The military changed me in ways I didn’t fully appreciate. Now it was over and I was a mom and a military spouse but no longer a service member.
Military Family
Posted inReflections
Their Lives Would Never Be the Same. In Some Ways, Neither Would Mine.
What about all the lives lost? What about the ones we didn’t know but whose deaths we learned about on screens and in telephone calls?
Posted inReflections
You Cannot Go Back, and It Never Really Gets Better. Sometimes the Truth Is Cruel.
The “better” you’re searching for is the way you once were before you wound up bloody on the floor. That’s gone now.
Posted inReflections
Twenty Minutes – My Chest Fills With Burning Coals. But I Keep Breathing.
I’m surrounded by grief, love, laughter, joy, sorrow, and devastation, but it belongs to them. None of it belongs to me. My ache is my own.
Posted inReflections
Think Directing Troops on the Battlefield Is Tough? Try Dinner Skirmishes With Toddlers.
The battles I’m winning now aren’t successful executions of large-scale exercises or divisional deployment plans. My successes now are much smaller.
Posted inNewsroom
America Faces a Tidal Wave of Aging Veterans, Including a 237% Increase in Women Over 65 by 2041
As Vietnam and Gulf War-era veterans age, they bring with them new needs, different expectations for care, and greater diversity than those who came before.
Posted inReflections
‘Embrace the Suck’–Life as a Gold Star Child is a Race With No Finish Line
I can’t accept that he’s a few feet away from me, waiting to join a sea of white stones and perfectly cut green grass. I don’t want to walk away.
Posted inReflections
The True Consequence of War Demands Generations of Profound Loss
In an instantaneous flash of violence, the hopes and dreams they’d woven vanished in the dirt 5,000 miles from home.
Posted inNewsroom
‘Please Come and Apply’—The PACT Act Is the Largest Expansion of Veteran Benefits in Decades
“We think that there are, roughly, a little over 6.2 million veterans who, we believe, qualify for the PACT Act,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said.
Posted inOur Impact
War Horse Symposium Sheds Light on Vital Role of Military Journalism for Democracy, National Security
“We have to connect [the military] better to society. People need to understand the service,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said.
Posted inReflections
I Couldn’t Fix the Problems From Inside. To Be Part of the Solution, I Had to Leave.
I still have nightmares about my service. Some are about those I couldn’t save; others are about toxic leaders who drove good servicemembers away.
Posted inNewsroom
When America’s Economy Is in Turmoil, Veterans Can Step up to Lead the Charge
From cybersecurity to trucking to health care, essential industries—still reeling from pandemic economic instability— benefit from veteran employees.
