MilitaryAvenue.com - Our Letters to YouMilitaryAvenue.com - Our Letters to YouWelcome to MilitaryAvenue.com's Blog. Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy our unique perspective on the military lifestyle. Articles
Deployment Troubles of a 5 year-old
2008-06-03 15:07:00 My five-year old is struggling. He is struggling with his father's deployment. One and a half months down - 10 1/2 to go. This could be a long year. The two of them are close. He loves watching his dad play video games; looks for his dad's face after every soccer goal he makes; helps his dad make an occasional dinner; hangs on every word his father says. When you talk about being a hero, Dad is up there in this little boy's eyes.So I found it quite peculiar a couple of weeks ago when I asked him if he wanted to talk to Dad, I was just finishing up a quick call with him, and he adamantly told me 'No'. Hm... He was mad, I could hear it in his voice. Then what broke my heart a few days later: "Daddy is going to die." I reassured him that Dad was not going to die. (Please, dear Lord, do not make me a liar!) I pulled him up onto my lap and gave him a big long hug. I asked him why he thought this and he replied, "There are so many bad guys out there." Oh more long hugs as tears welle... More About: Deployment , Year
It Was a Great Day to Fly
2008-05-30 20:59:00 This picture may not look like I am flying but I think deep down in my brain I thought I was! Its kind of hard to not think about flying after being in the cockpit for 25 of my 30 years on active duty. I was blessed with many great opportunities to learn new aircraft, visit new places and fly with the best crews and personnel in the aviation business! They were great! I flew helicopters (UH-1N) first; went to fixed wing (T-38 instructor); back to helos (UH-1H and N; HH-3 and HH-60) and ended my career flying C-141s and C-17s. I have seen sunrises from 35,000 feet, sunsets over Hawaii, the mountains of Alaska, the dark of an Arctic winter night from 100 feet above a glacier with night vision goggles, the smile of a new pilot after soloing and then graduating with their wings, the TV footage of a rescue mission with lives saved and many other wonderful events! I knew it was almost to the end when the passports of my fellow crewmembers had birth dates well after my college graduatio... More About: Great
Cancer... Ouch
2008-05-30 20:57:00 Why are some words just so much scarier than others? Cancer certainly is. I remember when my surgeon called early one Saturday morning. I had seen him in his office just the day before, he performed a biopsy. A gazillion people have them done. We chatted, and he said he was leaving on a long awaited vacation that night. So when the phone rang Saturday, and I heard his voice, I honestly could not figure out why he was calling... and would not process what he was saying. He would not hang up the phone until I repeated his message to me as I stood by the phone swirling in a world of mixed words and zero comprehension. Malignant.No. Not me... bad things happen to other people! Right?Well, when handed lemons make the lemonade: good and strong.Or in my case have a spouse who is beyond good and more than strong! So, Dale's that sweet stuff that takes a lemon into lemonade, and therefore palatable! We have traveled down this cancer road for over 2 years now. We listen, we tal... More About: Ouch
Playing in the dirt is proper for all ages.
2008-05-30 20:36:00 There is a parking lot of tonka trucks beside our garage: big, dirty, a bit rusty.... well used. Now, that is the way it should be. The bright yellow and brown are visible as soon as you near the house. We have a very well maintained lawn, sun gardens, and a mulched 'sitting area'. And we have grandsons. YES life is good! We also have a gravel driveway. I give the boys trowels and the freedom to move dirt. With determination they pile up pebbles and stones. They build roads and bulldozer fodder. It takes them hours to accomplish a good mess. And, may I add with pride, they do it well.These guys are not the only one who stoop and sweat with a trowel in hand. Dale and I hover over our seedlings in the garden right now. We move and remove rows of weedlets - not a word but should be: tiny little weeds waiting to grow larger than a watermelon. We travel up and down the rows of carrots and green beans with a bucket filling it with our weed pickings. Our objective: a co... More About: Garden , Dirt , Ages
Is This Our Career?
