January 2009

If you didn’t already know, AAFES (Leah and I) are active on Twitter as @AAFES_STYS. Twitter is a great way to find out what people are saying about AAFES and being able to help them or let them know more about their AAFES benefit. Even better, Twitter is where we begin building relationships with our online military community.

On the blogs, Twitter and YouTube, the military is not just a customer ID, but a person with hardships, happiness and families. Survey data doesn’t mean much when you are in the thick of it participating in the military community and finding out who the customers really are. One military community participant, caught my attention with her constant enthusiasm, despite having a husband deployed. Reading and watching her combat daily struggles and joys of being a military spouse gives us all inspiration. Tara (aka @MilitaryMama) was gracious enough with her precious time to answer a couple of questions about why she blogs and her life as a military spouse with Web 2.0 tools.

Me: You are very active on Twitter and as a military spouse blogger, why did you begin using these tools?

Tara: I originally began using Twitter because I saw a chance to interact with some bloggers that I loved. It was fantastic to be able to talk with some of the women I read every day. I also found it a huge opportunity to potential meet other military spouses. At the time when I joined I hadn’t found a lot of military spouse blog/bloggers so I was hoping to use Twitter to connect. I’m blessed to say I have found lots of great women who are military spouse through Twitter. It’s great to have such a huge community to plug into. Since you move quite often in the military you never really know who you might end up meeting either!

Me: Do you tweet and write for yourself, husband, military community or all?

Tara: I write mainly for me though it didn’t start out that way. I started writing to have a place where my family and my husband’s family could stay up to date on our daughter [she was not even a month old when I started my blog]. When my husband and I dealt with our first deployment as a couple, the writing really became more for me. It was a way for me to talk about how I felt and what I was going through.

Of course though, during deployments, the writing is also for my husband. You will find random post full of pictures or something labeled For Justin. Our daughter grows and changes so much I want to keep him as updated as possible so when he pulls into a port and can get Internet access I tend to load up my site with pictures for him. When he has extra time to be on a computer I’ll point him to certain posts that I know he will enjoy or find entertaining too. I think my blog allows him to still feel connected to us, especially to our daughter Emma. He misses a lot when he is gone so it’s great to have memories captured for him to see and read.

While I still mainly blog for myself I think that any spouse who writes about their experiences as a military spouse is a support for the military community. Other spouses can relate to what you are going through, give tips and advice for what helped them, and for some just know that they aren’t alone. I find the military community so understand and so supportive and with the lifestyle we have it’s a HUGE blessing.

Me: What other online tools do you use to communicate with your deployed husband? (i.e. Skype)

Tara: Since my husband has limited access to any kind of communication home we mainly email. Basic no html, can’t send pictures, email. It is tough but it’s what we have and we use it to the best we can. I send my husband pages of email telling him about everything, even boring things, because he loves it and it’s what he asks me to tell him.

Now, when my husband is in a port and he has free time to get off the boat and be out of uniform he calls often and he does his best to do one long phone call each day. This deployment is the first time we started to use Skype. It has been the best thing ever! He borrows a friend’s computer if the computer center doesn’t have a camera and we video chat. It’s so much better than a phone call because I see his face, his expressions, and his reactions. If you can Skype with your spouse during deployments, even if it’s not often, I recommend to everyone! It makes a huge difference.

A cute story. My husband and I were on Skype and our daughter was just not into at all. She was confused because she could see and hear her daddy but didn’t know where he was and she quickly became unhappy. I put her in her high chair and I gave her a blueberry waffle. At one point my husband asked me to turn the camera on her so he could see her and talk to her. She still wanted nothing to do with it and just kept chomping on her waffle. At one point she just couldn’t take it and hide her face behind her waffle. It was so cute. Then she popped her head up, took a bite of the waffle, and slammed it to her face again to hide. It’s these kinds of moments you miss on the phone and using Skype can really help you through. Being on Skype with your spouse brings a joy and peace of mind because you are seeing them, not just talking to them, and it’s great to see that they are safe wherever they are.

Me: Are you as active in the offline military spouse community as you are online?

Tara: I am involved with are Family Readiness Group. I got to the meetings and I try to go to the events they plan. A lot of the families where we are currently stationed have kids closer to my daughter’s age so she is able to run around with them while we kind of all group watch them. FRG is a great resource for support during deployments. When my daughter is older I would love to have a bigger role in the FRG group.

On a bigger scale, sadly I’m not. I have found it really difficult to be involved with my daughter still so young. I would love to find ways that are child friendly to be involved. I would love to give back to military service personal, their spouse, and the veterans who have served our country so bravely.

Me: Many of your posts are written directly to your husband, but open for general public to read. What are the biggest rewards and drawbacks of being active in the online military spouse community?

Tara: I think the biggest reward has been finding people I relate to and connect with. You never know when you move if you will find a friend that you really get along with, that you really relate to. Also I think that’s a little bit of a drawback. You meet great wonderful people who you become close to but they are in another part of the country, sometimes another part of the world. I would love to go out for a cup of coffee with my friends I’ve meet online but for now they are all virtual friends. I think my favorite saying I’ve heard though is you never say good bye to a military friend, it’s always “I’ll see you later” because you never know if you will be stationed with them again. That also goes with my online friends; you never know if we will be stationed together or near each other.

Really I haven’t experiences any major drawbacks. I get a negative comment or two but nothing major which I feel very blessed about.

Me: How has your writing and experiences evolved since your first post?

Tara: I feel I have become more confident in my writing since my first post. I remember trying so hard to find something funny or creative or inspirational to write about. I wanted to be great and I wanted people to think I’m great. It had been such a long time since I had done any writing that I was really nervous.

Now I feel comfortable with who I am as a writer. I feel I’m reached a place in my writing that express myself well. The more I write the more ideas I have too. I’m not stressing or reaching as much as I used to for topics.

Me: How long will you continue to blog and tweet?

Tara: I really hope to keep writing for a long time. I really enjoy it. I’ve started writing for a few other sites as well which I am really excited about. It’s a great opportunity to expand my writing experience and to invoke more creativity in my writing process.

I love Twitter. It keeps me connected with friends but it’s really great way to be introduced to new people, new blogs to read, and new places online to visit. Twitter has really inspired some of my writing and I have made some great friends who I know will be lifelong friends. I will probably keep tweeting on Twitter for awhile because it still brings me lots of fresh content and people to meet.

Thank you, Tara!

Tara and her beautiful one year old daughter currently live in Submariner capital, anxiously awaiting the return of her hubby, who is currently deployed. She writes about her life as a Submariner Wife on her personal blog This Military Mama as well as for the Military Bliss channel at Blissfully Domestic. She provides weekly articles at Type-A Mom, as the 20-something Mom’s topic editor. You can also find her at Party Planning Professor writing about ways to celebrate with loved ones who aren’t near in her column Celebrating with Distance. She is also being courageous enough this year to weekly Vlog her successes and failures of healthy eating at NewBaby.com. Tara enjoys shopping for the perfect outfit, shoe hunting, and scrapbooking. She currently is relying on good TV [ahem, Lost] to get her through this deployment.

Tagged as: Military Community, twitter

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