Military Spouse Help — Book/Resources





			How-To Books Books for Kids Novels				Books These are all valuable books to have in your military family’s library. By reading these now and referring back to them as your situation changes and new questions arise, you dramatically shorten your learning curve. Save yourself from learning the hard way. Why learn by making mistakes that others have already made and figured out better solutions for? The authors, all military spouses themselves, gathered tips and resources from military spouses and other experts. Learn from other people’s experiences first. Then learn from your own.

			Listed in alphabetical order

							E-mail to the Front by Navy spouse Alesia Holiday. Holiday will have you laughing and crying and relating to her experience with deployment. One favorite line as she faces her first deployment: “Stop worrying! So I’m alone with a baby and a two-year-old. I’m a tough trial lawyer, how hard can staying at home with two kids be? (NOTE TO SELF: The stupidest thing I’ve ever said in my entire life.)”

							Going Overboard: the misadventures of a military wife, by Navy spouse Sarah Smiley. This open, honest account of her first experience with deployment reads like a novel as it exposes a young woman not ready to be as independent as a military spouse needs to be.

							Heroes at Home: Help & Hope for America’s Families, by Air Force spouse Ellie Kay sharing great ideas for raising families in this life.

							*The Homefront Club: A Hardheaded Woman’s Guide to Raising a Military Family,* by Navy spouse Jacey Eckhart. Another open, honest and sometimes very funny account of dealing with military life. Eckhart shares great ideas on how to stay connected to extended family as you move.

							Household Baggage: The Moving Life of a Soldier’s Wife, by Marna A. Krajeski, Army spouse

							I'm Already Home...Again - Keeping your family close while you're on assignment or deployment, by Elaine Gray Dumier



							Jobs and the Military Spouse: Married, Mobile and Motivated for Employment, 2d Ed. by Army spouse Janet Farley. Tips and tools for your job search. The basics you need to know about the job search process and full of good resources. (And for later in your military life, as you prepare to transition out, her Military-to-Civilian Career Transition Guide (2004) covers the basics.)



							Life After Deployment, by Karen M. Pavlicin, Marine spouse

							*Married to the Military: A Survival Guide for Military Wives, Girlfriends, and Women in Uniform* by Navy spouse Meredith Leyva covers the basics of this life — what we all need to know just to survive. We loved the “Did You Know“ segments. For example, “Did you know your ID card is good on any service base?” Of course we know that now, but we didn’t as wives new to the military.

							Separated by Duty, United by Love: A Guide to Long-Distance Relationships for Military Couples, by Shellie Vandevoorde, Army spouse

							Surviving Deployment: A Guide for Military Families, by Marine spouse Karen M. Pavlicin. Full of good examples and ideas for planning and preparing to survive deployment

							That Military House: move it, organize it, decorate it, by Army spouse Sandee Payne

							The Treasure of Staying Connected for Military Couples, Janet Lange, Navy spouse

							Today’s Military Wife: Meeting the Challenges of Service Life, 5th Ed., by Army spouse Lydia Sloan Cline, covers the basics and continues to be updated.

							When Duty Calls: A Guide to Equip Active Duty, Guard & Reserve Personnel & Their Loved Ones for Military Separations, 5th Ed., by Air force spouse Carol Vandesteeg, is a great reference book for yourself and can help you help others with deployment challenges.


							While They’re at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront, by Marine spouse Kristin Henderson. Henderson follows three spouses (and herself) as they deal with deployment. We think every American should read this book so they really know what military families are asked to do.

							Books for military children There are many books geared very specifically to our military children.

							I'm a Hero Too, by Jenny Sokol Children in military families cope with a vast array of emotions when Mom or Dad deploys, especially during our nation's war on terror. In this compassionate story, a young boy learns to cope and thrive while Dad is far away.

							Uncle Sam's Kids: Moving Again Mom Uncle Sam's Kids: When Duty Calls by Angela Rehak, Marine Corps Spouse


							Novels it’s not just “how-to” books that can help us with this military life. It’s also fun to read about other people just like us living lives similar to ours – in novels.

							Navy Brides, by Debbie Macomber

							Oceans Between Us, by Susan Wiggins. Holly and I said to each other, "She has to be a military spouse – she has captured how we feel." Well, we called and asked. It turns out she isn't a military spouse but she lives near a military community and interviewed many spouses.

							Tell It to the Marines, by Maine spouse Amy J. Fetzer There are other books by Amy J. Fetzer also.

							Staying Home is a Killer, by Sara Rosett. Watch for her upcoming Moving is Murder as well.

							The Art of Uncontrolled Flight, a novel by Kim Ponders, an Air Force spouse and an Air Force reservist herself

							*The Officer’s Wife,* by Michael Freeman

							The Soldier’s Wife, by Rachel Moore