2008-05-28 19:29:00 One of the biggest challenges of military families is deciding when it is time to step out of the service and join the civilian world and job market. I have seen many fine military personnel and their families make that decision and most had great reasons when they did step out! Some examples included the the family that wanted their high schoolers to stay at one school; others had a great job opportunity sitting there waiting for them; most had seen enough moves and long separations; some were just tired of the military routine or had missed a promotion cycle/opportunity and with their disappointment had decided to move on as a civilian. After I retired I saw the opposite too! I had a friend at my civilian job who was a member of the National Guard and decided to go active duty due to the benefits he saw that I retained as a retired member. His spouse was also a Guard member and they made a team decision to go active which is how most military members decide when it is time to ... More About: Career
Stars & Stripes Father's Day messages
2008-05-28 18:20:00 I am scatter brained. I'm not sure if this a product of being a mom or just a matter of being who I am. I'll start doing one thing, remember something else I was supposed to finish and move on to that, leaving a trail of unfinished business behind me. Sometimes it is the kids that call me away, sometimes I just plain forget what I was doing!Today I was working on writing an article for our MilitaryAvenue.com Partners when I surfed onto Stars and Stripes (which really had nothing to do with my article, its that scatter-brained piece of me). They are publishing Father 's Day messages in their overseas publication and on-line. The deadline to have it submitted for the print editions is June 2nd at 8AM. I think you can still submit one after June 2nd but it won't be published in print. Your favorite dads will still be able to read it online at messages.stripes.osd.mil/fathersday.I had the perfect picture to share of our three sons (taken last week) and I wrote a quick message for hub... More About: Messages
New Discoveries and Your Military Benefits!
2008-05-27 16:26:00 Memorial Day weekend was wonderful! We had beautiful weather and great family get-togethers; and watched the Memorial Day parade in our small town with a niece proudly marching in the high school band! What fun. During a late walk on Memorial Day after all the festivities Deb and I discovered a couple of beautiful Dogwood Trees in our woods that we had not seen before. They were huge and we are still wondering how we missed them for the last 6 spring/summers!?? Maybe the cooler spring allowed more blossoms and/or the sun angle was right in the evening? But the blossoms jumped out of the new green vegetation and they were tall (30 feet plus) which may be another reason we had not seen them as we tend to be looking at the ground for new berries and poison ivy (to avoid of course) etc. at this time of the year.Isn't that the way it is with many new discoveries? Often it is something simple and we wonder how we missed that; didn't try that before; see it or enjoy it! One of the d... More About: Military , Benefits , Discoveries
Freedoms on this Memorial Day
2008-05-26 16:12:00 It is Memorial Day ! I got up at the "crack of dawn"... (ok, it was 7:30am but I am a night owl) so that I could get breakfast going, get the troops dressed, and head down to the local Memorial Day parade which started at 9am. The boys brought their bags to grab the candy. I brought my camera to grab the photos.It hasn't been a very well attended parade in the past (or today for that matter) but those of us that are there are excited to be there. The boys enjoy the upfront view of the high school marching band, the larger then life fire-trucks and the miniature ponies. My favorite part though is the beginning. The police motorcycle is leading the way and right behind them is the American Flag proudly being carried by local veterans. As the members of various branches of service walked by all of the folks around us started clapping. Just ordinary citizens, proud of our troops. My heart swelled with pride. Maybe my husband will march with them next year.We have a busy Memori... More About: Freedoms
People in the News... Military Brat Work... And the Homefront View
