Army Household6

I got to the event a bit early and was wowed at the site of the all the people that are here at the Washington Convention Center… soldiers, family members,etc. I haven’t made it down to the exhibitor floor yet as I stopped to watch the opening ceremony of conference. I have to say that was pretty cool.

Secretary of the Army Pete Geren was the keynote speaker. Sec. Geren spoke a lot about soldiers and their familes. He talked the strength of the Army were soldiers and families taking care of soldiers and families.

During the Press conference, GEN Casey talked about what they were going to do as an entity. THere was some brief discussion about what lies ahead. It seems that Gen Casey and the rest of the Army is going to focus on the Army families, among other things.

The thing i was most impressed with are the number of initiatives that they have proposed that will help all Army families, not just the Army spouse and the Army brats under 18. For we all now that the “Army family” extends beyond just that. It includes soldier’s parents, brothers and sisters

After the big press conference with Secretary Geren and GEN Casey, I ventured down to the Expo floor. I was completely wowed at the amount and caliber of the  vendors that were there not to mention the amount of “brass” that was there . Everytime I turned around I was bumping into some member of Senior Army Leadership.  : )

The highlight of the day was definitely meeting Mrs. Casey. I tried to ask a question during their presenation and didn’t get a chance. I approached her Aide about asking a couple of questions to her. We talked for a few minutes about being an Army wife, and some of things that she and GEN Casey talked about. I talked to her about the website that LAW and I have been working on and she was very interested in providing more support for parents of our single soldiers.

The day ended with a Bloggers’ Roundtable with several members of Army leadership, including MG MacDonald (Commanding General of MWR Command)  .  We talked about several key topics from casualty assistance to more support for parents of our single soldiers. We talked a great deal about doing more for our single soldiers and the Army is going to be creating some publications and information specifically for those parents of our single soldiers. Make sure to check out Parents Zone for more information.

Overall the theme of the day was that if the family isn’t ready, the unit isn’t ready. I wholeheartedly agree with this. We need to make sure that all soldiers and their families are truly ready for the mission, whatever the mission is.

I’ll be posting some of the pictures tomorrow along with a recap of day two, so stay tuned…

On Monday afternoon, AUSA held its first of 3 Family Forums during this week. This one featured GEN Casey and Mrs. Casey.

The room was completely packed with  Army spouses. It was pretty amazing to see as it was standing room only of FRG Leaders, Army spouses, soldiers and Army Spouse Employment partners. The vibe in the room was absolutely amazing!

Mrs. Casey talked a great deal of the stresses that we endure a great deal but we also get a lot too.  She suggested that ” we live in an attitude of gratitude.”  She also talked about about how our life is a balance of being mom, Army wife, Household manager, etc. She even admitted that after 38 years of Army life that she sometimes isn’t able to “juggle all the balls in the air.”

GEN Casey talked a great deal about soldiers and families as well as  his commitment to Army Families. He said ” we need to sustain soldiers and families , for its all about the people. ” He spoke of how he is working on implementing a 6 month reset from deployment (basically dry dock, no training, nothing).

He also mentioned that we are not going back to the ways of pre-9/11 and our need to transfer all our support programs to support soldiers and families as well as working to have 1 year deployments with 2 years at home.

GEN Casey also described FY 2009 as the year of deliverance! He stated that we have to do a better job of getting the word out. The Army is also going to focus on demystifying the healthcare system and making things standard no matter what location you are at. He did ask from a commitment from us ( Army families) that the Army needs our help to make this happen.. it’s a partnership after all!

GEN Casey also talked about our single soldiers too . He said that many of our programs focus on the married soldiers and their families but we need to remember our single soldiers as well. The Army is going to invest more time and opportunities into meeting their needs as well as the needs of those soldiers’ families. (parents, sisters, girlfriends, etc)

There is more information coming on this point in a later post . LAW (of ParentsZone) got to participate in a Bloggers Roundtable and we talked a bit about supporting parents.

I’m live blogging / twittering over at Twitter through out the day.. You can read all about it at http://www.twitter.com/tammymunson

Yep I went over to the Covention Center in DC yesterday to pick up my press credentials with my personal asssistant (aka Rebecca). First of all that place is quite big(hope I don’t get lost)  and the AUSA folks were already doing a great job with navigation and getting things set up.

Lindy, the press coordinator, give us the low down on all that will be happening as well as a brief tour of the facilities. We couldn’t go down on the Exhibit floor yet as they were still constructing the exhibits and I had Rebecca with me.

I did take a picture of Miss Becky in the “official ” Conference room” I think she’ll be ready for the press conferences in a few years??

