MilitaryAvenue.com - Our Letters to You

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4

We Have Lost a Friend and a Military Dog Brat
2008-06-09 22:44:00
We named her after the President of Iceland in the early 90s and had to spell it wherever we went! Vigdis joined the family in Annandale, VA after our return from Iceland in 1992 when I was assigned to the Pentagon . She never left our side for 16 years. She played with us, our neighbors' dogs, our friends and eventually our grandsons too! Always friendly but also a defender in time of need. Her picture doesn't reflect the German Shepherd in her but her heart did! An intruder found out the hard way one evening! She hated air travel but loved the freedom of a large yard at McChord AFB and one evening at Charleston AFB she decided to go on her "own" walk on the trail around the base! Friend s saw her on the trail and called us and we think she did the loop like we did as a family! She came home tail wagging and seemingly telling us she didn't need us all the time! Described in her older age as "Gentle Vigdis" she could take a treat from a one year old without touching their...
More About: Lost , Military , Pets

Some Days Just Were Not Meant to Be
2008-06-09 15:26:00
Yesterday started kind of normal; I went to church and came home to a snack (more of a snack than dinner since I was fixing and eating it while my bride was out of town). Then I decided to mow the grass which has grown a bit with all the rain we are getting. I started mowing and the tractor made some loud noises and I looked back and realized I was plowing versus mowing! Once side of the mower deck was digging this neat trench in the grass. Pulled the tractor into the garage and realized I needed a new spindle on the left side of the mower (just changed the right side two weeks ago so I had a bit of experience with this). Two hours later I was done sweating and pinching my fingers; I had the deck off the tractor and the worn out spindle removed! Yeah! Off to the garden to pull some weeds that enjoyed the rain too for an hour of stretches!Dinner time! Ate healthy again with my veggies and all! Felt good about the day despite the tractor/mower problem so I decided to go into ...
More About: Michigan , Days

News You Can Use: MilitaryAvenue's News Reader
2008-06-05 16:16:00
Do you have a blog or a website that other military families enjoy? Here is a great tool for your use:Everyday we scour the ".mil world" for relevant articles and news that we think you will find of interest. You can share this news with your fellow military families and keep them informed. If you would like to have a MilitaryAvenue.com News Reader on your site simply copy and paste the following html code on to your site:<div style="border:2px solid #243E89; width:240px; height:290px;"><embedsrc="http://ww w.militaryavenue.com/upload/rssreader.swf "height="290"width="240"allowscriptaccess ="always"allowfullscreen="true"/></ div>If you decide to post it on your site let me know! I will gladly post a link back to that page on MilitaryAvenue.com so that others can see your work in action. - Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com Visit us at MilitaryAvenue.com
More About: News reader

To Our Military Families: America Supports You
2008-06-04 21:11:00
The Team at Military Avenue.com is very excited this afternoon as we have been selected as a corporate supporter of America Supports You! We believe in you, our American military families and recognize the stress that current operations place on you! We have team members who include an Army National Guard active spouse, Military Brats, Air Force spouse, and retired Air Force. We have lived the lifestyle and enjoyed the rewards and shared the challenges too!America Supports You says this about themselves: "America Supports You is a Department of Defense program that provides opportunities for citizens to show their support for the US Armed Forces. The program was launched in 2004 in an effort to highlight citizen support for our military men and women and communicate that support to the members of our Armed Forces at home and abroad."We want to support you and provide the best data available for your next relocation, lifestyle choice or travel needs! We now have over 6,100 Partner lis...
More About: Families

The Weather in Baghdad and Kabul
2008-06-03 22:50:00
I can be a Weather Channel junkie! We just had a wonderful rain shower and it made our spring flowers perk up big time as we had been dry for a bit! I was cheering for it so I wouldn't have to drag garden hoses around tomorrow to get the vegetable garden some refreshment. While enjoying the cool breeze and listening to the rain fall I had a quick thought! What is the temperature in Baghdad right now? Hmm, according to a weather website it is 88 degrees and it is 11 PM and tomorrow's forecast is for a high of 106! Think of our comforts and ability to adjust the dial of our air conditioning, ceiling fan, opening the window to let in the cool breeze and other methods of cooling ourselves. Then I transition to our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and think how hot the body armor is, the lack of a place to cool off and the overheated bodies and uniforms in need of a shower and cleaning. Then I jump to a Humvee filled with hot and stressed bodies and then to an airc...

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