Life has been on fast forward these days. I am elated to announce that I was chosen as the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the Year. This is a tremendous honor and I cannot even put into words how amazing this is. I am humbled by the support I have received and by the work I am able to do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I am passionate about serving military families, and it's as simple as that. No matter where this journey takes me, I will continue doing what I do. Just to give you an idea of how I feel about serving military families, I wrote this out. I wanted to elaborate in my video, but because time is short and I was rather nervous on camera, I wrote it out. My video hits the main points and explains what I am already working on, in sum, but there is MORE. There is a lot of day to day, behind the scenes stuff that I don't share with folks, but here on this blog, I will elaborate more and more. But, first....here's what I envision about what I am doing now and what I intend to do as the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the Year and possibly the 2012 Military Spouse of the Year:
I am honored to be the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the year. I am proud also to be the founder of Coast Guard Family Organization and Military Spouse Mentoring. I created Coast Guard Family Organization, Inc., because Coast Guard families are often excluded Department of Defense programs like Military One Source as the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security. My other main organization is Military Spouse Mentoring. This mentoring program was born from an idea to connect military spouses from all walks of life regardless of branch affiliation to help one another in the areas of education, career plans, parenting and navigating military life among many other things. But, this is not about me and what I have done. This is about our military families. This platform allows for those of us who volunteer our time a stronger voice to be heard for positive change and progressive impact.
Congressional budget cuts are on the rise and because of that military family programs face an uncertain future. I will continue to work hard to keep existing programs in tact and gain support for an all encompassing military family bill to further provide for military family benefits, which would also address military retirement. At this point, we need to cut through the bureaucratic red tape to save heartache and money and allow for creative financing.
Another thing I want to talk about is my education focus. With my own children, I have noticed shortcomings in public school curricula from state to state and this is happening across the Nation affecting a myriad of other military families. Therefore, I am working to gain support of standardization for K-12 curricula or at least providing viable alternatives for our military students who are often advserly affected, academically, because of PCS moves.
Similarly, I have felt the strain of transferring credits and limited collegiate financing options that so many other spouses face and I am supporting every effort including the Military Spouse Education Initiative to see improvements in this area. Likewise, I will continue to work to gain support for universal reciprocity of certifications, licensures for all spouses regardless of their branch affiliation.
As a military spouse, veteran, and parent, I understand many of the obstacles military families face on a daily basis, whether it is navigating TRICARE, dealing with the VA, special needs or reinteigration, etc. I am well versed in a number of these areas and what I haven't encountered, I seek to better understand to support my peers and the military family at large.
No matter where this journey takes me next I will continue serving military families. Thank you for support and please vote for the nominee that you feel would best serve us all as Military Spouse of the Year.
Here's my latest and greatest video (don't laugh too hard, I told you I was nervous, this is a HUGE honor and I get a little shaky when it comes down to it, after all, I have wonderfully, big, great shoes to fill!). I have been running into a lot of trouble getting a video to upload, but finally had luck today! 2012 MSOY FINALIST VIDEO
In other news, this week, I will be speaking with the folks at Business and Professional Women's Foundation about partnering our mentoring programs! Yay for www.militaryspousementoring.com. and I also have a scheduled conference with the folks at Building Capacity to discuss the K-12 education issues of our military students and what they are doing in working with Dr. Jill Biden and how I can help. This is all before Wednesday. Someone pinch me!
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