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  1. Readjusting After a Deployment

    You wait and you wait and you wait for the day your soldier gets home from deployment.  Finally your life can go back to “normal,” finally you won’t have to shoulder all the responsibilities of holding down the home front.  But homecomings aren’t always the fairy tale we build up...
  2. Why You Need a “Deployment BFF”

    Deployment is hard, there is no getting around it.  Whether it is your first time around or your fifth, having your spouse gone for months at a time is just no fun.  Having a great support system is one of the best things you can do to help you through...
  3. Should You Move Home for a Deployment?

    When deployment orders come down for your soldier, it can be pretty emotional. You have a lot to do to get ready for them to leave. One decision you might have to make is if you plan to stay at your duty station for the deployment or if you plan...
  4. Doing it Again: How to prepare for yet another deployment

    This past week we got the semi-official news that my husband will be deployed again next year. I don’t consider anything official until he leaves, but this announcement most likely means he will be deploying for a fourth time in 2013. This deployment won’t be our longest with the Army,...
  5. 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...
  6. Care Packages, Part 2: How to Send Them

    Now that we’ve covered What To Send in a Care Package in Part 1, today in Part 2 we explain HOW to send it. Without a doubt the best way to go is USPS. They have priority flat-rate boxes (pictured) made specifically for those who are sending mail to APOs...
  7. Some Moms Wear Combat Boots

      It’s hard to imagine that not so long ago it was mandated that any women who served in the Armed Forces would be immediately discharged upon the confirmation of pregnancy.  In 1951, an Executive Order (EO 10240) signed by former president Harry S. Truman, clearly stated. “That any women...
  8. Bumper Stickers and Opsec: Caution for Military Families

    As military family members, most of us have been admonished about operational security (opsec in military-speak) countless times.  We are told- though not nearly enough of us seem to remember- never to post anything online about our spouses’ flight times, arrival times, or destinations; or anything our spouses share with...