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Military and Veteran Family Stories

Why We Need New Official Government Proclamations of Military Family Support

Blue Star Welcome Week continues to gain support from leaders in communities across the country – leaders who see and recognize the challenges military and Veteran families face and encourage…

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Get the Most Out of the School Year: Advice From a Military Teen

As a military family, we often get lost in the sauce when preparing for our kids’ school year. We do the shopping, sign the papers, confirm bus routes, enroll kids…

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PRIDE in Network: How One Spouse Found His Again

As a successful New Zealand diplomat of 14 years, David was a well-traveled and established professional. He’d been through several overseas tours to places like Indonesia, Chile, and finally, Hawaii,…

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Sleep Number® and Kansas City Chiefs Join Together to Welcome Retired Army Family with a New Bed for Their Forever Home

Meet Neil, a retired Armor Officer in the Army, father of three, and dedicated husband. He served 21 years including five deployments during Operation Iraqi Freedom and has lived across…

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Schlotzsky’s Welcomes Military Families to the Neighborhood

Once upon a time, there was a nonprofit named Blue Star Families, founded by military families for military families. Every year, Blue Star Families would hear peers say, “We’re isolated…

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How Volunteering is Helping One Military Spouse Rebuild Community

If you’ve ever moved, then you’re likely no stranger to the anxieties of being new in town. For military families who move every two to three years on average, it’s…

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Healing Wounds with Support: A Purple Heart Story

  “Six months later, I woke up in Germany, not knowing who my parents were because of the extent of injuries that I endured. So, I was out in Germany…

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What You Should Know About Kimberly, the New Housing Insecurity DEPLOY Fellow

As the 2022 Wells Fargo Housing Insecurity DEPLOY Fellow, Kimberly has a lot to offer military families.  For starters, she understands military families. Her mother was the first Korean female…

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Military Families: Look to Your Library as a Valuable and Welcoming Resource

Authors: Barry Trott, M.S.L.S., Library of Virginia    Nicole Rawlinson, M.L.I.S., Blue Star Families When it comes to moving, military families know all the ins and outs. The average military…

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From Adversity to Advocate, Get to Know Marla Bautista

Marla Bautista, an Army wife and mother of three, knows firsthand that advocacy can play an important role in building a stronger, more supported community. That’s because she was once…

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The Challenge of Family Building and How Military Spouses Can Help

When Laci married her Air Force service member, she was informed her family building journey would be difficult and conceiving a child naturally wasn’t likely.  Laci’s story, though heartbreaking, is…

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Blue Star Welcome Week: A Community-Building Event for Military Families

By: Marla Bautista Moving to a new duty station can be an exciting, but sometimes difficult transition for military families, especially those with small children or those who don’t have…

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Valerie’s family knows what it feels like when you can’t seem to find your place in your community. After spending six years serving in the reserves, and finding stability in one location, Valerie’s husband returned to active duty. As a result, her family found themselves moving every few years, which proved to be a difficult adjustment…

Families like Crystal’s have lived, and are living, this harsh reality. She served 10 years in the military, so she thought she was more than prepared for the stressors that come with the territory. But when her husband deployed, being the one to stay behind to manage the responsibilities at home proved to be a difficult adjustment…

Lisa, a Marine Corps Veteran, was used to the unpredictable nature of military life and navigating the frequent changes. When she met her husband, who was also serving in the Marine Corps, and they started their family, the changes became more difficult to handle…

Moving is a reality all military families must accept. In fact, 600,000 military-connected families move every single year. That’s a full third of our All-Volunteer Force packing up and reporting to new duty stations—some across the country, others across the globe. When you mention moving to civilian neighbors, you may hear: “What an adventure …

Misty didn’t have any experience with the military before becoming a military spouse and, admittedly, didn’t really know what being a military family looked like. She wasn’t alone. In response to the 2020 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, 79% of active-duty military families feel the general public is largely unaware of the daily challenges they…

With four school-aged children, Erin, a Navy spouse, understands the stress of making sure military kids are happy and well-adjusted with each move. In the 18 years they’ve been a military family, Erin, her husband, and their boys have moved eight times and endured three deployments…

Jessica, an Air Force spouse and mom to five-year-old twins, understands those feelings. At the beginning of their marriage, Jessica’s husband was gone 150-200 days out of each year due to temporary duty assignments. In the last three years alone, her family has gone through two deployments and a handful of shorter separations…

Meet Celeste. She’s been a Navy spouse for nearly 10 years. In that time, her family has moved four times with their eight-year-old son. They’ve been through a few challenges with moves in the past, but this last move really pushed them to the edge. “We had 16 days from when our orders were cut to when my husband had to report…

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