The Forgotten Subculture of America

 Here is a song a friend of mine showed me a while back that I feel fits perfectly with this post.

I am the daughter of a United States Soldier.

My father was in the Army for 23 years with four deployments
(Iraq from February 2003 to February 2004, January 2005 to January 2006, May 2007 to October 2007 and November 2008 to October 2009) and numerous Military Awards including four Army Commendation Medals, and seven Good Conduct Medals. I am and forever will be proud of my dad. Being an "Army Brat" is being part of a subculture that is hard to describe to those who were raised in a civilian household. Growing up, a lot of my self-concept came from my experiences as an "Army Brat". Self-concept is defined as the sum of a person's individual beliefs about their personal attributes; and my self-concept was deeply rooted in the Military. 

 

As an Army Brat there are many things about one's day to day life that civilian children would not understand, nor have they ever experienced. It was normal for my family to see people running around with assault rifles, having jets and helicopters fly around your house or even hearing the distinct popping of a gun while a unit was on the range. There would be signs in the more obscure parts of base saying "stay out, land mines" and we would just turn around and go about our day. Going to the movies is even different for military kids. At the beginning of each movie, the national anthem would play and everyone would stand up just like at sporting events. Schools would practice bomb evacuations regularly and at 5 o'clock, when the colors would retire, everyone would stop what they were doing (including getting out of their car) and stand (either saluting or with your hand on your heart) and watch as the flag was lowered. 

Being a Military Kid also helped to shape who I was as a person. I was instilled with the 7 Army values Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage (LDRSHIP) and I address anyone older then me as sir or mam, I learned how to adapt to new situations and I gained a greater insight to the true cost of freedom. 

But the events of June 16th, 2011 took part of my identity away from me. My father passed away in his sleep early that day (about 3am) and along with losing my father, I lost part of my identity, I was no longer an "Army Brat", I no longer had a parent who was in the Army, I was...a civilian kid. After the initial shock of the loss of my father, that reality began to sink in. I went through an identity crisis of sorts and while still grieving my father's death, I also was dealing with a loss a lot more personal, a loss of who I was.

 Everyday since my father died, I have worn his dog tags, and while most of it is just to serve as a reminder of my father and the man he was and the years of service he gave to this country, it also serves as a reminder of who I am and the things that I have been through that remind me of who I am today. It took me a while but I began to realize that just because I no longer had that direct military connection, I still was an "Army Brat", that I am the person I am today because of it. Yes, I deal with things differently, and I look at things differently but I am the daughter of a military man and I am proud of that. 

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 Watanabe, H. K. (1985). A survey of adolescent military family members' self-image. Journal Of Youth And Adolescence, 14(2), 99-107. doi:10.1007/BF02098650

Introduction

So, I was not sure what to do for my introduction blog, so I figured why not start with a) the meaning of my title, and b) why I decided to become a psychology major. The truth is, it all goes back to the woman in the picture. Her name is Renee Yohe and she is absolutely an amazing person, my idol, and someone I am proud to say I have had the pleasure of meeting in person.
 The name for the blog comes from part of one of my absolute favorite quotes of all time, a quote by Renee.

 "Tell them to look up, tell them to remember the stars. The stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds, we miss them in the storms. Tell them to remember hope, we have hope"

That quote, and Renee's story (here is the link if you have never heard of her http://www.twloha.com/vision/story/) helped me get through some very rough times in my life, times where I battled many of the same problems that she had. She went from a girl addicted to drugs, alcohol and self-injury (she was 19) to the story behind a nationwide movement, a movement focused on love and redemption and she now is a singer (I'll link to one of her songs at the bottom of the entry) who travels the country sharing her music and her story and inspiring many others like me to realizing depression is beatable, that there is hope, and that "nothing is beyond redemption". That takes me to why I wanted to pursue a major in psychology.

I decided to pursue a major in psychology in 10th grade after reading Renee's story and knowing how much of an impact she had had in my life without ever having met her at that point, and I decided that I wanted to help others going through similar difficulties. Ever since then that has been my goal, if I could make a difference in just one person's life, like Renee made in mine, that would mean the world to me. 

So that is my introduction! Oh and here is the video I was talking about