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Just days before the kick-off to Military Family Week (April 4-10), “‘Like’ it for TIME” (LIFT) (http://likeitfortime.com) announces a worldwide paper chain effort – LIFT LINK LOVE.

LIFT LINK LOVE (http://likeitfortime.com/lift-link-love/) will loop together individual links mailed in by people from around the globe until they form one very long paper chain. The completed chain will be used in a special project to be announced at a later date.

“I can’t tell you, yet, what we’re going to do with it,” says LIFT founder and Connecticut resident Kristen Tsetsi (pronounced TET-see). “But I can tell you it will serve as a powerful symbol of recognition and awareness of the unique challenges military families have experienced over the last ten years. And counting.”

LIFT invites links from everyone–military family members of service members or veterans, service members and veterans themselves, and anyone else who wants to “show the love” to military families.

“This is by no means confined to the military community,” Tsetsi says. “In fact, I hope the links we receive from those with no military connection greatly surpass what we receive from people who know someone in the military. After all, ‘everyone else’ is 99% of the population. What a powerful message that would send.”

Tsetsi says she believes the paper chain will unite military families living in states and countries around the world, bring together the military and civilian populations, and, Tsetsi says, “it will encourage a deeper exploration of the psychological and emotional impact of having a loved one go to war.”

Tsetsi created “‘Like it for TIME” on December 16, 2010 in an effort to encourage TIME Magazine to consider the military family as its 2011 Person of the Year. “But on a more fundamental level,” Tsetsi says, “the function of LIFT is to encourage wider recognition of the military family experience over a decade of repeated year-long deployments.”

A lot of people sometimes ask me why I WANT to deploy. The truth is that life is much simpler in combat in some aspects. It’s a kill or be killed environment. Of course, this isn’t traditional warfare we’re fighting, so even combat isn’t that simple, but it sure beats the crap that Soldiers have to deal with back home much of the time.

A good example of what I’m talking about is the Army’s policy towards motorcycles. According to Army Regulation 385-10, all motorcycle riders (or prospective motorcycle riders) are required to complete a motorcycle safety course. This is a great idea and serves two purposes: ensuring that Soldiers are competent and safe when riding a motorcycle and lowering insurance premiums since the courses usually result in discounts. All Army motorcycle course are MSF accredited. But, some installations take that requirement and add additional burdens.

For example, at Fort Hood riders are required to take a basic course before they can ride on post. Once completely, they have a set amount of time before they must take the advanced riders course. Riders who use sport bikes or crotch rockets are required to take a THIRD course specifically designed for those types of bikes. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been riding motorcycles for almost 30 years, that I’ve NEVER had a motorcycle accident, or that I’m in a lower risk age category of riders. Soldiers are required to take time out of their busy duties and spend a few days in these courses.

The nail in the coffin of motorcycle “safety” absurdity is the uniform requirement. The Army takes safety to a whole new level. If there’s a such thing as safety overkill, we’ve perfected it. Once all the other requirements are met, the minimum clothing required a motorcycle, regardless of the weather, is: DOT approved helmet, gloves, eye protection (if the helmet doesn’t have a shield), at least ankle-length boots, long pants, long sleeve shirt or jacket, and reflective belt, vest or jacket. If you’re wearing a backpack, a reflective belt or vest must be around the backpack. During daylight, refractive clothing must be worn and at night, reflective clothing must be worn.

The result of this hyper-safe attitude? I simply haven’t ridden my motorcycle in a few months! To get on post on a motorcycle, riders are required to – like anyone entering a base – present an ID card. Because of the pain getting on post, I purchased a Power Trip Alpha Army Jacket from the military clothing and sales store on Ft. Hood. The jacket is specifically designed with Soldiers and military requirements in mind. It has front and rear concealable reflective materials, distinctive Army design, skid resistant material, and a dual sided, see through ID card holder that is attached to the jacket with velcro for easy access. The goal is to pull up to a gate and not have to search through pockets for an ID card. Just rip it off and present it to the guard. Yet, even though both sides of the ID are easily visible through the thin, clear plastic, Ft. Hood guards make you take the ID OUT OF THE HOLDER to get on post. This requires removing the gloves, which requires the rider to put the bike in neutral. All the while, cars are piling up behind the poor rider and cursing at us for holding up the line.

Okay, I could go on about motorcycle crap. I solved the problem by just not riding to work – probably the main goal of the Army to begin with to deal with motorcycle deaths. However, even WITH all the crap we deal with, Soldiers are still dying on bikes.

The next headache about Garrison operations is all the little nit-noid stuff that Soldiers deal with back home. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in standards and enforcing them. But, you get a little tired of fall cleanup, spring cleanup, various details to support community projects, safety briefings every weekend, the headache of managing TDY travel, mandatory training, and other GFIs that bored leaders like to make up to keep Soldiers busy.

