On today’s NEW episode: Strength, Service & Unwavering Faith, join us as we explore Jill Solhjem’s remarkable role as an Army Chaplain Spouse for almost 35 years, supporting her husband through 72 months of deployments and military operations. From active engagement in the Army Chapel Community to leadership in the Protestant Women of the Chapel, Jill’s impact on soldiers, families, and communities is unparalleled. Discover her dedication, her diverse hobbies, and her love for family. Amidst it all, her unwavering faith shines through. Join us on this uplifting episode as we delve into Jill’s incredible journey, guided by scripture and her commitment to service. A testament to resilience and compassion.
Podcast Partner:
We would like to thank today’s Podcast Partner, Defenders Gateway, a St. Louis based company who is building The Defenders Network, a national network of support for ALL Defenders and their families.
You can download The Defenders Gateway App at Google Play Store or Apple Store.
Thank you, Defenders Gateway, for your support and doing what you can to empower all Defenders and their families!
Resource Recon with Callie and Amie
Over at the Mission: Milspouse website we are constantly updating and adding information. If you look at our Resource list you can scroll down through 17 different categories. This week’s Resource Recon comes from our resource library Brat Like a Boss, an ultimate list of military kids resources.
According to the Military Child and Education Coalition, most military children attend six to nine different schools from kindergarten to 12th grade, and (on average) a military student transfers more than twice during high school. This can put tremendous pressure on parents who try to make the transition as smooth as possible.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all guidance for moving kids and changing schools. Each family has to come up with a plan that works for their unique needs. And it breaks everything down by generalized resources and then even further by age groups and phases of life.
Empowerment Patrol Report with Amanda
This is your Deputy Director of Empowerment, Amie Fisher, bringing you this week’s Empowerment Patrol Report. Today we are spotlighting our MRE team winner, which by the way, MRE stands for Motivated and Ready to Empower,
As Mission: Milspouse’s Director of Empowerment, Amanda officially became a military spouse in 2014. She is a mom to two tiny humans, William and Mikayla, and two fur babies. Amanda is originally from Florida, where she and her husband, Mick, met in high school and began dating during their freshman year of college. Amanda has served in education for a decade, but she is currently working as a freelance book editor and writing her debut novel while staying home with her little ones.
In her spare time, Amanda enjoys writing, reading, hiking, traveling, trying out new restaurants, and exploring new places and activities around her. Amanda is very happy to be a part of such an amazing and supportive community and hopes she can provide encouragement and empowerment anywhere she goes.
Amanda, we thank you for your service in honoring our mission and for doing your part to empower military families all across the globe. I’m Amie Fisher, reminding you that empowered spouses empower spouses!
Moxie Minute with Amie
Hey there listeners, Amie Fisher here with this week’s Moxie Minute and I am reading from a section of a book called The Pivot Year by Brianna Wiest.
III. Living Without Regrets
Temporary. Everything, all of it, even the best of it, especially the best of it. We only have so many years to know human love, and do human things.
Love them, all of them, even the painstaking ones. They, too, will not last. They are human. They are the experience.
The insecurity? The experience. The heartache? The experience. The confusion? The experience. The joy? The experience. The risk? The experience. There is nothing lost if we learn something from it.
Your willingness to fail is proportionate to your potential to gain and to grow. The timer never stops running. All you will regret is not reaching harder for the things you actually wanted, while they were still in front of you.
I hope this inspires each and every one of us to get out there and take some risks, and be willing to do the things even if we fail. We definitely don’t want any regrets now do we? Until next time spouses, Moxie Up!
* Source: Brianna Wiest, The Pivot Year
News 6 with Emma
Here is this week’s News 6 mashup of stories for the week of June 5, 2023, straight from M:M News 6 Correspondent, Emma Tighe:
US Military Recovers and Brings Relief after Guam Typhoon
Typhoon Mawar wreaked havoc on the island US territory of Guam in late May. Due to this unprecedented event The military, which has a strong presence on the island, has paused all PCSes on and off the island.
The cyclone, which grew to a category four out of five, disrupted power, water, and the ecosystem of the island. While biding time on the island our military is putting their time to good use and spearheading recovery efforts.
The pause in movement is expected to last until June 30th. It does not apply to TDY. If travel was already procured for those leaving, they can still leave as planned. The pause mostly affects incoming families and those at the beginning of the pcs process on the outgoing side.
