Kiona Smith-Strickland

Veteran’s Guide to Final Arrangements, Part 1: Burial Allowances

Death is a subject most people prefer to avoid, but talking about it can help you ease the strain on your family when the time comes. By discussing your wishes ahead of time, you can avoid leaving your loved ones unsure what you would have wanted, and you can ensure...
Read more...
Relocation, New Friends, and Long Distance Friendships

A host of recent studies have examined the effect of frequent relocation on children and adolescents. Military families relocate significantly more often than civilian families, and service members’ kids are not the only ones affected. Leaving close friends and established support networks, and bidding farewell to friends as they leave for...
Read more...
Three Great Ways to Observe Veterans Day

Veterans Day is a week away. It should be a time for all Americans to reflect on the sacrifices of our service members past and present, but for veterans and their families, the day is especially significant. The holiday falls on a weekend this year, which offers more time than...
Read more...
How to Protect your Family: The Basics of Operational Security

Military families are familiar with worry. We know better than anyone in the world what it feels like to know that someone we love is far away and in danger, and that we are almost completely unable to protect them. Fortunately, there is one thing we can do to protect...
Read more...
Just the Two of Us: Child-Free Couples and Military Culture

I still remember the first Family Readiness Group dinner that I attended after getting engaged to my husband. Most of the women in attendance were either pregnant, shepherding fairly young children, or both, and I barely lasted five minutes before a complete stranger hit me with the apparently inevitable (and...
Read more...
What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Homecoming

The day your service member returns from a deployment is one of the most anticipated events in your relationship and the life of your family. You probably want it to be perfect for your loved one. No matter how much you plan and how great your intentions are, it’s not...
Read more...
5 Things Nobody Tells You About Deployment

My husband just returned from his second deployment as a Soldier; it was his third total, since he did one as a Marine prior to a stint as a civilian which led to the Army. It was my first. As the year progressed, I realized how many things I wished...
Read more...
Veteran’s Guide to Final Arrangements, Part 3: Grave Markers

Read Part 1 of the Final Arrangements series here, and Part 2 here. Marker Types and Materials The VA will provide each deceased veteran with an upright grave marker in granite or marble, or a flat grave marker in granite, marble, or bronze. Upright grave markers are two-to-three-inch thick slabs...
Read more...
America’s Homeless Heroes

The most recent survey released by Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that over 136,000 homeless veterans spent at least one night in homeless shelters sometime during 2009; on any given night, over 75,000 veterans sleep in homeless shelters or on the streets. Other sources...
Read more...
How to Leave a Job Gracefully

If you’re a working military spouse, you know that we get a lot of experience at leaving jobs when Uncle Sam sends us elsewhere. Even though we don’t get a real choice in the matter, we can choose to be responsible, considerate, and helpful when we break the news and...
Read more...