2008-05-22 22:57:00 Daniel, the oldest son of the Kissinger family, packed his belongings; made friends; and learned the ins and outs of world travel. Dan recognizes the need for communication and the flow of information that is readily available via internet. With his sister Leanne, another class act brat, created an avenue of information that is a super highway and an integral part of thousands of military family PCS's (moves). I think that number is too small... Now Daniel has established his own family in Grand Rapids, MI.He travels to meet and speak with military personnel. With friends stationed all over the world topics of conversation often boggle the mind of his home grown wife! Change is good, challenge is better when met with a great team - and Daniel has built that on all fronts.Daniel was part of the team that held a PTAC conference in 2005 with Michigan business educating them on the military installations, jargon and the Department of Defense contracting. Always on the move, always thin... More About: News , People , Military , In the News , Work
A Preschool Milestone
2008-05-22 17:53:00 Tomorrow is my 5-year older's last day of preschool. This Fall he will board the big school-bus each morning bound for kindergarten and travel down the next road in his education's journey.He has been in preschool for three years. He has a September birthday and we live in a public-school district with an August 1st cutoff. So when he started three-year old preschool in the fall of 2005 he was one of the youngest in the class. He was barely potty-trained and he clung to my like glue as I said good-bye the first few weeks. I was afraid he would never adjust and he would be attached to my hip until he was 18.Now, three years later, I drop him off and he barely looks back to say 'good-bye'. As I call him back to give him a kiss on the cheek he rolls his eyes as if to say, "MOM, PLEASE, not in front of my friends!" He's happy to see me at the end of the morning and tell me about his adventures. He talks about his school-friends all day long. Oh and his teacher, she's better then... More About: Milestone
Memorial Day Image
2008-05-22 14:53:00 2008 Memorial Day Poster (Poster created by Virginia Reyes; U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr.)Sometimes a picture says it all! Have a great Memorial Day weekend and remember those who are served us all so well!Visit us at MilitaryAvenue.com More About: Image
MilitaryAvenue.com's May Newsletter
2008-05-21 15:39:00 We will be publishing our May Newsletter this Sunday, May 25th. The theme is "Military Appreciation", encompassing both Military Spouse Appreciation Day and upcoming Memorial Day.I have some great articles lined up from our resident MilitaryAvenue.com bloggers, Col K & Deborah. We also have listed our top 10 MilitaryAvenue.com articles from this past month and our personal favorite blogs from April.Here is just a sampling of a great article from last year's May newsletter: Memorial Day (It is not just a day off).Sign up! We'd love to be in touch.- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.comVisit us at MilitaryAvenue.com
Are You a Service Ambassador?
2008-05-20 20:56:00 I still have very strong memories of a day in July many years ago as I started down the road to Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana enroute to my first military flight physical. I had not enlisted yet as I needed to pass the flight physical to enter pilot training which is what the recruiter had worked for me. I remember the absolute loneliness I felt on the highway that day and fears of what I was getting into and where was I going? I had no one with a similar experience to talk to about my decision to join the Air Force. There were many unhappy veterans (it was the Vietnam era)and one friend from my church and high school had recently been killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam. My family had just experienced the loss of our mother due to breast cancer and here I was the oldest heading off to new frontiers. I survived the physical that day! Although they had dilated my eyes and I had no sun glasses since I had not known what that was going to be like. The painful, squinting d... More About: Service , Ambassador
Your Education and How to Succeed
2008-05-20 19:29:00 As the summer Permanent Change of Station season kicks into high gear I would like to talk about education! Why education now? Well, the new location and new job associated with the location give us an opportunity to review our goals and where we are going with our careers and families.When I had one PCS from a Texas base where I had been training student pilots in the T-38 to a staff job at Scott AFB in Illinois, I had a very smart new supervisor. He sat me down and said okay you have worked hard and the flying was fun but now you need to think about your career and your family. You need to go back to school now and get some additional education and finish that professional military education as well.I can hear the announcements of "no time", "we are at war", "I might be deployed" and many other very valid reasons why now is not a good time to pursue educational goals. Great reasons but why push back education which will lead to success in other areas of your life as well? Is... More About: Education
Adventures Don't Stop Just Because of Scary Sign Posts!
