Military Columnists

There was something smugly satisfying about being able to change all my tires and check my oil despite the fact my then-boyfriend didn’t even know how to pop the hood of his car.

There is nothing quite like our capitalist consumer culture to help get people in the holiday spirit.

For most of my life, veterans were my grandparents’ peers.

THE UNITED STATES is one of only three (out of 178) developed countries in the world that does not require employers to offer paid maternity leave. The other two? Papua New Guinea. And Swaziland.

THERE ARE THINGS in life you think will never happen to you. They have to happen to someone, but they won't happen to you... until they do.

I got my first job when I was 15 years old and have relished the concept of a hard day's work (and its payoffs) ever since. It's been a while since my days stocking shelves and serving coffee at Barnes and Noble, but I still look back fondly on my time there. I believe it's where I got my foundation for a pleasant and healthy relationship with responsibility and work.

With the release of "American Sniper" a few weekends ago, the Internet has been a-Twitter with controversy. There are basically two schools of thought: the people who think these movies are amazing and relatively accurate displays of patriotism and history; and those who view them as just another chance for the American media to glorify and justify war.

It's been a year since I started writing this column. In that year, I have moved out of military housing for the first time since getting married. I've finally become gainfully employed, after a painful year or so of searching; and I'm lucky enough to get to do something I love with people I respect and admire.

If you haven’t noticed, the New Year is here. The days leading up to it, my social media feeds were swamped with dozens of inspirational quotes. There were statements that declared freedom from a relationship, an old job and the hope that once the clock struck midnight, they would automatically be reimagined into this newer, better self.

THANKSGIVING growing up in my household was very traditional. It was a day of rest and vacation from school; I would spend it waking up late, playing with my siblings and cousins, and impatiently waiting for dinner.

While I should have put this list out last week, I didn't due to a list of things but mostly procrastination. Better late than never, right? 

AS A MILITARY SPOUSE, it's a given that you're probably going to move a lot. You make connections, put down the tiniest roots, and everything is yanked away from you as soon as you get comfortable.

So you get your Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders and now what? Sometimes you're given as little as a few months (or weeks, eek!) to find your next place to call home and that could be thousands of miles away!

HOUSTON, Aug. 25, 2001 The Johnson Space Center swims with backstage visitors at its annual Open House event. Some 140,000 people wander among the computers in mission control, see the 6.2-million-gallon pool where astronauts trained, and get a behind-the-scenes view of the space station normally closed off to the general public.

I'LL ADMIT, I don't know what I was expecting when I went to my husband's graduation from boot camp, but I wasn't prepared for the sea of men and women dressed like my favorite childhood teddy bear. Let me be clear: This is not a slam on Navy uniforms. They are memorable and instantly discernible - iconic, even.

LABOR DAY: a perfect endcap to a perfectly mild summer. It's time to pack up the picnic gear and pull the parkas out from the back of the coat closet. It also means tomorrow marks the end of a three-day weekend for laborers all over the country.

I RECENTLY returned from a trip to Texas, where I attended the wedding of a college friend. At the ceremony, an older woman behind us in the hors d'ouevres line asked my husband what he did. When she found out he was a sailor, she fervently began thanking my husband for his service, smiling at us as if we were a basket full of kittens.