It was Jason English’s job as a Naval intelligence officer to mitigate risk. The work suited him. He felt like he was wired to protect the people and country he loved. So when he became a father, English cruised the aisles of Home Depot and Babies “R” Us looking for ways to make his house […]
Military Family
Posted inNewsroom
They Served in Asia and Came Home. Decades Later, the Kids They Left Behind Are Searching for Them
Bernardino Mijares has spent most of his life searching for his father. For many years, all the 33-year-old tricycle taxi driver knew was the name his mother had told him—which later was found to be incorrect—and that his father had served in the Philippines with the U.S. Navy. Growing up in the city of Antipolo, […]
Posted inReflections
A Military Man Straight Out of Central Casting. I Got to Know ‘Dadmiral’ in His Final Days
As my father, a Navy pilot, neared the end of his life, we watched “Top Gun: Maverick” together. “It was good,” he commented. “I’m better.” That was my father, Richard Chester Macke, a Naval Academy graduate whose career progressed from test pilot to being nominated by President George H.W. Bush to serve on the Joint […]
Posted inReflections
How to Be a Proper Military Wife: Dress Modestly, Smile, and Keep Opinions to Yourself
I was 21 years old when my husband and I received tickets to our first Air Force Ball in Okinawa, Japan. I had never attended an official military function, let alone a proper ball, so I asked a fellow military spouse what I should wear. She told me to be mindful about what I put […]
Posted inReflections
My Little Sister Is Deployed in the Middle East. Her Base Was Hit
My little sister has been in the military for 19 years, serving in Germany, U.S. territories, South Carolina, and elsewhere. Since February, she’s called a base in the Middle East home. I’ve known her location and her proximity to danger for months, but it had felt like she wasn’t really there. Iran seemed intent on […]
Posted inReflections
Military Spouse Life Prepared Me for Almost Anything. Then Came Retirement
This spring, my family ended up living in two hotel rooms in Helena, Montana. Within weeks, we had lost both our home and my husband’s civilian job. After nearly 30 years of military life, my husband and I had imagined a stable retirement. Instead, we were suddenly living out of suitcases and trying to figure […]
Posted inReflections
My Father Was a Decorated Black Soldier With a Secret: Me
There was no celebration when my mother learned she was pregnant—only a conversation. Three married adults sat in a room weighing what my existence might cost them: a rising soldier in the United States Army with a reputation to protect, a mother facing the weight of shame, and a husband willing to raise a child […]
Posted inReflections
The Vietnam War Killed My Father Decades After His Tour. Am I a Middle-Aged Gold Star Child?
I stood in a Brooklyn post office renewing my teenage son’s passport, hoping to board a plane by summertime. When I paid with a USAA check, the postal worker thanked me for my service. I deflected as usual: “Oh no, I didn’t serve, my father served.” I have USAA imposter syndrome; I know I didn’t […]
Posted inReflections
My Grandpa Was Killed in World War II. I Met Him Through His Letters Home
I grew up in the house my great-grandparents built, a home where four generations shared laughter, loss, and celebrations. These same walls that once harbored the joy of my grandfather’s courtship were the ones that eventually held the pain of the day my grandmother learned he had been killed in action during World War II. […]
Posted inReflections
I Love My Air Force Husband. My Feelings About the Government He Serves Are More Complicated
I had just put my car in reverse when a license plate frame caught my attention. It was covered in the American flag and read “God Bless America.” The image forced my car back into park. I sat in the lot trying to understand the power those three words held over me. I’ve always had […]
Posted inReflections
A Transient Life and Hard Goodbyes: The Realities of My Lonely Military Childhood
When my military family received orders to transfer to another duty station, my dad would organize our packing effort, chart a course, and drive us there. He preferred to start as the twilight faded, continuing through the night while the rest of us slept in our station wagon. This time, Dad was being transferred to […]
Posted inNewsroom
Inside the Wait for War: Military Families Brace for What Comes Next
Caryl Banks dragged a kitchen chair beneath the overhead light and climbed onto it with a bucket of warm, soapy water balanced on the countertop. She wrung out a sponge, lifted it toward the ceiling, and began working it in slow, deliberate circles. Water slid down her forearm and dripped onto the kitchen floor. It […]