2008-05-19 20:18:00 Park Rangers have to have a great sense of humor... they work all day in the great out of doors. They meet people from all corners of the globe. (If in fact the globe has corners...) They see the beauty of the changes in seasons: flora and fauna. They have access to the whole park, whereas the rest of us stick to the beaten path. The rest of us also tend to wander a bit to the left and right off that well marked trail. So, I can imagine at the local ranger meeting discussions that might occur.* Bear sightings... yes, they know how to handle that.* Heavy rain, and washouts... time for repair work.* Pesky insects... get a grip and handle it.* Trees down on path... whip out the chain saws and clear them out.* Foot prints off path, plants plucked off trail, garbage left under trees not on walkway. UGH.Then some smart fellow decided to make some signs, post them and watch the folks stroll on by. Believe me, it worked for me! No way was I even going to walk on the side of the walkway... I... More About: Scary , Stop , Sign , Adventures , Posts
A Minute Out of the Norm: Lunch
2008-05-19 19:02:00 Today at lunch my boys asked for one of their favorite foods ... Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! MMMMM.... one of my favorites too! It ranks up there as one of my favorite 'comfort foods'! But really what isn't good with cheese on it?!?!Just to mix up the 'standard fare' today though I cut the sandwiches a little bit different. A few years ago, I had bought some heart shaped pancake 'shapers'. (Ok, I don't know officially what they are called.) You pour the batter into them on the grill & they supposedly make the perfect heart-shaped pancake. I must have been feeling ambitious when I did buy them because really they have just been official 'dust collectors' or 'drawer-space consumers'. Until today!... I used one to basically cut off the crusts and really just a touch of the sandwich part. They were the perfect size.The boys loved their 'special' sandwiches and it did feel better shakin' things up just a bit! As you prepare lunch (or dinner or breakfast) this week for... More About: Lunch , Minute
Saturday Morning
2008-05-17 15:09:00 I had grandiose plans this morning of actually sleeping in. Saturday mornings were Hubby's. He would get up with the boys while I slept in. When I would finally get up the boys would be fed, the coffee would be brewing, life was good!So I thought I should start my own new tradition. Last night I set up the boys TV trays, put a bowl and a spoon on each and set the cereal on the kitchen table. I poured two cups of milk and set them in the frig. I set the TV to Disney and put the remote on one of the trays. I just knew this was going to work. The boys could get up. Turn on the TV. Eat some breakfast and I would still be in the comfort of my own bed. The coffee might not be brewing when I get up but you can't win them all.My plans were foiled, drat. Apparently at some point in the middle of the night the 5 year-old joined me in bed. I don't know what time but I do know that at 3am I had his feet in my gut. Problem with a big empty queen bed is it is fairly easy for the... More About: Morning
Books Books Books!
2008-05-16 02:32:00 Oh how I love a good book. I am especially into the non-fiction type, self-help or motivational type. Right now I am reading "Chicken Soup for the Military Wife's Soul". A dear friend, and fellow military-spouse bought it for me just before my hubby left. She inscribed some heart-felt words on the inside and now I will treasure it forever. The book has made me cry, laugh, step-back in time and look forward to the future all within just a few short pages. I pick it up when-ever I just need a short breather.When we are 'preparing' for something: a move, a wedding, a baby we can of course find a fathom of information on the web. Isn't it sometimes just nice though to put down the computer and curl up with a good book?! I scoured the web this week for just a sampling of some of the good informational and motivational books out there. I am determined to find more, create more lists but for now I will give you what I have found.Book Recommendations: Military Lifestyle Book Recommendati... More About: Books
The Rising Costs of Food for a Military Family (or where do I plant my gard
2008-05-14 18:43:00 One of the best military benefits we discovered after joining the Air Force way back when was the commissary! The food costs were truly a savings and became even more of a benefit as our family grew in numbers. We truly miss having one close by in our current location. You should see the looks on the faces of the commissary staff at Selfridge Air National Guard Base when we pull our four (4) heaping to the top carts (that is the amount we can get into one 1999 Cherokee) to the checkout counter during our quarterly visit. With the current energy prices going up, the larger impact on some is the resultant increase in food prices. We are starting to see large increases at local stores in some items and one method to reduce those costs is to have a garden. It can be as small as a "deck tomato plant in a bucket" to a large vegetable garden with multiple varieties of plants. We have a fairly decent garden that we have planted each year after settling down in Michigan. During active... More About: Family , Food , Military , Costs , Plant
Caution! Little Boys (and big boys) at Play within Military Families
2008-05-13 15:11:00 I grew up in a family of boys--my only sister started with 4 brothers and added 3 more after a family blending! We now have five grandsons and they are active guys just like my siblings during my much younger years and will challenge their parents and guardian angels much like we did!We lived in the country with lots of work to do but always found the time to do some fun things. We built a tree fort in a 300 year old oak with huge branches and a first step that could maim you if you missed the ladder. We had "bb gun fights" with no shooting above the waist--must have thought everyone was a pretty darn good shot! We tore an old Triumph car apart and left a chassis to drive through the fields and woods with total abandon. We found a tree that had fallen into a Y of another tree and created a perfect teeter totter that when raised was at least 30 feet off the ground. One brother still clearly remembers when we held one end down until he climbed out and then let go! His bounce on t... More About: Military , Play , Families , Boys
