as Mission: Milspouse Executive Director.  

Listeners, if you would like to learn more about Mission: Milspouse, you can find our more about us here, or connect with us on social media via Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Resource Recon with Chrissy and Jolene

This week’s Resource Recon is all about our the SITREP! 

In case you’re not familiar with typical military terms, SITREP stands for Situation Report and it’s our bi-weekly newsletter. Each issue highlights upcoming podcasts, new blogs from our website, helpful resources, and more. The SITREP is fun and a snapshot of our most recent resources – you can see who is on the podcast, what we’ve been blogging about, and there’s always something special that you can’t get anywhere else.

Empowerment Patrol Report with Amanda

Do you know a milspouse, service member, family member, community member, or non-profit organization who goes above and beyond to empower the military lives of others? Nominate a stand out champion for Mission: Milspouse’s Everyday Empowerment Award. This could be a relative, spouse, non-profit, or a battle buddy you met along the way.

Everyday Empowerment winners will receive a digital certificate, a token of our appreciation IRL (that’s in real life), on air recognition via our podcast, and be included in a social media reel each month with their fellow winners. Non-profits that are selected will receive $100 donation from Mission: Milspouse to support their continued work within the military community. We would love to give praise and recognition to spouses and organizations who are helping you throughout your military life journey.

Moxie Minute with Amie

Empowerment Minute is now known as Moxie Minute. Moxie is defined as energy, pep, courage, determination, and know-how. Moxie sums up what Mission: Milspouse hopes to help every military spouse achieve: energy and pep to approach each day with a can do attitude, courage and determination when faced with any situation that military life throws their way, guidance and resources so that milspouses have the know how to navigate that ever changing military lifestyle. Our desire is to empower military spouses so that we might each have moxie.

Basically each week, we will explore a different term for Moxie and how it applies to us.

News 6 with Emma

Here is this week’s News 6 mashup of stories for the week of January 16, 2023, straight from M:M News 6 Correspondent, Emma Tighe:

More Downtime for New Military Parents

Non-Primary Caregiver leave for military service members has now doubled, going from 6 weeks to 12. This memorandum includes birthing and non birthing parents, which means that all service members who become parents through adoption or surrogacy are included in this increase of leave. And they can divide it in 7 day increments throughout the year, as long as they use it before your kiddo turns one. 

Learn more at nytimes.com

Scholarships on Aisle 12!

The Defense Commissary Agency, or DECA, has now opened its scholarship application for the 2023-2024 season. 500 scholarships will be awarded with at least one from each Commissary. The scholarship sings to the tune of 2,000 dollars each…and if you’ve seen egg prices lately, 2,000 dollars is a happy reprieve for youngsters looking towards college.

Find out more at fisherhouse.org

Military Spouses are On the Go! And So Are Their Careers

Individual states must now recognize out of state job licenses of military spouses if they moved due to military orders. This provision was part of a bigger act called The Veterans Auto and Education Improvement which was signed into law by president Biden on January 5th.

“In the midst of one of the most challenging times for our military in terms of recruitment and retention, what this bill does is allow military spouses to cross-deck their professional licenses — if they’re a realtor, a nurse, a teacher, a beautician, a cosmetologist, whatever their profession is — across state lines,” Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif. who sponsored the provision.

Learn more at military.com

You can check out more of this week’s top stories here.

Thank You

Thank you for tuning into this week’s episode. Please leave a five-star rating and review on Apple podcasts, then send us a screenshot of your review to hello@missionmilspouse.org or DM us on Facebook or Instagram @missionmilspouse to receive a special in-real-life gift as a thank you on behalf of MM. We appreciate your engagement and support.

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