Reported by Pedro, Sam, Zia and Stacey

Note:  A Backpack Journalist – Interns spent time with Sylvia Kidd, Director of AUSA Family Programs on July 26, 2011 at the NGB Volunteer Conference.  We wish to thank her and her staff at AUSA for supporting our request to “Cover the Assignment”!

A Backpack Journalist – Interns:  Pedro Rampolla (Wyoming), Stacey Sharpe (Georgia), Samuel Nein (Indiana), and Zia Johnson (Georgia).

Stacey: “What do you think is your favorite or at least the most beneficial program that AUSA does?”

Kidd: “The most beneficial is our AUSA Family Forums because we have such great reviews about them and people are asking about them all the time.  Now, with budget cuts we’re a little bit concerned. So I think we need to be doubly vigilant that with these cuts we don’t end up sacrificing a lot of what we developed for our families.”

Stacey: “With the budget cuts, how do you see the programs doing? Where do you see the programs going?”

Kidd: “I think basically we can maintain where we are and probably still grow. We also do advocacy as part of AUSA’s mission and so I think it’s going to be doubly important that we educate family members on their role in advocacy and how they can work with the command.  Families need to express to the command what they feel they need. We’ve raised expectations very high, during the past years of the war. Although the secretary and Chief say that family programs should not be cut, I’m already seeing some of these things happening! I think it’s important for families to step forward and monitor what’s going on in their areas and voice their concerns.”

Stacey: “What exactly inspired your passion for these family programs? I know you mentioned earlier that you were a military spouse, but…?”

Kidd: “Well, I know from my own experience, I was 17 years old when my husband and I were married, 3000 miles away from my own family, he was in special ops so I never saw him it was, it was kind of a rude awakening.”

Stacey: “Wow, 17 years old…”

Kidd: “Yes, I learned that either I was going to grow myself, and learn things about the military, because obviously it’s very different when it’s your dad then when it’s your husband!  You know I was either going to do that or I wasn’t going to make it as a military spouse or at least not a very happy one. And so I found that as each challenge came up and I found a solution to it and over came it in my own mind. I gained a little bit more confidence.  I’m just a firm believer in helping spouses do that. I was one of the co-originators of the Army Family Team Building program, because I think there are things that spouses, who are going to be military spouses, need to know I wanted very much to make that a mandatory program, or at least a part of it! We were not able to make it mandatory due to a jag review, but the program has grown and served its purpose and continues to grow. I think it is teaching our spouses those military basics that they’re going to need.”

Stacey: “If you could tell military families, or military spouses, or military children one thing, what would it be? What would be your advice to them as a military spouse or the child of a serviceman yourself?”

Kidd: “Take advantage of what’s offered and be proud of your parent’s service because it takes special people to be able to do serve, to be willing to sacrifice and give up so much of their own lives for the country.  There are just a very small percentage of people that are doing that now but it impacts every single person in the United States and even other countries.  So I think the pride is very important and I also think that we can travel all over, we learn about all different countries and your horizons are just so much expanded and so much wider that the kids that live in one place, though I will admit that as a kid I kind of envied that.  Oh yes, it’s kind of like “When a door closes, another one opens.”

And I appreciate all that you’re doing at ‘Backpack’ – I think this is a wonderful program.”

Stacey: Well, we definitely enjoy it and thank you for sitting down with us and giving us your time.