Haiti Here We Come

I don't know that anyone thinks about the impact natural disasters have on our military families, particularly families that have just experienced a long deployment of their service member.
When disaster strikes, it's not just the National Guard and the Reserves who respond, many times it's the active duty service members who are called upon to respond immediately and without complaint.

Years ago my husband deployed to FL from Ft. Bragg along with the 82nd ABN Division. He responded to the recovery efforts after Hurricane Andrew. The devastation he saw was mind boggling. He was able to stand in various places on the hurricane ravaged site of what had been Homestead AFB and see not a structure left standing. He went where duty called and as a family we remained behind. The day after he left, my daughters and I were caught in a flash flood. The Aerostar van hit a sheet of oncoming water, the car went into a 180 degree spin, struck the curb and rolled once before it came to a stop. I was lucky...although the car was not driveable, we had the means to get the car repaired. What about those military families who have a vehicle breakdown, a household expense, a devastating and unexpected event which taps their financial resources? What do these families do when the service member who is deployed is the one to navigate the repairs, address the expense or work through their financial situation to find relief.

Our military respond quickly, quietly and without the thought of their own safety or the loss to their family as they deploy. These men and women are our national First Responders and when they deploy for disasters as well as to overseas theatres of operations, families are left behind to fend for themselves. The service member leaves a gap in the family that often goes unfilled for the length of the deployment.

2 weeks ago over 8000 soldiers, sailors and Marines left Hampton Roads to respond to the earthquake in Haiti...although we can't compare the loss to a family when their service member deploys to the unimaginable loss in a major natural disaster such as this, just think would you be fully prepared for every financial crisis, every major repair, every devastating event that may befall your family if your spouse were to be gone for extended periods of time. Would you hope to have resources at your disposal that could help you get through the rough times...resources that you didn't have to "fight for" or "pay back". Resources that were provided to you because what your service member spouse does is Serve Our Country Proudly and without complaint!

I believing in supporting our freedom...supporting those who ensure our freedom and as these service members have our backs, we at Operation Homefront are committed to have theirs.