Heroes at Home: Help & Hope for America's Military Families

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Summary: Input From an Air Force Wife
Review: A fellow Air Force wife recently recommended your "Heroes at Home." I immediately ordered the book! Although I have been an Air Force wife for almost six years, I laughed and cried my way through this book. My husband is a pilot, too, and I could relate to many of the situations in this book. Ellie Kay has wonderful tips on surviving military life and being the one left at home to run the home front. Thank you for doing this book.

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Summary: Caring, smart, helpful, and humorous
Review: I loved this book. It's a contemporary look at the reality of today's military family. I think the people who should read it first are those who have no idea about the life those who serve in the military and their families live. The second group for which this should be required reading is the extended families of military members--it'll give them insight to support and understand. Military members and their families will recognize so much, like someone has been reading their mail! I hope it'll help them appreciate their own sacrifices more fully.

We're really lucky as a country to have anyone willing to give up so much that the rest of us take for granted.

Heroes at Home lets us inside and shoots down stereotypes.

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Summary: There are better books out there.
Review: I purchased this book in preparation for my husband's upcoming deployment, looking for hope and inspiration to get through the year he is away. When I started reading, I related easily to the comical stories and I enjoyed reading the bios of real "Heroes." I thought that for sure I would recommend this book to family and friends. As I continued reading, my opinion of the book changed.

A large portion of the book is dedicated to financial advice, and there is also parenting advice and other off-topic, unnecessary advice. If I needed this sort of guidance, I would have purchased a book specifically on one of those subjects. I was expecting this to be a book on military matters, geared toward an intelligent and experienced audience. Advice on helping children cope with a parent's deployment would be very welcome, but I don't need to be told whether to exercise, how to manage my spending, or how much tv to allow my children to watch.

There was also much more personal information about the author than I was expecting. While I did enjoy the stories about family life, the author's awards and successes seemed to pop up in many of the chapters and really weren't relevant or valuable to the reader. Her continual reference to her husband as "The World's Greatest Fighter Pilot" didn't add much either. To her credit, she did include some humorous stories about mishaps which made her seem less superhuman.

She lists some pages of acronyms and some protocol, and there were a few tidbits of useful information, but most of the information should not be new to any but the most inexperienced of military wives, or civilians. If you already know what a commissary is and that things can be damaged during moves and that deployments can be extended, then you might want to look into a different book.

For an encouraging, humorous and emotional book on deployment, I highly recommend Email to the Front by Alesia Holliday. I am currently reading Surviving Deployment by Karen Pavlicin and find it practical and informative, and very well researched. If you need a reference on protocol and military functions, I would suggest Today's Military Wife by Lydia Sloan Cline and/or one of the Handbooks by Ann Crossley.

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Summary: Crisis Management 101!!
Review: In January of 2003, my husband was notified that his National Guard ("one weekend a month") unit was being activated. The individuals in his unit were given less than 48 hours to report for duty with no prior notice that a deployment was coming. My two daughters and I kissed him goodbye less than a week later. His unit has been notified that their deployment will last 14-16 months. They are currently serving in Balad, Iraq. After my husband deployed, we were given this book as a gift. It was just what we needed (along with all the suggested "helps" that Ellie recommends military families need from their friends, churches, and communities). This is a wonderful resource for national guard families who have NO CLUE what to expect from life during a military deployment. Thank you Ellie!! I also had the privilege to hear Ellie speak at the 2003 MOPS International Leadership conference. GREAT information....Ellie's resources are really helpful for persons in my situation!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not extremely informative.
Review: This book was good and a fast read, however it was very biblically based and had many religious references. It didn't take away from the book, but is something for potential readers to be aware of. It is definitely a book to put your mind at ease if you're currently struggling with military life. It very much normalizes the thoughts and feelings military wives have, showing you you're not alone and can face what the military sends your way. If you're a new military wife looking for a lot information I'd recommend Today's Military Wife by Lydia Sloan Kline instead.