who is your hometown hero?
Who is your hero? I met mine in May of 1998. He was fresh from Basic Training and I was coming out of my freshman year at LSU. A series of odd events brought him to my dorm room on the very day I was packing up for the summer. It took one afternoon to convince me that I'd found "the one". I have really great instincts. We were married in September of 2003, had our first baby in September of 2004 during flight school in Fort Rucker, AL. In 2008, he was deployed to Iraq, where he remained for a year (missing the delivery of our third baby and his first 6 months of life-- read more on that here). We recently celebrated the birth of our fifth child- and while he is no longer in the army, he'll always be my hero. 
Even being a former military wife, I'll never fully understand what our hardworking soldiers go through in times of war or separation- or that well of strength deep inside that draws them to military service in the first place. I do, however, understand the network of heroes who are left behind: the husbands and wives and children of those servicemen and women... the ones who didn't necessarily choose a military life- but proudly, humbly, bravely follow their soldiers to lands unknown. So in addition to the amazing men and women who are willing to fight and die for this country, we applaud the lesser-known heroes in trenches of their own: the tired mom who fixes toilets, mows the lawn and remembers to take out the trash... the anxious dad who drives carpool, braids hair and bakes cupcakes for class, the child who puts one foot in front of the other every day- a weary smile on his face. Our military families are the backbone of this country- and we all owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude. Having said that, W.D. Wolf wants to honor a hometown hero with "Hometown Firecracker" outfits for his or her family. So, who is your hero? Leave your nominations here. Please tell us a little bit about your favorite soldier, military spouse or family- and what makes them so very special. We will select and announce the winner this week. Love, Sarah & Shannon
My hometown heros are my sister Lauren and her husband Matt. Lauren is in the Air Force and Matt is in the Army. They met in San Antonio, fell in love, got married, and have the sweetest little curly sue Ava Ruth. Our family is very close knit and having Lauren and her little family so far from home in SC has been such a bummer. They all transfer to Germany this summer, to eventually deploy to Afghanistan, taking them even further from us. I’d love for Miss Ava to have some WDW to take to Germany and celebrate the Fourth from afar!
I would like to nominate Wren Brown family and her sweet baby girl for htf for 2014! She has sacrificed a lot by picking up and moving across the country to be with her husband as well as support him! She recently donated to help fund another military families little girls outfit for her daddy’s homecoming after being deployed! After doing so, everybody began to donate and was able to purchase the outfit for the military family! The Brown family deserves this for the time her husband has devoted to his country, and sacrifices as well as Wren for standing behind a her husband and a true hero! There little girl will look absolutely precious in the htf! Please choose the The Brown family for this give away!
My “Hometown Hero” is my husband. We have been married for 12 years and have two beautiful little girls. He joined the Army after he watched his brother who was a Marine go to Iraq 3 times and my sister who is also a Marine go to Afghanistan (2 times now). He felt the calling, so we closed our small business and he quit his civilian job. Life has been completely different since joining the military. He pretty much missed my oldest daughter, who is now 5, growing up and also the youngest who is 2 1/2. Some months we would only see him one or two days. Thankfully, he has been put into a new position and will be able to be home almost every night. The past years were very rough for all of us, but somebody has to make the sacrifice to make sure we can keep our freedoms. I am thankful for all our military members! Without them our lives would be completely different then what it is today. Thank you WDW for taking the time to hear our stories :)
I met my hero, my husband, December 21st 2005. We have two children, 17 and 2. We are an active duty USMC family and get to see our hero, Sgt Keith Nicely, about 30 days a year. He missed all of our precious daughter’s “firsts” and our sons whole high-school football accomplishments and his first day of college at 16yrs old. He is an amazing, husband, father and man. I could not imagine seeing our daughter 60 days in her whole life. He truly is our hero!!
Thea Castleman has been my best friend, since we were four years old. We are now thirty. We grew up on the same block in Gilroy, California, the Garlic Capital of the world.
I’d like to nominate her as my military spouse hero. She has sacrificed a lot to support her Air Force husband, Chris.
Thea and Chris are high school sweethearts. They have a beautiful son, Christopher, and daughter, Cameron.
Thea lived pregnant with Cameron and alone in Texas and has lived in Florida, while Chris has been deployed. Thea has worked very hard as CEO of the household and has held down her fort, while her husband has gone away for long periods of time, fighting for our country.
Thea and her family finally made their way back to California, but her husband still deploys often. Also, she lives in Southern California, not Northern, which is where all her family and friends are.
I am so proud of my best friend and how she takes great care of her little ones! I think she would be honored to have her daughter Cameron wear the Hometown Firecracker. Thea’s family represents an American family, a family that worked hard for everything they have by fighting for our freedoms and doing it on their own. Thea’s daughter Cameron is what a Well Dressed Wolf girl represents, all-American, sweet as pie, and from a family who built themselves from honest hard work.
God bless!