Posts Tagged Military Family Month

Nation Celebrates Military Family Month

Posted by in Family Matters on November 1, 2010

by Elaine Wilson
elaine.wilson@dma.mil
Nov. 1, 2010

Last year, I traveled to Fort Campbell, Ky., to talk with some military teens about the challenges they face and to hear firsthand about the effects of multiple moves and deployments after nearly a decade of war.

I expected to hear their sadness over missed sporting events and science fairs, and I did, but was pleasantly surprised to also hear the pride in their voices as they spoke about their parents, and to see the strength that enables them to carry on in the face of concern for a deployed loved one or sadness at a missed milestone.

“It’s not easy, but I was brought up to keep going, no matter what,” Cornelius Madison told me. “I have to do it for my Mom. I’m really proud of her.”
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At the time, Cornelius’ mom, Army Staff Sgt. Asia Lowe, and stepfather, Army Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Lowe, were deployed in Afghanistan for a year, their second deployment in three years. Cornelius and his two younger siblings were staying with a family friend.

The family friend who took them in has three children of her own.
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November is ‘Military Family Month’

Posted by in Family Matters on November 2, 2009

The Sharpe Family

U.S. Marine Capt. Justin Sharpe, the executive officer for Comanche Company, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, hugs his wife and looks in amazement on how big his 8-month-old son has grown throughout the battalion's deployment to Iraq during their homecoming at Victory Field, Twentynine Palms, Calif., Sept. 8, 2009. U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Monica Erickson

By Elaine Wilson
Nov. 2, 2009
Elaine.wilson@dma.mil

Last week, President Barack Obama declared November Military Family Month, a month-long celebration of military families and a commemoration of their extraordinary service and sacrifice.

“No one pays a higher price for our freedom than members of our nation’s military and their families,” the president said in his proclamation. “As sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and mothers and fathers are deployed, military families endure with exceptional resilience and courage. They provide our troops with invaluable encouragement and love, and serve our nation in their own right.

“Ensuring that military families receive the respect they deserve and the support they have earned is a top priority for my administration,” he said.

The Defense Department and the individual services will be marking this time with special events and commemorations and I’ll do my best to pass on some of these to you.

I’ll also be commemorating this month by spotlighting several military families who have persevered despite tremendous challenges, such as wounds of war, and have become stronger for it. And I’ll continue to highlight the information and resources that I hope will be useful and relevant to military families in their everyday lives.
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