Anyone else still have a copy of the TIME Magazine, with the three servicemembers in uniform - that proclaimed servicemembers as the TIME Person of the Year?


I do, my son and husband were both deployed that year, and I thought it was a fitting tribute to them and all the others in uniform.

This year, Kristen Tsetsi, who wrote the book Homefront, is spearheading the effort to get TIME to declare the military FAMILY as the Person of the Year. She's called it LIFT - Like It For TIME. On February 28th, Kristen will be posting a letter that she'll be sending to TIME Magazine , not by email or posting on line - but a paper and ink letter. The plan is, we all print it out, sign it (add something personal) and buy a stamp, put it in the post.

The goal is to overwhelm TIME Magazine with letters from across the country. The letters will introduce the editors to the idea, and with luck, they’ll get so many of them it will attract media attention.

Media attention is key to the effort. If the military family community and its supporters make enough of an impact to be addressed by the media, people will have to take an interest.

The date for this flooding? March 4th (March FORTH) I'll be interviewing her soon, but I wanted to make sure that all our readers have the website, and the Facebook link - we need to LIFT the awareness of military families. The White House has been doing it, The Oprahness happened, now it's up to us to get this additional word out. So - get ready.

Here's the Facebook page. And here's the website.

I'll be printing and sending, I'll send copies to my family - how about you? Can we count on you too? If you are a journalist, if you know a journalist, will you send them the notice to get the word out? We may be only 1% of the population, but we can make some noise!

LAW

Xposted from Left Face

Don't Ask, Don't Tell - cont'd

X posted from LeftFace

The DADT repeal dialogue continues, on both sides of the issue. A friend to many of us, Lily Burana, who wrote a wonderful book "I love a Man in Uniform" and who is a tireless advocate for military spouses, wrote an op ed in the LA Times. Lily brings it to "our" side of the military, to the spouses, the ones who host the lunches, who run the FRGs, who try to support each other during the deployments. A blogger she quotes in the piece, who quips that acceptance will be final when the domestic partners are welcomed by a bunch of "snobby officers' wives" may not be all wrong! Lily jokes about that timeworn attitude...

But we aren't entirely what this man suggests, blinkered domestic biddies clutching our pearls and our outmoded mannerisms, possessed of no greater largesse or intellectual sophistication than what we leech from our husbands: Inclusiveness? If you say so, dear.

We don't have to ask, and we will (one hopes) not tell, but in our little world, being gay isn't exactly a secret. We all know the "confirmed bachelor" the "haven't found the right guy/girl yet" who has a room mate, or close friend, that no one is allowed to acknowledge as being so much more than that. I, for one, cannot imagine not being allowed to acknowledge a person who is so integral to my life.

Lily also said something that rang - like a very clear bell - in my mind, while discussing the opposition from those affectionately called "The Pachyderms", the senior brass we revere for their past service, but whose opinions sometimes show their disconnect from the present day Army. (emphasis added)

Yet as much as I acknowledge their right to their position, I won't refrain from voicing my opposition. My conscience — as a wife, as a patriot, as a freedom-loving American — demands it.

I understand that the repeal is a top-down decision, but until the administration and the brass figure out how best to proceed, I will do what the good Lt. Gen. Mixon suggested and what the DOD requested: I will share my opinion — that the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" is less about what we military family members do or don't want than about what is right. And what is best, in the long run, for our nation's military.

As for me, LAW, I'll respect anyone's right to an opinion, even if I think its wrong, it's daft, it's not grounded in anything I recognize as fact; and yes, I'll be pretty dismissive of the "facts" as seen by those whom I personally feel are not really worried about facts, but have a deep seated, illogical (to me) prejudice for anyone who is not "the same". BUT I will NOT stop advocating for the repeal, I will NOT stop letting my voice be heard; because MY conscience demands it too.

LAW

A thank you and a promise, from a lady!

Mrs. Obama wrote this letter, to us as military families. I won't link to the military.com version, because I am completely ashamed of the vitriolic, racist, revolting comments that have vomited forth from some of the commentors over there. But I wanted to share it with my readers. Tears are not far from the surface this week... and every time I read this, I do get choked up. Because finally, finally, someone is saying what I always wanted a person in her position to say - that they get it.

for those of you who wish to spew your nastiness - don't do it here.

On my way to the BSF4O victory celebration at Ft. Belvoir - and there's an inaugural ball in the ballroom downstairs as well. For the first time in 8 years, I have hope.

LAW