Avoidance feels freeing. It takes away the pressure of the stories that weigh so heavily on me. I came here to learn how to be a better writer.
2022 Writing Seminar for Military Spouses
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 inReflections
I Expected to Miss Him When He Deployed. Then There Were the Things That Snuck Up on Me.
I missed being a parent with him. Not all the crappy parts—the disciplining, nose wiping, puke cleaning, lunch packing. But I missed the funny parts.
Posted inReflections
‘I’ll Be Your Wingman’–I Was a Pilot. They Were My Brothers. I Can Still Feel Them.
As we talked, my friends helped me answer the question of “why.” Why them and not me? Why that day? Why that way?
Posted inReflections
‘Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way’–We Really Did Live That Way.
Both aircraft exploded. … Tony, Tom, and Will, Tony’s student, touched the hand of God, and chaos shoved itself into the lives of everyone they knew.
Posted inReflections
Goats First, Women Last–Air Force Culture Protects Perpetrators, Silences Survivors
Even after all this time, the Air Force is still focused on the victim instead of changing a culture of sexual harassment and assault.
Posted inReflections
The War Doesn’t End. But as Long as He Keeps Fighting, I’ll Fight for Him, Too.
Hunched over the table, he speaks of regrets, failures, and thoughts of suicide. It’s good that he can talk to me. He used to keep these thoughts secret.
Posted inReflections
The Country We Loved Didn’t Love Us Back. Maybe This Time Would Be Different.
I remember being taken in by our neighbors, how they embraced my family and introduced us to football, fireworks, and the spirit of America.
Posted inOur Impact
‘Among the Most Significant Professional Development Experiences I Have Ever Had’–Impact of the Writing Seminar
This fall, The War Horse hosted our Writing Seminar for Military Spouses at Carey Institute for Global Good in Rensselaerville, New York, thanks to generous support from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and other partners. The five-day, expenses-paid retreat brought together a dozen military spouses with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, award-winning news editors, […]
Posted inReflections
Resilient Is a Label for Military Kids That Absolves a Nation of Further Reflection
Over time I realized that resilience was not a stain-repellent. Just because you can take something doesn’t mean you should have to.
Posted inReflections
‘Murphy’s Law of Deployment:’ What Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong. But I Am Brave Enough.
Fifteen years later, I no longer cry in bathrooms, but I do follow the terrified-looking new spouses in to reassure them they are brave enough.
Posted inReflections
He Used a Position of Power, In a Time of War, to Get What He Wanted.
I wouldn’t know that this is when I lost my sense of service. I wouldn’t know that there was a reason I couldn’t stand to be alone in a room with a man.