Field Excercise at Fort Hood: Contacts for Military Spouses
2008-05-12 16:11:00 Military spouses have learned so much since the crud of the Viet Nam war. We have united, we share emotions, we gather for information, we speak up, and we even accept help when it is given. The baby boomers who served in the 60's and 70's with whom I have talked, do NOT have good memories of their service time. Most felt it was a 'sentence' that they wanted over ASAP, and then some! The Viet Nam War era spouses had no contact with other spouses: support groups just did not exist.Ahhh we have come a long way. We encourage, pass on information, check on others and have open dialogue with our unit's spouse organization. There really is organization in the military!When and where is one of these gatherings taking place? Fort Hood June 17 and 18, 2008. Read the blog posted May 6, 2008 for the great details.I mention the history of spouses to emphasize the importance of this get together. I was at the last AWTR Field Excercise. It was PHENOMENAL. Tara and Star run a great program -... More About: Military , Contacts
Back to the grind-stone
2008-05-12 14:35:00 Well it is clearly a Monday here in the great Midwest. It is rainy, cold and my head is throbbing. But I look forward to this week. We are going to get back into a routine. I enjoyed a week at my parents' house, "over the river and through the woods" as we like to call it. I get quite pampered by my mom there and it was nice to share some of the boys' bedtime reading responsibilities with my dad. In fact, I was dreading leaving. We headed home though yesterday after lunch and as we pulled into our driveway I took in a big breath of familiarity. The boys had pulled out their scooters within one-minute of jumping out of the car and were racing back and forth on our sidewalk. The answering machine was checked, the car unloaded (and piled in the kitchen) and I had a load of laundry going within 30 minutes. Yes, it felt good to be home!So this morning the 5 year-old is back at preschool. The 3 year-old is enjoying some morning PBS and the washing machine is STILL running ;).... More About: Stone , Back , Grind
My Mom on Mother's Day
2008-05-09 16:30:00 I stepped out early this morning to take in a breath of fresh air with my coffee! It was a brisk 35 degrees at 0630 and I was glad I could return to the house after taking in the early morning sunrise. I had a flashback moment though looking down on the flower bed when I saw "my mom's trilliums"!Trilliums are a wild flower with white flowers and long stems (an important factor for later discussion) and they always come up in the Midwest woods just before Mother 's Day which is another critical piece of this story. Before military life and its many relocations worldwide the arrival of the trillium in my parents' woods was fair warning that Mother's Day was on the horizon! Our woods was loaded with thousands of them! My siblings and I would gather handfuls of these beautiful flowers for HER special day! We didn't have malls or money to do much shopping but we loved that smile on her face with the trillium in her hand and later in a vase. We lost our mom at a very early age t...
Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!
2008-05-09 15:41:00 Today is the Friday before Mother's Day which makes it Military Spouse Appreciation Day. It is not something you will find on a Hallmark card or a special display of gifts to buy at your local box-store, but it still leaves me feeling proud of the women that came before me and the women (and men) that will follow in my own footsteps.Here are some great articles written for our spouses about 'Military Spouse Appreciation Day'. Take the time to read them & then give yourself a big pat on the back (and your fellow spouses, too) because as the saying goes:"Military Wives - The Toughest Job in the Military"Military spouses deserve appreciation every day Army Showing Appreciation to SpousesBush, Gates Honor Military Spouses at White House Ceremony- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.comVisit us at MilitaryAvenue.com More About: Happy
Military Spouse Appreciation Day
2008-05-08 15:02:00 I have to start off this blog with a funny story (well some may not see it that way but hey we all have a different funny bone). While living in the Puget Sound area we had the privilege of hosting an international visit from a Scandinavian country's military leadership at McChord Air Force Base. The visitors included the spouse of their equivalent to our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and my military spouse (who had a full time job and had to take time off) acted as her hostess. They watched the Air Force falcon birds perform on the flightline, visited the child care centers and other interest areas during the day. During one of their conversations the General's spouse stated that she received a stipend for being a military spouse when required to attend events. She was being paid to travel and at home during "official events" she also received a salary! Later during dinner at the Space Needle my lovely bride turned to me and said how much did I think she should be paid for h... More About: Military , Appreciation , Spouse
A Minute Out of the Norm: "I Spy... Nature"
2008-05-07 15:59:00 AH Spring... flowers are in bloom, grass is turning green, there are new things to discover every day in the eyes of a preschooler.This week I am visiting my parents. They are about a five-hour drive from my home so when we go to visit we usually stay awhile! (Not that I can complain about five hours. We were many many more hours away from my own grandparents growing up.) My parents' have a great home for their grandsons to visit: acres of property, hills to rough and tumble on, old 'hunter's stands' for great forts, and a dirt driveway for Tonka-trucks and -bulldozers. What more could could the little guys want?!Well maybe to be home. The whining started yesterday afternoon, I'm bored, I miss my bike, I miss my friends... etc etc. I racked my brain with thoughts of what can we do during down-time when they are wanting a little "Mommy" time. So after dinner we donned our 'hiking boots' and went for a nature walk. We put wild-flowers, grass, clover, even a wild-turkey feather ... More About: Nature , Craft , Minute
Attention all Ft Hood Spouses!
