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
In August 2013, my daughter and her husband were told their 5 yr old son, Parker, had aplastic anemia, a life threatening condition requiring a transplant. As a Coast Guard family living where the treatment needed was a 4 hour drive from their duty station, they had to relocate with Parker and 10 month old twins. Needless to say, it was a trying time for all. One parent needed to stay at the temporary apartment with the twins and another had to be in the hospital 24/7 with Parker. Through biopsies, multiple tests on all family members and blood transfusions for Parker, finally the course of treatment was determined. Parker was lucky. Without a matching sibling (sister Chloe-10months old) for transplant, he would not have had a chance in finding a match because of his father’s genetic background. After chemotherapy, the transplant took place and Parker is doing well enough to return home except for isolation at home, many anti-rejection drugs and weekly clinic visits. Through all of this, his parents have remained strong. Laura and Jamar are my heroes. And Chloe, too. I have always been proud of my children but this experience showed what a team they are and I praise them to everyone. I am lucky to have all of them in my life.
My Hometown Hero is my husband Josh. We have been friends since junior high but never got together until he separated from active duty in 2006. We had our first child together, a son, in April of 2007. After him talking about how much he missed the military we made the decision for him to join the Illinois Army National Guard so we could keep our son in one location. We now have two girls as well. We have been an extremely fortunate military family as my husband has not been able to deploy yet. A lot of people think that those in the national guard are always home but Josh is gone so much. He’s the type of person who goes early to drill and stays late to make sure everyone has what they need. He’s the type of person who volunteers to leave a week early for AT to help set things up. He’s the type of person who pulls extra weekends to run supplies to other units in the state. He’s the type of person who does every school imaginable to further his skills in the military on top of what he already has from active duty. He’s the type of person that volunteers for every deployment that comes up in our state only to miss out. He works full time as a federal technician at our local base on top of the guard. I have never seen such a person with so much drive and dedication to what he does-and he loves it. He makes me want to be so much better in every aspect of my life. He is also such an incredible father and husband. He’s the guy who comes home from work to take all the kids to play so that I may have a moment or two to myself. Moments that I do desperately need due to a disorder but hate to ask of such a hard working man. Overall, he is such an honest, down to earth, Christian valued man that is there for whoever and whenever they may need help. For me, he is the definition of a self-less man. One that I was lucky enough to be given the chance to spend forever with raising three amazing kids.
My hometown hero would have to be my father who served 30+ years in the Army! His unit located in Gulfport, MS was soon to be deployed when Hurricane Katrina destroyed our gulf coast along with their units storage containers that were packed with all their belongings to be taken overseas. I remember being at home with my mom after the storm hit and seeing my father walk up our drive in full uniform covered in sweat; he had to walk a few miles just to be able to get home. Their unit was then put on volunteer overseas service; some men decided to leave the wreckage behind and continue overseas to serve our country, while others decided to stay home to try and salvage what was left of their homes. My father went overseas! Over the years I remember him doing tours of duty in Germany, Panama, South Korea, and Kuwait. He was medically retired from the military last year, but if it was left up to him he would still be serving if his body and the Army would allow him. Although his kids are now adults I’m sure he would LOVE to see his sweet granddaughter and soon to be great granddaughter in a beautiful “hometown firecracker!”
Thank you and your husband for both of your service to our great country. Being a military wife is a job in itself, I don’t know personally but I do remember what it was like for my mother while my father was serving! God bless!
I would like to thank many family members that are military based but the one who sticks out most in my mind is my SIL, her Captain husband, and my daughters best friend our niece ADALYN ROSE. They are a humble kind family that put God first, family second, and hold the military life dear to their hearts. They will endure some tough deployments and I can only pray their faith and love will grow stronger. I admire them so much and hope to at least be able to purchase the girls dresses and let them show some pretties while supporting Uncle D.
My military hero is my husband! ♥ We met in December of 2010 just a few weeks before his deployment to Afghanistan. We fell head over hills for each other and one of the hardest decisions for us was to go ahead and date or wait until he returned. He ended up asking me to be his girlfriend and I said yes :) Having him overseas was the hardest thing i have ever went through. I was in school at the time and not being able to talk to him for weeks or sometimes even months stressed me out so much! We would Skype anytime we had a chance. Even though I loved seeing his face and hearing his sweet voice so much, It was so hard for me. I missed him so much! Those were the longest eight months of my life! Having him back home finally after the long eight months was the best feeling ever! He came back as a lcpl and is now my cpl Folsom. We are now happily married and now have a little girl. He will be deploying here soon and I can only imagine how much harder it will be this time around that we have our little girl :( I love having my military hero but hate him being away. I always try to remmeber that he is doing this for us. To keep us safe. I love my military hero. Semper Fi ♥