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.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Heading for the Y

This is really good news. A national partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense and the YMCA will provide free memberships, including day care, wellness programs and counseling services to families of deployed National Guard and military service members for six months, as well as for three months before and after the deployment. The partnership started Oct. 1, 2010, although many YMCAs had already been providing some of these services on their own initiative.  
The YMCA of Central Maryland, for example, has been providing free services for more than 500 families of deployed National Guard members since the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. With this new partnership, this YMCA and others can reach out to and accommodate more families of service members on a more systematic basis, although the program is still at this point limited to those stationed at specific bases. 
“We know these programs are key to personal health and well-being, help build strong families, and reduce stress and feelings of isolation,” said David Chu, undersecretary for the Defense Department’s personnel and readiness office.“For us, this is a very natural extension.”
“This new initiative will go a long way to help America’s military families live healthy lives,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Frank Gallo, the YMCA’s armed services director.
This is a great start, but it may be more important to focus on families not stationed at major bases, where it may already be easier to get free access to the kinds of activities and services the YMCA provides.  It’s the families living away from these services who might benefit most from YMCA membership, and I hope this is part of the plan for the future.

Posted by About AART at 6:28 AM

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