4 Great Books for 4th of July – 1001 Things to Love About Military Life

Today I’m happy to share a guest post from the authors of 1001 Things to Love About Military Life – long-time military spouses Tara Crooks, Star Henderson, Kathie Hightower and Holly Scherer. Two of these spouses – Kathie and Star – are also veterans. All four inspire and encourage other spouses to get connected, be grateful and reach for their dreams.

Their work goes way beyond writing. Tara and Star are co-founders of Army Wife Network, providing interactive empowerment for military spouses through weekly Army Wife Talk Radio podcasts, blogs, and social media galore. Kathie and Holly are co-authors of Military Spouse Journey: Discover the Possibilities & Live Your Dreams (due out September 2013), and have partnered together for many years to provide Follow Your Dreams While You Follow the Military™ workshops to spouses of all services worldwide.

I asked these wise spouses to share ideas that could help military spouses celebrate the joys of military life. Here’s what they had to say:

We’ve all heard an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But, what about a letter a day? Research shows they may keep a doctor away as well.

The benefits for military members come from the tangible reminder of support. In challenging times like basic training and especially wartime deployments, letters from home lighten the emotional load of frightening circumstances. They do so in a way that is different than text messaging, video chat, and emails. In fact, if the research is to be taken at face value, it is letters, not the other, that can lessen the symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Why?

Consider # 239 in our book, which describes letters from home as a way of holding hands across the miles. They are portable and tangible. Emails could be printed, but you’d be hard pressed to find a printer in the “MWR tent.” Texts are to letters what powdered iced tea is to the real thing; it’s NOT the real thing.

Through a letter you nearly touch the other person, you faintly smell the other person, and you effectively see the personality of the other person, in the slants, lines, and curlicues.

Kathie remembers an AP photo in her local paper that tugged at her heart. It showed a soldier, with a tank in the background, holding a letter to his nose. The caption read, “Army Specialist inhales deeply before opening a perfume laden letter from his wife.” The article continued, “he ripped into it with an ear-to-ear grin”—one of the many happy Soldiers of the 3d Infantry Division, surprised and delighted by an unexpected mail call as they moved forward in Iraq.

# 58 of 1001 Things to Love About Military Life is mail call and mail drops, a long-standing tradition and a favorite of service members across the ages.

Kathie and Star vividly recount what mail call felt like for them during their own military training and tours many years ago. The anticipation as everyone gathered round. The heart-centered tweak of exhilaration when you heard your name called. “I can recall viscerally my sigh and quick turning away from the crowd when my name was not called,” adds Kathie.

When Kathie’s husband deployed in Bosnia as part of the United Nations forces during that war, the only communication they had was very erratic snail mail—no email, no Skype, no telephone connection.

She wrote letters every few days. And sent care packages. The writing was therapeutic for her as was putting together care packages, adding the strawberry Twizzlers and sunflower seeds her husband enjoys. “I felt like I was doing something at least and connecting in the only way possible,” she says.

The power of the hand written word is one reason we convinced our publisher to include journal entry spaces in our book. Military families can capture their own memories in writing, to connect the individuals, their memories, and future generations years later.

Now it’s your turn.

To enter the 4 Great Military Spouse Books for 4^th of July giveaway, share three things *you* love about military life in the comments below. Please post only one comment per day and come back tomorrow to enter again! (See the details here.)