When I meet people through the charity work I do, the first question is usually the same: Why? Why did you found Little Troopers?

Simply — because my daughter was really struggling. We lived in our own home, not in military housing, and she was finding the long, repeated separations from her dad incredibly hard to deal with.

At the time, I’d been a soldier, and my husband was also serving in the British Army. Our daughter, Madison, was seven years old. Since her birth, we had gone through numerous overseas deployments and postings; Kosovo, a Cyprus UN tour, Canada, Iraq and Afghanistan plus countless field exercises. We once calculated that in her first seven years, her daddy had been away for over four years of her life.

I left the military when Madison was still small, and by the time she was seven, we were living away from the barracks. She attended a predominantly civilian school, and the Army had very little day-to-day presence in our lives — other than taking her daddy away, often and for long periods.

Madison’s changes in behaviour were subtle at first and subconscious to her, she wasn’t aware they were caused by anxiety or worry. She began waking in the night, every night, sometimes twice. She regressed to behaviours of a much younger child, refusing to get dressed, wanting constant reassurance, even asking where I was going if I just left the room.

I searched and searched but couldn’t find the support I knew she needed. There was nothing child and military specific, nothing to distract her from the worry of her daddy being in a war zone. Nothing to explain her feelings, nothing that said: “I’m seven and I’m sad because I can’t see or speak to my daddy when I want.”

There was a clear need for a charity that supported all military children, those with one or both parents serving in the British Armed Forces.

What has since evolved is an incredible community for Armed Forces families, both regular and reserve, and a charity that is here for military children whenever and wherever they need us. You don’t have to be married parents, live in military accommodation, or hold a particular rank or regiment, we are simply here to support children with serving parents: our little troopers.

Military personnel go away for many reasons; operations, courses, exercises and to locations all over the world. As a charity, we ensure that families have resources and activities to ease those separation periods and that there’s always a community that feels welcoming and familiar.

We also support military children through other challenges that come with service life, from moving home, changing schools, saying goodbye to friends, and making new ones.

Celebration is also at the heart of what we do. Being part of the military community is something truly special and it can be a positive and empowering experience for both adults and children. Through our initiatives, we make sure to celebrate what it means to be a forces family.

My daughter is now an adult, and my husband has left the Army. We’re living on civvie street now, but it’s still so important to me that no military family ever feels as lost as we did back in 2011.

My promise to you is this: I will continue to champion military children so that their unique way of life is recognised, their voices are heard, and their needs are supported. My inbox is always open, to listen, to help and to evolve our small but mighty charity so it continues to make a difference for as many military children as possible.

Thank you so much for your support.