By Terri Barnes
Published: May 22, 2012
Look out, military world. Hollywood has our number. It’s the latest in lapel-wear for celebs and news anchors. Tom Hanks has one, as do Claire Danes, Brian Williams and Steven Tyler. They and many others are sporting a golden “6” pin, representing “Got Your 6,” a newly launched entertainment industry push to support the U.S. military.
The campaign was officially launched this month, but seeds of the movement were planted last year by the national volunteer organization ServiceNation, aided by the Clinton Global Initiative and the White House.
By Terri Barnes
Published: May 14, 2012
Watching the White House correspondents’ dinner on television was disheartening. It wasn’t the political jokes or even that the Kardashians were invited and I wasn’t. It was the guests’ bad manners. Oh, I’m sure they put their napkins in their laps and used the correct fork for dessert. But their flag etiquette was sadly lacking.
Judging from the chattering and laughter, most guests at the Washington, D.C., media gala did not notice when the military color guard passed through the large room. Silence finally arrived after the colors were posted, during the opening bars of the National Anthem.
By Terri Barnes
Published: May 7, 2012
The Pentagon conference reached a consensus: We believe Michelle Obama and Jill Biden really do care about the needs and issues of military families.
No doubt the first and second ladies would breathe a sigh of relief. But they weren’t there. And we weren’t exactly in the Pentagon. We were in a mall across the street at Starbucks. Oh, and no one around the table was in uniform because each one, like me, was a military spouse.
By Terri Barnes
Published: April 30, 2012
When my father died, he didn’t leave me a fortune. He left me something better: his memories, even the ones he never talked much about.
A few years before he died in 2009, he gave me a metal box filled with photos and home movies from my childhood. He handed it over when we were visiting him in Oklahoma, just as we were leaving. He said something offhand like, “The mice are getting to this stuff out in the barn. You should take it home with you.”
By Terri Barnes
Published: April 23, 2012
During Ian Cairns’ first deployment to Afghanistan, he was moved by the poverty he saw there and conveyed those feelings to his wife.
“My husband would tell me about children walking around barefoot, and about families who couldn’t feed their children,” said Randi Cairns.
By Terri Barnes
Published: April 17, 2012
His was the first biography I ever read — at least the first one that had real chapters and more words than pictures. I was in the fifth grade, and I have not forgotten the story of his life, his writing and ultimately his sacrifice. His name was Ernie Pyle.
Faithful chronicler of military men on the front lines of WWII, Pyle covered the war from the Battle of Britain, even before the U.S. entered the war, to the D-Day invasion at Normandy, through campaigns in North Africa and Italy and to the cusp of victory in the Pacific.
By Terri Barnes
Published: April 9, 2012
Four large men in full Bavarian regalia, alpine hats and all, were speaking German. At first, I thought nothing of it. It took me a couple of seconds to reach the Dorothy-esque conclusion, “Oh, I’m not in Germany anymore.”
In fact, I was in Washington, D.C., for an experience that comes from yet another part of the world. The German tourists and I -- and a few thousand other people -- were there to see the cherry blossoms.
By Terri Barnes
Published: April 3, 2012
The cross was sitting on top of a cabinet in the basement between a dusty autographed basketball and a framed crayon drawing. Why I put it there, I don't know. We have a collection upstairs, but this one was relegated to a room where we have exercise equipment, a second-hand sleeper sofa and the third-best TV in the house.
The crosses displayed in our living room are decorative. One is Polish pottery in shades of blue and yellow. Another is polished olive wood. Others look like carved wood but are really plastic, more or less. A metal one was forged by my uncle, who is a blacksmith. Two are made of woven palm fronds from a long ago Palm Sunday service at a base chapel.
By Terri Barnes
Published: March 27, 2012
Living in a civilian community during deployment, Army wife Benita Koeman said she felt like a citizen of Who-ville, wanting desperately to be heard by an oblivious outside world.
In “Horton Hears a Who,” by Dr. Seuss, the Whos are finally heard when they band together to make noise and shout, “We are here!”
The story was part of Benita’s inspiration to create “Operation We Are Here: Encouraging the Military Home Front,” an extensive online clearinghouse of support and information for military families and the civilian communities who support them.
By Terri Barnes
Published: March 19, 2012
A soon-to-be military bride sent me a question about living overseas without command sponsorship. Here is a compilation of our email discussion, starting with her questions and comments:
My fiance is stationed in Germany currently, and we would like to get married before he is due to return to the States. Our wedding date next year is four or five months before he is due to PCS. He does not want to extend his tour, so I will not be able to get command sponsorship. (Command sponsorship requires that he have at least 12 months remaining in his assignment.)
He’s an O-1 and lives in an apartment off base. We don’t have any children, so it would be just me going to Germany to live with him. Paying for my own travel expenses isn’t a big deal to us, and there isn’t anything we would need to have shipped over that I can’t fit into a suitcase or two.
Join
Spouse Calls on Facebook
Follow
Spouse Calls on Twitter