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by Julie Pippert, Blue Star Museums Program Director
Blue Star Families members on Facebook told us all the BEST reasons to visit a Blue Star Museum over the long weekend* and I let them know about a few fun things in their area:
* check the museums’ sites for holiday hours, and contact the museum to see if there are any exclusions to the Blue Star Museum free admission.
6. Karen Francis and Jaclyn Womack agree that air conditioning is the best reason to go inside and enjoy a museum with your family.
Jaclyn said, “I'm pretty sure the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum was only slightly more impressive for its displays than it was for its AC. (We had already done all the monuments in the heat and the AC was BLISS!)”
Jaclyn and her friends might check out:
The Railroad and Heritage Museum in Temple, Texas. It’s got a cool (and A/C cool) exhibit of high style travel in the old days and you can ever take a ride on Amtrak.
5. Andrea Beitler is a fan of the learning angle.
Andrea said, “The kiddo's won't realize it’s educational!”
Andrea and her friends might check out:
Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History in Bryan, Texas. It’s got a great fossil collection and according to their site, “There is no other museum within a 100 mile radius of Bryan and College Station which focuses on natural and cultural history and encourages human interaction with nature.”
For as long as I’ve been married to my husband and his mistress: the United States Marine Corps, I’ve always lived in a community that was profoundly connected with its military base. Yuma, Arizona, Meridian, Mississippi, Leavenworth, Kansas. These are small towns where the base is more than just a swath on a map. Marine Corps Air Station Yuma is part of the identity, the landscape, and the history in Yuma. In fact, next year marks the 60th anniversary of Yuma’s endurance flight - credited with bringing back the military presence that today plays a major economic and civic role in Yuma not to mention the essential tactical impacts on our military’s readiness.
But for the past two years I have lived in the suburbs of Washington DC. We are just 10 minutes from The Pentagon and the Home of the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps – literally the nucleus of the Corps and yet, I’ve never felt so disconnected from the military. I’ve never felt so alone.
My husband is a jet pilot and most aviators need to spend some portion of their career, ‘out of the cockpit,’ as they say. Flying a desk. We moved from Yuma to Northern Virginia two summers ago, thrilled at the chance to get the hell out of Yuma, Arizona where the heat was unbelievably oppressive and where my life revolved so relentlessly around my husband’s job, his co-workers, his schedule, his squadron and his
career that I couldn’t wait to move to a town where we had something to distract us from the constant hum of the Corps.
by Karen Francis (photos by Steve Francis Photography)
Last weekend, we spent a wonderful day exploring Colonial Williamsburg. The tickets for this attraction are NOT cheap, but thanks to the NEA and Blue Star Families, we got in FREE! We called ahead, to make sure that we didn’t need to get something from MWR, to get other discounts you do, but at least for Colonial Williamsburg we didn’t. All we needed was our ID cards, and we all have those on us at all times. We got there early, because this solstice weekend has been HOT here in the Virginia area. It was very simple, we told the very nice lady that we were there to get the Blue Star Families tickets, showed our ID cards, she asked a couple of questions and voila, two tickets, for the entire weekend.
If you haven’t done Colonial Williamsburg – and you have older children who enjoy history and don’t just want water rides – it’s a great place. I wouldn’t recommend it for any kidlets under 5, they don’t want to sit still and listen, and to really enjoy this, you need to be able to do that. Children can also rent costumes – and the little girls are absolutely adorable! Now, since the weather is horrendously hot, you will be happy to know that many of the shops and buildings are air conditioned, but very inconspicuously, and quietly. But oh, was it welcome.
Memorial Day is here. That’s a day people may think about our troops, but I think about them every day. My dad is one of them and right now my dad is half-way around the world fighting the war in Afghanistan.
I’m a twelve year old girl. My Dad is in the Marine Corps. Eight months ago my dad was deployed to Kabul, which is the capital of Afghanistan. This is his third combat deployment in this war, but this is the first time I’m old enough to realize what’s happening. Mom says the first time, when I was three, I came up with lots of ideas to catch Saddam Hussein so that my daddy could come home sooner – like I would sneak up on him, scream really loud so that he would fall down, then the Marines could capture him. The second time my dad deployed, my brother was three, and he’d wake up at night and go walking around the house calling for Daddy. He never really understood that he couldn’t find him.
