Military spouse finds 'home away from home' outside family

  • Published
  • By Kate Blais
  • Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AFNS) --  Members of our armed forces deploy for months at a time, putting themselves in harm's way far away from their families. Airmen, often along with their families, are given orders to a new place every few years because the Air Force needs their talents elsewhere.

But what happens to the people they leave at home and those they bring along with them from installation to installation? Thanks to the support she's received from her Air Force Family, one particular Global Strike spouse says she's doing just fine.

"I've been chasing this ball around since 1990," said Michele Williamson, Global Strike Command chief scientist executive support, whose husband, Lt. Col. Dean Williamson, Eighth Air Force deputy of safety, is deployed to Southeast Asia. "We've been to nine different bases since then. But, if you just open yourself up a little bit, you can walk onto a new base and the first day you have 200 friends."

Williamson is referring to the network of military spouses found throughout the Air Force. This network supports and relies on each other, she said, not because they're related, but because they have an inherent bond and natural tendency to reach out to one another.

"It's a built-in friendship with people who understand immediately," said Williamson. "You don't have to explain yourself, they just understand."

For example, when a fellow military spouse saw Facebook posts from a mother of three young children, with another one on the way, who had became overwhelmed and appeared to be giving up, that spouse organized 22 additional spouses from Barksdale to lend a helping hand.

"We spent eight hours that day cleaning her house," recalled Williamson. "She was screaming for help without actually asking for it. It's not charity; it's what family does for each other. If I need something done, I can throw it out there to an e-mail group of 20 different spouses. For example, I need a carpenter, anybody got a name? They have a name."

In addition to offering support, Williamson said spouses organize fundraisers, have game nights and participate in home schooling groups.

While Williamson describes the spousal networks as a positive presence on each base she's lived, she said the military spouses on Barksdale stand out as a group above the rest.

"I would say specifically that Barksdale has probably got the deepest running vein. I think it's the quality of the leadership," she said. "They're a different breed here. They're fun, they're warm and they're open."

So what makes this group, which exists military-wide, throughout each branch, so close-knit?

After thinking more about this bond, Williamson went on to say that when less than one percent of the American population chooses to "follow a calling as opposed to following a paycheck," a bond is formed among the families and individuals that have chosen that life.

"It's our culture," she continued. "You go to war, we all go to war. I'm still part of the United States Air Force. I couldn't imagine doing anything else."

May 11 is Military Spouses Appreciation Day.