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 husband and I met 10th grade year of high school. We were always best friends, but had significant others the whole time we were in high school. After graduation we lost touch and kinda went our seperate ways. A couple years after high school my Josh added me in Facebook, and he was in the army in Iraq serving our country. We talked about old times and picked up where we left off, but still had boyfriends and girlfriends. After serving our country for 7 years, being in Iraq China Iraq again he finically returned home. He then wrote me on Facebook and asked me to lunch. I had never been so nervous in my life because I secretly had a crush on him this whole time as did he. And for once we were both single! The date went perfect! We have been married for a year and together for 3 and haven’t spent a day apart since. This man worked so hard serving our country, and has PTSD today. Works very hard today to provide for his family and raise his son in a Christian house hold. For this I am forever greatfullllll.
My hero will always be my grandmother. She is 95 now and list my granddad 8 years ago. He was a lieutenant colonel and fought in ww2 and all the conflicts thereafter. She managed to raise 3 children and 7 Japanese orphans while he was absent the majority of those years. When he finally retired she managed to make his life as comfortable and carefree as possible while he dealt with the aftermath and heartbreak of war. She is the most dedicated citizen and still manages to go to cemetery on post each weekend to place flowers on all of the unmarked graves. I pray that I can honor my family and country like she has continued to in his honor. She wears a flag pen everyday, even if only on her housecoat. My daughters birth has bred the life back into her soul and for that reason I nominate her. A true American Heroes wife!
I would like to nominate my sister and brother-in-law. They were high school sweethearts and have been married 10 years with 3 beautiful children. Last April, my then 3 year old son was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a rare childhood liver cancer. This diagnosis obviously devastated our whole family. Following chemo, my son ended up with a liver transplant and we’ve been on our journey for 9 long months. During that time my sister and my brother-in-law stood by our side. Even though for most of the time we’ve known each other, we didn’t get along, my brother-in-law adores my son, and he is his Godfather. I’ve never seen my brother-in-law scared, but I saw it the day he walked into the PICU and saw my son bright yellow from the jaundice and on a breathing machine. See, my brother-in-law is a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq & Afghanistan and he’s seen A LOT. He’s one of the strongest people I know. This past Christmas, my brother-in-law wrote a very touching, heartfelt, emotional letter to my now 4 year old son and handed down his Army Ranger beret. Next to receiving the gift of his liver, that gesture by my brother-in-law has been the most touching gift we’ve ever received. My sister is a self proclaimed WDW addict :) Their son and 2 daughters would look dashing in these outfits!
I would love to nominate my friend, Carla Sposito. She’s an Army wife with two young daughters. Her husband has been in Korea for nearly 15 months, and she’s counting down the days to his return now. We met and bonded during an Afghanistan deployment, and I couldn’t have done it without her friendship and many, many play dates. She’s a friend forever! This would be such a special dress for either of her girls!
Tracey Greene is my favorite military spouse. She has so much heart it is incredible. I grew up with Tracey as she lived one street over from me. When we were in middle school her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time. She wasn’t supposed to survive the first time but made it to remission before it came back. When her mother passed Tracey and I drifted apart. Tracey went to a bad place and started hanging with a different crowd of people. Not long after her mothers passing, her father moved them to Pennsylvania and we lost touch. With the help of facebook we have re-connected. Her husband is in the military (airborne I believe) out of Ft. Bragg. They had their daughter in November of 2011. When Claire was three months old he had to go over seas for 9 months. In January of this year he has had to return to Afghanistan for another 9-12 months. She is my hero. She overcame the loss of her mother and found God again. I wish I had half of her strength to do what she does and she does it all to help others. She recently came to stay with me after her husband deployed and she drooled over my 11 WDW outfits. I offered for her to borrow them any time she wants. I have the HF bubble from last year and she eyed it but I could see she might have taken me up on it if it was the dress. I think if she won one she would be ecstatic! We thank her every day for what her husband does to protect this country and she is very humbled by it!