support - Mission: Milspouse

Find Your Strength at the InDependent Wellness Summit

by Sarah Peachey | Jan 28, 2020 | Blog, Experience, Household 6, Military Life

Many of us headed into 2020 with some form of personal growth on our minds. Maybe you want to eat better and work out more. Maybe you want to find constructive ways to de-stress and learn how to say “no” more often. Maybe you want to strengthen your relationship with your spouse and kids.

And maybe, you didn’t make any resolutions at all, but find yourself floundering in this military life. This isn’t an easy journey, and we often find ourselves pouring a lot of energy into our service members and children.

When Military Life Feels Scary

by Sarah Peachey | Jan 9, 2020 | Blog, Deployment, Experience, Household 6, Military Life

Few Americans have missed the news from the Middle East in recent weeks.

It’s difficult to scroll through social media without seeing calls for war, specific response, restraint.

But in the military community, it isn’t the politics that matter as much to as what will happen with our service member spouses.

As we watch the news our stomachs drop through the floor.

Our chests tighten to the point we can only inhale shallow breaths.

Our hands shake a little.

Our hearts beat a tiny bit faster.

Images of yellow ribbons, hugs and kisses goodbye, waving flags, and overstuffed olive drab bags littering the entrance to our home, and uniforms in a combination of browns and greens packed tightly run through our minds.

It’s hard to stop that flow through the channels of our brain, the rolling images of what we’ve done before.

The ‘Doggone’ Truth About Community

by Kathleen Palmer | Jan 8, 2020 | Blog, Deployment, Experience, Military Life

After saying goodbye to my husband four months ago, one of the soldiers of rear detachment stopped me in the parking lot and told me that if there was anything I needed help with during the deployment to please call him. This is not uncommon in the military world, and his words were comforting on such a raw, emotional day.

I told him there were two things I didn’t want to have to do during this deployment: buy a car and put my dog down.

Sadly, I had to do both this month and no other words will suffice…

It just sucked.

Investing in Military Families

by Sara Jane Arnett | Jan 4, 2020 | Blog, Experience, Military Life

Happy 2020, AWN readers! I hope the Holiday Season found you in good spirits. I also hope that the season showered you with many blessings and that you were able to spend time with the ones that support and value the most wonderful you.

I’m super pumped about 2020, the newness that is in the briskness of the air. The plans that I have in store for myself and for my family are coasting me into this New Year with hope for an even brighter future.

I’m going to be a student again. Say what?! Growing up (during adolescence), I detested school. I didn’t enjoy studying, and I didn’t like feeling inadequate because school was hard for me. To this day, if something doesn’t come fairly easy, I kind of check out.

Stopping Father Time

by Retired Blogger | Dec 3, 2019 | Blog, Experience, Health & Fitness, Household 6

Most hospitals have a certain smell to them. I think it’s a combination of bleach, sweat, blood, and tears.

Did you know that the sense of smell is the strongest of the five senses connected to memory? So, maybe as I walk through the hospital I’m reminded of my own personal and frequent time spent in the hospital as a child, then later in life due to procedures related to my endometriosis and as a mother giving birth.

Today, was not about me though. It was about a family member who had cancer removed from his body. A family member who was given that ugly diagnosis of cancer several months earlier.

AWTR Show #709: AMSE

by M:M Command Team | Nov 18, 2019 | Podcast

lossie Hall never seemed to be in the driver’s seat of her own life. In 2015, facing another looming deployment, she put her dream of going to medical school on permanent hold and launched an affordable meal delivery startup, which turned into a multi-million-dollar business in its first year. Since then, she hasn’t turned back. Flossie continues to blaze the trail for others by mentoring, inspiring, and advocating for military spouses with entrepreneurial ambitions across the country. Most recently, she cofounded the Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs, or AMSE. Tune in to hear how she inspires the masses to turn their dreams into realities.

How You Can Support Military Families: Holiday Edition

by Retired Blogger | Nov 18, 2019 | Blog, Deployment, Experience

Over the last almost 10 years, I’ve been working in senior living communities. Most of my days are spent connecting with those who have lived 80 years or more. Ever since my first holiday season working with seniors, I’ve observed that there are two sides of their holiday coin.

On one hand, you have tremendous joy and gratitude—it’s a season of giving!

On the other, you have grief and longing.

In most of their long lives, they’ve had tremendous joy alongside tremendous hardship. I only began to understand these two sides as I experienced my own hardship while my soldier husband, James, was away on his first deployment.

AWTR Show #708: Vets Don’t Forget Vets

by M:M Command Team | Nov 11, 2019 | Podcast

William Shuttleworth is a 72-year-old retired educator and Air Force veteran living in Massachusetts. He left his home on May 15, 2019, to walk across America in an effort to raise awareness for American veterans via the campaign Vets Don’t Forget Vets. He arrived in San Diego on Sept. 1, 2019, completing the trek of 3,300 miles in 115 days. During his journey, he focused on sharing information about veteran suicide, homelessness, health care, policies, and set out to raise $100,000 for Disabled American Veterans.

Warrior’s Compass: Transition Made Easier

by Hope For The Warriors | Oct 20, 2019 | Blog, Career & Education, Expert, Retirement, Veterans

Transitioning into a post-military life is full of emotions for both service members and their families. Leaving behind a position surrounded by so much purpose and camaraderie can leave you feeling lost or out of place. It can be overwhelming and daunting to start afresh in a completely new environment. It can be discouraging as you face difficulties, especially if they are financial.

Luckily, regardless of the stress that comes with such a big life transition, there are many resources that can help make that change easier. One such resource is Hope For The Warriors’ new military-centered job search program: Warrior’s Compass.