In late February I had a great day filming a short piece about the charity and how it came about, Julie Hesmondhalgh came to the base where I live and learnt a little about what being a military family meant and how it affects Little Troopers.

On Tuesday 10th March I went onto ITV This Morning, the film was played out, then I went on the sofa with Philip Schofield and Amanda Holden to chat about my experiences.

At the This Morning studio

Personally I have had periods over the last 15 years where I haven’t coped great with being married to a soldier and I spoke on the programme about my ’emotional fuel tank’ which I really believe in, we as humans have limits and sometimes I feel I have reached mine.
The last tour of Afghanistan my husband went on was 7 and a bit months directly followed by 18 months married unaccompanied definitely emptied my tank! I felt drained, 18 months on from that period I have refuelled to a certain extent. I feel emotionally ready to face to word again and for us as a family to return to the regiment this summer.

A lady saw me on This Morning and emailed in, I cant lie I did cry a tear….emails like this make all the hard work worthwhile, she said;

“Just wanted to say thank you for appearing on This Morning today. I have a two children and my partner is away from home most of the time. I don’t know any other military families and never sure if what I’m going through is right. You’ve made me feel normal again I guess you could say. No one else in my family understands why I feel like I need him here and that I should be used to it by now. But your appearance and what you said was spot on”

We are all in this together and if sharing how I feel gives others strength then all the hours volunteering to create and sustain the charity are valuable. It isn’t easy and there are unique challenges being an Army family; for soldiers, spouses and Little Troopers.