I received this info from the editors at Military.com –

We want to know how you plan to celebrate Veterans Day. Record a short video message detailing how your family or your local military community celebrates this holiday. Then, upload your video titled, “How I Plan to Celebrate Veterans Day,” to Military.com’s Shock & Awe channel. Videos will be featured on our Spouse Network and the Family Newsletter.

I asked one of the editors (Kelly Johnson) over there about parents, family members posting their videos as well. She said that ” Anyone from the military community can upload a video — kids, spouses, servicemembers, etc. ”

So go ahead and post your video over at Military.com and then make sure to tell me about it. I’ll be posting mine here as well and we loved to feature a few on the blog as well. If you want to just send it to me directly, feel free to post the video URL in the comments section or email to me at tammy dot munson at gmail dot com

Yes I spent Saturday with a bunch of Marines…parents that is! As part of my duties with Military.com, I was asked to speak about blogging and some of the blogs that we have at military.com as well as other MilParent blogs that are out there. 

I have to say at first I felt a little nervous being around so much “Marine” stuff. I mean I’m definitely all Army! The attendees at the conference were amazing and certainly made this Army wife at home and very welcome. Every single one of attendees were a parent (or parents) of a actively serving military member. 

There were several new organizations that I found out about serving the needs of the milParents, so they can better support their son or daughter. I’ll be posting a few of those resources over at Parent Zone in the next few days. 

My boss, Vince Patton, and I even did a video segment on Talking with Hereos Radio Show. As soon as we get the video URL I’ll post it here!  : ) Our show will air LIVE on August 28, 2008

It was so great talking with those parents and how blogging can help them in a variety of ways. I’m so excited to see what kinds of things they start doing with their blogs.  :) 

A special thanks goes out to Mariann Jordan - Marine Parents United President - who made sure we had everything we needed as well as the rest of the event team! You all put on a great event! 

The following message is from Neal Denton, Senior Vice President,Service to the Armed Forces:

This holiday season, we have a great opportunity to bring a touch of home to wounded warriors recovering in
military hospitals across the country. As you may know, the American public has a strong desire to send holiday
cards to soldiers staying at Walter Reed and other military medical centers. However, for security reasons, the former military program was discontinued. One of our colleagues at Walter Reed suggested, “If anyone can find a solution to this - it’s the Red Cross.”

We’re proud that this season, communities across America are invited to mail holiday greeting cards along with personal messages of support to wounded soldiers at military hospitals around the country, through a
unique partnership of the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes Mailing Solutions.

Now we have a solution that will not only benefit soldiers at WalterReed, but also recovering soldiers at military hospitals around the nation. With the help of the Department of Defense, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Pitney Bowes, between now and December 27, members of the public will be invited to mail their holiday cards to:

We Support You During Your Recovery!
c/o American Red Cross
PO Box 419
Savage, MD 20763-0419

Red Cross volunteers will sort the cards for appropriate content and repackage them for shipping. Our steadfast partners, Pitney Bowes, will ship the cards to Red Cross stations at the military hospitals.

This project provides a great opportunity for chapters and station offices to coordinate resources and volunteers. Staff members at national headquarters will call each station office before packages are mailed to that military hospital. Those station managers will be looking for chapter volunteer support to help in accepting, storing and
delivering the cards.

A national news release will be issued shortly after announcing the program. Once you know that your field unit will be receiving holiday cards to distribute, I encourage you to contact your local media with the attached localizable news release, to take photos and write stories for your Web sites and to send us your stories at
SAFstories@usa.redcross.org.

For the past 6 years, Golden Corral has been honoring the US Military with a free “thank you” dinner and beverage at any Golden Corral restaurant on Military Appreciation Monday (first Monday after Veteran’s Day). This year, Golden Corral has designated Monday, November 12, 2007, from 5 to 9 pm, to honor any person who has ever served in the United States Military.

From the first Military Appreciation Monday in 2001 to the present, Golden Corral has donated 1.5 million free “thank you” meals and $1.9 million dollars to the Disabled American Veterans.

Between November 1 and November 12, 2007, the Disabled American Veterans Organization will accept contributions to be used in the local and state DAV chapters.

The Southern California chapter of Operation Homefront is offering assistance to military families who have lost homes and possessions - or just need a little extra support during the evacuation following the devastating firestorms. Operation Homefront has also created a Fire Relief Fund and is asking Americans for support.

To request assistance or for more information on the Fire Relief Fund, please visit http://www.operationhomefront.com/socal or contact Tricia de la Paz at 619-846-6491.

I saw this on Spouse Buzz and I just had to share. This video is done by Lizzy Palmer and she is only 15 years. old.

Make sure to pass it on!