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.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Profile: Susan McIntosh, Quantico

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Susan McIntosh is spending her career in service to military children. She has spent the last eighteen years at Quantico as an Education Services Officer, and before that she was a teacher in middle and high school. Her current job includes facilitating on-base college programs and tuition assistance.
McIntosh recently was appointed to the Virginia Council on the Virginia Council on the Interstate Compact  on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, where she will serve as military liaison for the voting members of the board. She was chosen from more than 40 other candidates based on her experiences in the field.
I’ve written on efforts like the Council before, which assist children from military families in the transition from one school to another. One of the issues facing the committee is differing graduation requirements from state to state. “It’s typical for children in a military school that they might go to three or four elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools,” McIntosh said in a recent article by Shandra Dyess (who also took this photograph of McIntosh at work). It’s  not just a matter of determining equivalent courses from district to district. Some school districts might require taking courses in a specific order, while another school might require a certain level of performance on standardized tests. In some places, the cut-off age for starting kindergarten is different, creating difficulties for some young students.
McIntosh relishes the opportunity to help students succeed. One wall of her small, neat office is covered with diplomas from students on base who she has helped earn a degree. By her own count, she has helped more than 8,000 of her students, including her own children reach their educational goals.  It’s nice to know there are people like Susan--many of them across the country--who are determined to serve our nation’s military children well.
Posted by About AART at 6:49 AM

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