Then, there’s all the requirements for train-up prior to a deployment. This entails ROE briefings, Geneva Convention briefings, TARP briefings, certification training, online SERE training (which is quite funny considering I’ve been through the real deal), equipment issue, pack-up, read-ons, and other requirements depending on the MACOM and theater of operations. I won’t include all the weapons qualification requirement because I’m a Texan and a gun lover and any time I get an opportunity to shoot a gun, I TAKE IT!! I LOVE shooting – especially when I’m not paying for the ammo!

Acronym Key:
MSF – Motorcycle Safety Foundation
DOT – Department of Transportation
TDY – Temporary Duty
GFI – Good Flippin’ Idea (usually the “F” stands for something else)
ROE – Rules of Engagement
TARP – Threat Awareness and Reporting Procedures
SERE – Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape
MACOM – Major Command

I am excited to announce Moody Publishers will release a sequel to the very popular and timely daily devotional “Faith Deployed,” written by award winning author and You Served‘s Spouse and Family Highlights guest Jocelyn Green.  I was blessed to be a part of this second book. I contributed two of the devotional entries. I’ll post more information when the book is available and I plan to giveaway a few copies to our You Served followers.

Please read the press release below for more information:

CHICAGO—A new devotional book written by and for military wives will be released by Moody Publishers in August 2011: Faith Deployed . . . Again: More Daily Encouragement for Military Wives is written by Wives in Bloom editor Jocelyn Green and twenty-eight contributing authors from every branch of the U.S. military, including Christian Military Wives leaders Patti Katter and Claire Shackelford. Wives in Bloom is the online magazine of Christian Military Wives.

Faith Deployed . . . Again is the sequel to the award-winning Faith Deployed, which was published by Moody in 2008. The new book features more devotions, covers more topics, and spans a broader range of military wife experiences. Recognizing that many military wives also have a son or daughter in the military, there is also a bonus section of devotions at the end written by and for Blue Star Moms.

“Faith Deployed . . . Again will be released in time to honor the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, marking a decade of deployments for many military families,” says Green. “And while the book is for every military wife, whether or not her husband is deployed, we hope the words on these pages will breathe fresh life into those women who feel run down by the toll these last ten years have taken.”

To see the complete list of contributing authors, visit http://www.faithdeployed.com/coming-soon/ .

Jocelyn Green, the wife of a former Coast Guard officer, is an award-winning freelance writer, author and editor. Her Web site for military wives, www.faithdeployed.com, won third place in a national contest held by the Evangelical Press Association in 2010. Jocelyn also co-authored Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan (AMG Publishers 2009), which won the 2010 Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. Visit her atwww.jocelyngreen.com .

Christian Military Wives (CMW) is a multi-denominational, Bible-based ministry of Christian Military Fellowship established to assist military wives and their families through encouragement, aid and education. CMW is a branch of Christian Military Fellowship.

CMW is a group of Bible-believing military wives committed to wholeheartedly serving Christ through the strengthening of one another. We strive to live a life of honor to our husbands stationed around the globe and of duty to our country. We proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom for the oppressed, while providing a place of encouragement, growth, acceptance, fellowship, support, prayer, and the like for our fellow military sisters in Christ. For more information, visit: www.christianmilitarywives.com.

The Oprah Winfrey Network and Part2 Pictures is looking for you! They are currently producing a documentary series, and one of the episodes they are making is centered around how military troops reintegrate after their tours of duty. They are in the process of searching for women or men whose loved one is about to return home from Iraq/Afghanistan for the first time.

The documentary series is called “Our America with Lisa Ling,” a new show by the Oprah Winfrey Network which explores Americans in unique circumstances through their own personal journeys.

They are very interested in following the first few days of a returning soldier’s homecoming after a first time deployment. Their film is about the effects of combat on soldiers and the challenges they can face with reintegration after their tours of duty, and how this can affect not only them, but their families as well.

They understand there is a growing awareness that men and women who may not have been physically wounded may still require psychological healing from their experiences in combat. In this portion of our film, they hope to meet a spouse who is awaiting the return of her husband, to come to understand what her experience has been like while he has been away, and what her hopes and concerns are about his arrival home. Then they would like to film that long awaited reunion, and perhaps the first day or two home. Quite possibly, we might wish to do a follow up one-day shoot several weeks later. They know this a deeply personal time and want to assure you that their team is extraordinarily respectful to the people who participate in their films.

If you have any questions or would like to participate, contact Liz at Part2 Pictures and check out their website.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about our series, “Our America”, or our company, Part2 Pictures (you can see more about us on by linking to our website www.part2pictures.com).