People sometimes wonder what its like to be a military child. Sometimes its easier, more fun than others. One of the worst times for me was last fall. I came home from swimming, and my mom told me she had to tell me something. She led me in and we sat down on the couch. I was a little bewildered, my first thought was that I was in trouble, but my mom reassured me it wasn’t that. The news that came out of my mom’s mouth was unexpected. My dad was getting deployed and would be gone a year. He would be leaving in seven days! I couldn’t believe it. Pretty soon I was crying hysterically. Tears were streaming down my face. I was repeating over and over again “He can’t go, He can’t go.” He couldn’t go – I was eleven then, it meant when he came back I’d be twelve. We had a new puppy, it would be a full grown dog. My brother was only seven, a year is such a long time to someone that age. It made me more upset to see my brother, after my mom told him, he was just playing video games and laughing with his friends, it made me really angry.
For months now, I’ve been bopping quite merrily through life. My White Knight has (miraculously) been home for over a year. We (theoretically) won’t have to PCS for at least another year. My job is (fairly) secure. Since we live off base, it’s (almost) a normal, civilian life.
I should have known better.
Sitting in my office this morning, in between conference calls and meetings, I get a call from White Knight: “There’s an IA to Afghanistan for 12 months. It sounds pretty cool. What do you think?”
Needless to say, I stopped bopping. But my response of “how long do we have to think about it” was (I thought) pretty reasonable.
At some point during the incredibly long 45 minutes that followed, while White Knight was tracking down the answer, I related the situation my sister for a little support. “Why would he want to go to Afghanistan?!” was her (less than helpful) reaction.
With that, I was booted soundly out of civilian world. This response coming from my sister, with whom I speak every morning and who has always been supportive during deployments, PSCs and a myriad of other things that she probably doesn’t completely understand, reminded of how much my life is not actually a normal civilian one.
My “because it’s his job” response did not seem to satisfy her. Shifting focus, she then asked, “I thought he was supposed to be home for a while. Can they really just make him go?”
Needless to say, I excused myself from the conversation and went to get some frozen yogurt instead. At least that tastes the same whether you’re a civilian or a military spouse.
AnnaMaria Manino White is a Marine Corps spouse and the Communications Director for Blue Star Families. She and her husband are stationed at Camp Pendleton in California.
I didn’t invite the military to my wedding, but it came anyway. The decision to get married before Iraq had been a sudden one. I had less than two months to pull together my “dream” wedding. I used the word “dream” loosely because is it ever a bride’s dream to watch her groom walk away from her with an M249 strapped across his shoulder after one week of marriage? One good thing and bad thing about having so little time to plan was that once a decision was made, that was it. No last minute changes. Everything was last minute. I told my soldier that it was up to him whether or not we had an official military wedding. He declined because “The military is going to run our lives for the next twenty years. I want our wedding to be just for us.”
So that was that. The military wasn’t invited. But on Christmas Eve 2005 two 19 year-olds exchanged vows with a big red, white and blue elephant in the room. It was there on the solemn faces of our friends and family—some of which had begged me to post-pone the wedding so I “wouldn’t risk being a young widow.” It was in the quickening of my teenage pulse as the Pastor said the words “as long as you both shall live.” And it reared its ugly head as we made special pinky-swears to each other. We said things like “I promise I’ll come home in a year.” And “I’ll be waiting for you to return.”
Last month we went to a friend’s wedding and on the way home I confessed some things to my husband. I told him that I hate weddings now because it reminds me of my regrets from our own nuptials. Of course I’ll never regret the who or the when of our marriage, but I have regretted the how.
“We did it wrong!” I complained to my husband as we drove down country roads after the outdoor ceremony. “We should have done the popular thing and had a courthouse ceremony and then had a real dream military wedding when you returned victoriously from combat.”
At least then the elephant would have been wearing some shiny brass and I would have gotten my “Welcome to the Army” sword swat.
I’ve been writing letters to my husband, and I thought it only fair to write a letter to you as well. After all, you are currently the most omnipotent presence in my life. I can’t ignore you. I can’t escape you. Even censuring you with unladylike profanity doesn’t deter you from hanging around. Like a long-lost acquaintance in need of a place to crash, you have taken up residence in my life without giving me any indication as to your exit strategy. So I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s in my best interest to accept you. But before I can fully accept you, I need to ask you for a few favors. You have to admit you owe me.