2008-05-06 22:40:00 Have you heard the good news?!Crooks & Henderson are coming to FORT HOOD!Crooks & Henderson train, encourage military spouses; you can help!Statesboro, GA; April 24, 2008 ? Based on the highly-successful seminars presented by spouse ?celebrities? Tara Crooks and Star Henderson in 2007 at Fort Stewart, Georgia and Fort Bragg, NC, they have created a 2008 Field Exercise?: Priceless Packages, Military Spouse Workshop Tour.Next stop: Fort Hood , TX, June 17-18.Join sponsors, USAA and ConAgra Foods! Sponsorship at any level is a tremendous value and a unique opportunity to brand your business/organization and showcase information in a friendly and intimate setting. Your organization will be seen by a minimum of 300 military spouses as an organization that desires to personally connect with and serve the needs of all military spouses.Army spouses are a very loyal group and motivated to spread the word about worthy products and services they believe in. The appreciation felt for the... More About: Attention
Mother's Day at MilitaryAvenue.com
2008-05-06 15:46:00 MilitaryAvenue.com is a website for the military community and military families and this Sunday is Mother 's Day! It is certainly a great opportunity to recognize our military moms and the important role they play in our country's security!Our family was not a unique family in that we frequently relied on mom (and spouse) to play multiple roles in a frequently crazy lifestyle that demanded she be teacher, coach, driver, household goods mover, cleaning person for a government house we were leaving during a PCS, nurse, dad during my frequent and long absences and the job description goes on and on! Her resume is impossible for most to match!From a husband's perspective I could not have asked for a person to be a better mom for our children! Deb provided the best for them and insured they were loved, cared for and she helped prepare them for the adult world they would enter! Quite a chore in this day and age and so many military mom's do it successfully even with the tough challeng...
Let Freedom Ring
2008-05-02 21:31:00 It was Monday late-morning and we were waiting for the call from Hubby to say we could come out to the Armory and spend some time with him. My mother-in-law had dropped him off that morning as she, my father-in-law and our 14 year old headed home.The 5 year-old, 3-year old and I had enough PBS for the morning and were about ready to start pulling our hair out. We had walked the halls of this late 1950s hotel. We had strolled outside to the closed-pool that was in much need of maintenance. We had lingered in the lobby with the cool 'frog fountain' that I was rather unimpressed with but it kept the boys busy... for all of three minutes.So we gathered back in our hotel room to play this waiting game a little bit longer when all of a sudden I heard it. This wasn't a train, a semi-truck rolling down the highway, nor a diesel school bus pulling around the corner. No, that engine I heard was the "Roar of Freedom ". I threw open the window (well cracked it anyway... it was pretty cold out... More About: Ring , Jets
The T-38 Losses and Supporting Our Military Families
More articles from this author:2008-05-02 15:29:00 I have been watching and reading the news about the two recent T-38 crashes in which 4 aircrew have been killed in a week and having flown that plane for several years I can really empathize. Our prayers and thoughts for the families of the crews reflect the same concerns and feelings for our sad losses in Iraq and Afghanistan . The pain is real and we all feel it in some way. I can remember when my father went out to the Sheppard AFB Runway Supervisory Unit at the end of the runway to watch me do some takeoff and landings. I felt a lot of pride and then a short time later a family doing the same thing watched their son's plane crash in front of them. What a loss and what pain!Why do we do these things that put us at risk? Psychologists have a great time trying to figure that out. A very high percentage of military personnel have a deep confidence in their own abilities and do not believe bad things will happen to them. We do our own self assessment and risk management (whethe... More About: Military , Losses , Families 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |



