Most Certainly Not

Ft. W's AAR on the AT List

My husband will be home from AT tomorrow night. I remembered that I'd put together the impossible list of things to do and thought it might be fun to check our progress. Given that I haven't referred to it since he left, I can only imagine how far short we may have fallen. 

Let's look it over together, shall we?

My Baby Is 9

This is one of my favorite photos of my girls.

It was taken not long after M2 came home from the hopsital & was finally allowed to be off her lamp that treated her slight jaundice.

The girls are sitting in the bed I was given as a girl and slept in until I moved to college. It then became a guest bed and then, finally, M1's bed.

I love this because it shows the girls as they are at their cores. M1, always calm, always go-with-the-flow, always making the best and smiling through even the most chaotic situation. M2, never afriad to let you know she she isn't happy with her situation. Always vocal about what ails her. Not scared to let it all hang out, even when someone has a camera to capture the moment.

She was so tiny and I can still see her like that, even if she is 9 today.

The AT To-Do List

No married soldier ever deploys without a spouse who has a to-do list of epic proportions. It seems as if things like reading the classics; painting the entire interior of the house; losing 50 pounds; and organizing my entire life fall onto more than one spouse's list. The months pass and a couple weeks prior to the homecoming, the spouse mentally checks the list and decides "shaving my legs" and "buying a cute homecoming outfit" will have to do. Things become real really quickly when you're tasked with being a one man band. For me, if the dogs were alive, the kids clean/fed/breathing and the house standing, it was a WIN.

For National Guard families, there is that magical "2 weeks a year" we always hear about that comes in the summer. The soldier goes to Annual Training (AT) and the spouse is left home with a couple weeks.

You would think by now, I would realize that this falls in my busiest time of year. We are less than three weeks from go-time for my bar exam takers. And yet, after all these years, I still think I will be able to accomplish some sort of list while my husband is off doing Army things.

Just Call Me Becky Home-ecky

I've been called many things in my life, but never a Becky Home-ecky. However, one of my favorite students called me that today and I'm totally okay with it. It was my husband's drill weekend and the kids were visiting Grandma, so I spent my time trying out some homemade cleaning products that I found on Pinterest. I have been amazed and uber pleased with their performance!

I sort of wish I had taken before photos so I could truly demonstrate the efficacy of these products. However, now that I see the results, the 'before' was so shameful, I would not want a record of it! I know lots of military spouses who face the white gloves when they move, so having a way to eradicate the funk of family living in a short time without spending a ton of dough can be a lifesaver.

You need look no further than the inside of my washing machine to see just how awesome these recipes are!

This is a Kenmore Series 80 top-load washer that was purchased circa 1994-95. It has been through a couple of moves, upwards of three children and has been borrowed by good friends and inlaws for use when their machines were broken or when they lived in apartments with icky laundry rooms.

This thing was NASTY, especially the fabric softener dispenser that was gummed up with more residue than should be allowed on an appliance meant to clean things. I used the first half of the tutorial explained on Ask Anna's blog because I didn't need to proceed to the bleach step thanks to vinegar's miraculous properties. Vinegar + Hot water + time = the ability to wipe away years of laundry skank from your machine's innards. I also used baking soda in the fabric softener dispenser and let the vinegar I poured into it bubble the residue loose. An old toothbrush & some Q-tips and this thing was awesomely clean.

What else did I try? Have a look after the jump!

What Is Beyond the Yellow Ribbon?

What at first appears to be a philosophical question takes on a more concrete meaning thanks to an organization in Minnesota striving to provide a response to that question.

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon provides communities with the tools necessary to offer an ongoing, lasting support for returning veterans and their families. The organization seeks to answer the desire to "do something" for our heroes by pooling resources, connecting services and ensuring a net of support for service members during the deployment cycle and beyond. The organization's efforts have been rewarded by recognition outside the borders of their home state. 

The organization has launched local initiatives throughout the state of Minnesota with the community kick-off event attracting those interested in helping in the organized support efforts. The organization's website is chock full of information and links to resources that military families need. The site also provides information on supporting the efforts of local chapters or even starting a local chapter in your own area.

This wonderful idea has been a long time in coming and it's amazing to see what the Minnesota groups have accomplished in such a short time. It's also refreshing to see the message entering the mainstream that it isn't necessarily the big things that make the deepest impression. As five communities gathered to learn more about the program, one military wife noted that when neighbors noticed her shoveling her driveway at midnight (because her young children were safely sleeping in their beds), they began to take turns shoveling for her. She shared that what appears to be a small act of kindness can make the biggest difference for someone with a deployed spouse.

Minnesotans are demonstrating a can-do attitude that has quickly enveloped many communities in their state. That's exciting to see and a model that could be replicated in other states where individuals would like to pool resources and create a safety net for their returning veterans and their families. 

You Can't Say You Don't Know Them

Last week, when news of a homicide attack on a deployed group of Ohio Army National Guardsmen hit the airwaves, our household held its breath. A handful of men from my husband's unit had volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan and very well could have been among those killed or wounded. Even when we learned that the soldiers my husband personally knows were not among those involved, we watched news reports to see if there were anything we could do to help or if more news were forthcoming.

What I didn't realize until I read this amazing blog post on Afghan Blue was that the news footage I was watching (that appeared to be stock footage) was actual footage from the scene of the horrific incident. Realizing that I had unknowingly watched something I would never have sought out made me sick to my stomach. In reading Blue's blog post, I realized that several newspapers and other news sources had run much more vivid and graphic images than even I had seen.

I imagined the excuse or reasoning many people use when they seek out or view such imagery: "Well, it was horrible to see. Thank goodness I don't actually know them." or even worse, "How awful for their families. I'm certainly glad that wasn't someone I knew."

But, that's the thing...you DO know them. And you should be able to fathom how those images made their families feel. Because you know me. Or, you know my husband. And, but for the grace of God and troop rotation cycles, he could have been on that mission in Afghanistan and those images emblazoned across your TV or computer screen could have depicted him. Or his buddy. 

So, you can't say you don't know.

Military Kids of the Year Honored

April marks the Month of the Military Child. At an April 5th gala in Arlington, Virginia, Operation Homefront along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and other senior leaders from our military's branches honored one child from each branch as the Military Child of the Year. Each of the MilKids honored distinguished themselves among their peers by reaching out to others finding themselves living the MilKid lifestyle or by keeping their chin up while moving through multiple hardships.

Welcome to the Month of the Military Child

April marks the Month of the Military Child. Former Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger deemed it such in 1986 and since then, increasing numbers of individuals and organizations create ways to recognize the youngest members of our military families. With the prolonged war involvement of the past decade, the families of warriors are asked to be more resilient than ever. According to recent statistics, there are 1.9 million military kids and 225,000 of those kids have a deployed parent. 

Studies have been conducted during recent years to determined the impact of military life on military kids. These studies and the infomation culled from them can focus on everything from resiliency of military children, to what can happen when resiliency isn't present, or even how teens are affected by their parents' service. As responsibilities have increased, it appears challenges do as well. 

I doubt that Sec. Weinberger could have anticipated what the Month of the Military Child 2012 would look like, but it's clear the military children have more than earned their month in the sun. Activities and other special events are planned to help our military "brats" make some happy memories. All this month, MCN will feature information on these opportunities and the fun starts today!

Military Pushes Harder Sanctions for Pet Abandonment

A post appearing on this blog recently delved into services available to those organizations dealing with military members and their pets. The Must Love Dogs post  featured information on resources for military families and included organizations dedicated to fostering pets when service members deploy or PCS and a pet cannot accompany them at all or in a timely way.

It appears that these little known organizations need more press because those military members who do not make adequate, humane arrangements for their furry or feathered friends could face harsher punishment in the near future if the powers that be have their way.

Veterans' Courts--Coming To A State Near You?

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that even though I am a licensed attorney in my state and I consider myself fairly well versed in military issues, the fact that my state has six veterans' treatment courts within its borders was news to me. Among all the reasons I have for renewing my state bar membership by the end of this month, my Ohio Lawyer magazine subscription is one of them.

Featured on this month's cover, an article by one of our state's Supreme Court Justices (and her former intern) focused on these courts that are dedicated to providing treatment-based outcomes to veterans who find themselves in trouble with the law.

I found this idea intriguing and decided to do a little digging on my own to become informed on the facts I truly should have already known.