I witnessed something both tragic and amazing this week. My neighbors on base went through the most heart-wrenching tragedy. I cannot imagine a pain more relentless than what they are facing now. While on one hand, my heart breaks for them, it also swells at the outpouring of support that instantaneously appeared from the base community.
Recently, I took on a couple of new roles on base. I have become an officer for the Student Spouse Group (a social group that empowers student spouses to come together) and, in turn, a “key spouse”. Key spouses are found on every base throughout the country and are representative of a particular population (I, with my two other comrades, represent the student spouses). Basically, we are the Yellow Pages for our community: We offer support for spouses and we can direct them to additional resources should the need arise.
Because of these new roles, when tragedy struck, I was fielding phone calls and e-mails from concerned families before the lights and sirens had left my street. People who have never met my neighbors were crying for them and offering selfless acts of kindness, from meal delivery to babysitting. People have stopped me at the commissary and the pet store asking, “What can I do?”
This community has shown its true colors this week. As someone who is still fairly new to military life, this was not what I expected, but I am so proud to be a part of it. Society at large has something to learn from this family we call the Air Force.
