I read a great editorial today on the need for military leaders to admit suffering from PTSD. (It’s pasted at the end of this post.) As you can guess, this is an issue that I have a deep connection to. When we were together, I used to celebrate every time Paul got promoted. Every time […]

I read a great article today about how celebrating the tiny moments in your life can raise your happiness level, increase your resilience when bad things happen, and help ward off depression. You can see the whole article here, or I pasted the text below this post. This study confirms what anyone who has survived a deployment […]

A nice editorial from the Washington Post…. I lost many of my civilian friends when Paul left for Afghanistan because they didn’t support the war and couldn’t make the leap to support him as a soldier and us as a military family. It baffles me that people can’t see that the reason they have the […]

Reunions are so wonderful. That feeling you get driving to pick up your significant other is nothing I have experienced before. You are elated, nervous and proud all at the same time. I literally get those butterflies in my stomach like I’m going on a first date with my husband. You exchange hugs and kisses, […]

By Seth Robson / Stars and Stripes While the Army has been working to gauge the mental health toll of multiple deployments on soldiers, some Army leaders and spouses say the service is moving too slowly to address similar effects on military family members. Spouses face day-to-day pressure while soldiers are away and very little is […]

Here’s a post by Sarah Gilbert, who’s husband is an Army reservist deployed to Afghanistan. She writes honestly about how the financial windfall associated with a deployment helped her family. You can read the original story here. I don’t know whether it was minutes or hours or even a day: the time it took me […]

By Gregg Zoroya / USA TODAY After seven years of war, most children of combat troops are showing more fear, anxiety and behavioral problems, according to the Pentagon’s most sweeping survey of the effects of war on military children. Six out of 10 U.S. military parents told researchers their children have increased levels of fear […]

Aside from being away from loved ones, deployments share a key common feature: their varied pace. Know throughout the military as operational tempo or simply “op tempo,” and defined as how busy any given person or unit is during their time deployed. While everyone’s deployed jobs and experiences are different, the fact is that no […]

My husband recently came back from Iraq after a seven month deployment. Even though this was our fourth deployment, I think this home coming was the most nerve racking of them all. It was the first time we had our own home while he was gone. So I felt a lot of pressure to have […]

Here is part of a post from Susan Katz Keating about watching her father suffer PTSD. It’s powerful – and recognizable for many of us who have loved ones suffering post-combat. You can read Susan’s blog here. I awakened late to the sound of violent pounding on the front door of our home in Riverside, California. By […]