According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, undergraduate veterans make up about 4 percent of students in the U.S. The military has affected every NSU student in some way, even if that impact simply means they are able to attend school in a relatively safe country. NSU students who have served in the military or are part of a military family, however, are impacted more directly.
According to Military OneSource, every year since 1993, the president has signed a proclamation that declares November Military Family Month.
“During Military Family Month, we pay tribute to and thank our military families for their service to our country, and we recognize the extraordinary ways in which they give of themselves for us all,” the 2015 proclamation reads.
Robert Willis, junior business administration and finance major, has been part of a military family for most of his life. His father was in the Marine Corps for 28 years, and his parents met in Bolivia when his father was in the military. Willis was born in Japan. He moved around every three years until his father retired.
Willis said that when he was younger, the move was very hard on him and his sister, but later on, he began to look forward to the move in some ways.
“I have friends all over the country,” Willis said. “I am able to move somewhere and adapt very quickly and learn how to make friends. It helped me be comfortable in a new environment, talk to people, not be afraid to go up to someone and try to be their friend, and I think that had a lot to do with who I am right now.”
In a 2014 study by Blue Star Families, an organization of over 100,000 military members and their families, the top issues affecting military families are military pay, the impact of deployment on children, change in retirement, military spouse employment and military lifestyle uncertainty.
Cerone White, senior communication studies major, said the biggest challenges that military families face are trust that the military will take care of the service member and the lack of stability that accompanies military life.
White joined the army in April 2010, serving as a petroleum supply specialist. He was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, then Fort Lewis, Washington, and was eventually deployed to Iraq for five months.
White said his mother’s biggest fears while he was in the military were, first, that he would die, and, second, that when he returned, he wouldn’t have anything to fall back on. His service made communication between him and his mother difficult.
“I was in a different world, literally,” White said. “I couldn’t send a text message or pick up the phone and call.”
Willis’ experience as a military family member was markedly different from that of White’s mother. Willis never mentioned dealing with fear related to the possibility of his father’s death, and he said that moving around together made his family closer to each other.
Willis plans to work in investments or venture capital. His long-term goal is to own a high-rise in downtown Miami and invest in businesses that have potential and need extra capital, but before that, he wants to join the military. Willis’s family tradition of military service began with his great-grandfather, which is one of his reasons for wanting to join.
“I grew up with [the military] my entire life,” he said. “I’m comfortable around it. When I was a kid, most kids would go out on the playground and run around or something, and I was running the confidence obstacle courses, and I thought it was fun. I also want to serve the country with everything.”
White said that Military Family Month is important.
“It shows the spouses and children that they’re valuable, too, because without them the service member often cannot function,” he said. “You need a cohesiveness, a structure, to help you through life. Everyone has some type of structure. They need that. It is important for them to honor those people and to tell them ‘Thank you.’”
According to Military.com, a good way to recognize Military Family Month is to volunteer time and effort when a military family needs help with something or needs a break from daily responsibilities. Naturally, each military family is different, and each family will need assistance in different areas. The best way to find out what a military family needs is to listen to them. While it is important to thank the military members who sacrifice so much to serve us, it is also important to thank the families who support them so tirelessly.