Thanks to you, my cell phone is permanently attached to my body like an extraneous appendage. I can’t leave my house without worrying that I’ll miss a call from my husband. I learned my lesson the first time I missed a call while I foolishly took out the trash unaccompanied by my phone. But even when I’m home, I think you purposely orchestrate phone calls so they come when I’m least prepared to receive them. I’m cleaning the toilet, I’m preparing dinner and have raw chicken juice dripping from my hands, or I’m on the other line with Fios tech support after waiting 20 minutes on hold. Favor #1: Can you work on the timing of phone calls so (a) I’m able to talk to my husband without fellow Wal-Mart customers eavesdropping and (b) I’m not in the powder room when the phone rings?
Check out this wonderful video from a visit to the Dallas Museum of Art for the Blue Star Museums program.
Blue Star Families and National Endowment for the Arts partnership for Blue Star Museums brought NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman and Dallas Museum of Art Director Bonnie Pitman together with a military family, who enjoyed the special treatment and tour. Blue Star Museums offers free admission to military families at participating museums through Labor Day.
My husband isn't home much. In fact most of the time it seems he's been assigned only temporary duty in our home - usually when he's asking where something goes in the kitchen or he's well-intentioned but seriously messing with our routines because he doesn't know them. So when he's home we like to max out on the quality family time. Sure, then he gets associated with the fun stuff and I'm the bad guy but I'll suck it up. That's what milspouses do, right?!
Well, we had a whole long weekend over Memorial Day when all members of the household would be present and accounted for so we thought we'd head out of town, but not too far and not spend too much money. Those might be hard requirements to meet but thanks to the Blue Star Museums initiative, Busch Gardens' "Here's the Heroes" program and a military discount at a local Hampton Inn we were able to do just that in Williamsburg, Va.
We have three children and sometimes what's fun for one is a drag for another. But all three - and Mom, Dad and Grandma - thoroughly enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg's outdoor, indoor, living and interactive museum for FREE (a significant savings BTW). We toured all the houses and restored buildings, sampled the authentic-to-the-period beverages at the restored coffee house, learned to dance in a parlor, picnicked on the grounds of the Governor's Palace, wrote our names with a feather pen and came to appreciate our history a bit more (especially how they could have born the Southern humidity in those days without A/C and in a corset). A special touch was the "Honoring Service" notation on our admission badges. Several people stopped our family to thank us for our service and sacrifice.
Lieutenant Colonel Mitch Rambin, of Shreveport, Louisiana, and commander of 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, gives colored pencils to a girl at the Summer Camp for Kids in Baqubah, Iraq, June 9. Soldiers from 5/20 Inf. were at the camp delivering soccer balls and school supplies donated from elementary school kids in America. (US Army photo by Pfc. Adrian Muehe)
DIYALA, Iraq — It’s summertime in Diyala province, Iraq. School is out, and so is the sun, along with many children playing all over the province. For a few, their summer experience will be quite different this year as they are attending a Summer Camp for Kids. This program is organized by the Red Crescent, the Middle East’s equivalent to the Red Cross, and designed for orphans and special-needs children of Diyala province from June 1 to July 31.
There are camps set up throughout the province in the cities of Baqubah, Muqdadiyah, Balad Ruz, and Al-Abarra. To assist the Red Crescent and to show their support, Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, delivered soccer balls and school supplies to the children at the Baqubah camp, June 9.
“We mixed students from all five qadas [cities],” said Hazim Sarraj, Red Crescent director for Diyala province. “We mix different ethnicities, different sects, different colors, Kurdish, Arabic, Sunni, Shia - we bring all these people here to Baqubah.”
The program is designed for orphans, but camp administrators invite children who are talented in arts, or who excel in class, to the camp to enhance their skills. While attending, young ones participate in many activities and classes such as drawing, music, drama, and English.
Attendees also take time out of their academic studies to play sports and mingle with other children in the camp every afternoon. The premises include a courtyard complete with soccer goals, a basketball hoop, volleyball court, and there are ping pong tables in the classrooms.
“We have new developments every day,” said Mr. Hazim. “We meet every week to come up with new activities for the kids.”
by Molly Blake, BSF Columnist
by Karen Francis (photos by Steve Francis Photography)
by Sophie Roth-Douquet
by AnnaMaria White
by Jacqueline Goodrich, BSF Columnist
by Michelle Galvez