This was “in order to ensure incoming service members and their families have adequate resources available to them,The stop movement also gives 36th Wing leadership time to evaluate the damage done to our resources while also making sure we’re prepared to take care of the families that are due to PCS to Andersen,” An Air Force spokesperson for air base Anderson told military times. While most branches have put a full stop to PCSes, the marines are taking it on a case by case basis.
“We are taking all necessary steps to accommodate PCSers already en route to Guam,” said marine rep Maj Diann Rosenfeld. “For example, because comms were limited directly after the storm, our sponsors have met face-to-face with different agencies across the island to ensure those agencies could still support our inbound Marines.”
Over half the population of Guam was still without power as of June 9th, while 30 percent still did not have water. The storm has cost the island about 112 million dollars so far.
While many of our military families will be eager to start their island adventure, just a little patience and a little more cleanup and you’ll be sipping pina coladas and trying to find a new pcm for your kids in no time.
Find out more at military times.com
Rowing for K9s
On another island near and dear to many a military family’s heart, a marine veteran is making a difference in a boat. Fresh off a 51 day rowing adventure across the Atlantic to raise money for K9s for warriors, Paul Lore is setting his sights on the pacific.
The Florida based non profit trains service dogs for veterans suffering from ptsd. His last adventure raised them 900,000 dollars and he’s just getting started.
The 60 year-old air traffic controller will be hitting the seas on a 2800 mile journey from Monterey, California to the island of Kuai.
“The Pacific is significantly more challenging because of the multiple currents, the cold water, big waves and fog that reduces visibility to zero at times,” he tells PEOPLE.
The journey started on June 12 and will take at least 48 days.
He hopes his mission will help lower the suicide rate of veterans, an epidemic he has experienced first at due to the loss of a friend and coworker back in 2016. Described as a vibrant up and comer and a mother, Lore took the loss hard.
“The numbers are staggering,” says Lore “And these dogs can help give people their lives back.”
Lowe is rowing with his three-fellow crew members on Team Ohana (Iris Noordzij of the Netherlands, Marina Hunziker of Switzerland, and American Mat Steinlin), and they will take two hours shifts the whole way through.
“I knew a long time ago that I was never going to be a millionaire,” says Lore. “But I also knew that I could use a million minutes of my time to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for people in need.”
We are so inspired by you, Marine! The only thing bigger than the ocean you are crossing is the size of your heart. To follow his journey visit https://ohana2023.com/
Find out more of this story at people.com
New Executive Orders Mean Good Economic News for Military Families
On June 9th at Fort Liberty, Formerly known as Fort Bragg, North Carolina, President Biden announced a plethora of new executive orders hoping to ease the economic burdens of military families.
These orders are as followed:
- Directing the development of a government-wide Strategic Plan on Hiring and Retention for Military and Veteran Spouses, Caregivers, and Survivors.
- Increasing Federal job postings utilizing the Military Spouse Noncompetitive Appointment Authority.
- Setting government-wide standards to improve the Domestic Employee Teleworking Overseas (DETO) program.
- Bolstering access to child care for military families.
- Providing additional tools to help retain military spouses and caregivers, in the public and private sectors.
- Improving support for military spouses during transition.
- Developing tailored resources for military and veteran spouse entrepreneurs.
- Improving the collection of data on military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors in the Federal workforce.
- Expanding training on the employment of military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors across the agencies.
A more detailed description of how these orders are going to be implemented and enforced can be found at whitehouse.gov.
The economic welfare of our military families is a matter of national security and is a non partisan issue. A strong military family means a strong military for our nation. I, for one, am excited to see this issue be on the forefront of modern politics and advocacy and hope it is implemented to the fullest!
Today in History
On June 19th 1865 the last slaves in the United States were told they were free, months after the end of the civil war and two and a half years after The Emancipation Proclamation.
Major General Gordon Granger issued an order called general number 3, proclaiming all Texan slaves to be free. This day has been a long-standing holiday in Galveston, Texas and slowly spread throughout Texas. It grew out of the state during the 1920s and 30s during the great migration but lost steam during the 1960s as the nation focused on the civil rights movement.
The later regained recognition in the 1970s and became a Texan holiday in 1979. It is the first federal holiday added to the calendar since MLK day was added in 1983.
The order reads:
3. The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.
The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.
Enjoy y’all’s day off and remember and remember that all of our history is American History.
You can check out more of this week’s top stories here.
Thank You
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