When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Finding the Best

An article by Elaine Wilson of the American Forces Press Service, highlights the fact that although some problems in military life are tough and intractable, they don’t all have to be.  The Sittercity Corporate Program is the country’s largest online source for important local services from babysitting, to dog walking, to tutoring.  Across the country more than a million caregivers, prescreened for credentials and background, are listed on the site. Where appropriate, these caregivers are military certified and/or military subsidized, and have access to a military installation. 

“Because of the mobile nature of military life, trusted community resources are often difficult to identify and locate,” says deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy Tommy T. Thomas. “These online tools will help service and family members attain the best match between resource and need.” 
While I imagine that on military bases, neighbors are the best source of information and help, Reserve and Guard families often live far from such support networks.  When these families face relocation, it seem as if this service would be particulalry welcome. It must be quite reassuring to know there are options other than trusting the phone book or neighbors to find quality care for one’s children in a new home.
The Sittercity Corporate Program is funded by the Defense Department, and offers active duty, Guard and Reserve families with a free paid membership to the site, which they can access at http://www.sittercity.com/dod. While the membership is free, servicemembers will be responsible for the hiring and payment of caregivers.  Good job on this one DoD!
Posted by About AART at 7:46 AM

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