I just wanted to take a moment and introduce myself. I am so excited to be blogging for families.com on this topic and I can’t wait to get to know everyone here.
A bit about me:
My name is Trudy Marshall-Bowler and I am the wife of a Michigan National Guardsman. My husband spent 2005 in Iraq and I spent 2005 trying to find my way when I was thrust into the life of a “waiting wife”.
I discovered many things in that year and also discovered that for some reason military family issues were often covered by people who had never been in my shoes with little understanding of what it took or what it really felt like to sit back at home and pray that nobody in a military vehicle would pull into their driveway.
I had always had a great love for my troops but during 2005, I became passionate about not only my troops but also their families. It has become my mission in life to make sure our troops are supported and that our military families have a realistic voice to speak for them.
My goal for this blog it to create an interactive soft place to land for both our military members and their families, please feel free to contact me anytime with questions, concerns, thoughts or ideas for what you would like to see here.
Being the wife of a soldier, I tend to refer to our US Military as soldier’s, please don’t take this as a shun to any other branch, I have the utmost respect for all branches but for general purposes, it is likely I will make reference to soldiers as a whole versus a specific branch.
Please remember that as a family member any emotion you are feeling is one that anyone in your shoes has probably felt before you. We are trained just as our spouses are trained but nobody can prepare you for the tumultuous life that we lead, please don’t feel guilty for feeling any genuine emotion even if that emotion is anger, believe me it is completely normal and probably even a bit healthy. Do keep in mind if your soldier is thousands of miles away, slamming cupboards that he can’t hear you slam is a very hollow victory.
Again, I look forward to getting to know everyone and I hope that I am able to offer something here that will be of use to you.
Helping children deal with deployment
Families.com Military Families Forum