OHATCHEE, Al. November 11, 2011 — Eleven years ago today, as a military child, I had my first brush with journalism.
My family and I lived at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. On a sunny but chilly Veterans Day morning, my siblings, an adult friend and I strolled down to the newspaper stands located at the buildings some yards behind our little red ranch house on post.
A week before, Pat Newcomb of The Huntsville Times had come by to interview my family, along with photographer Mike Mercier. The Times was planning an article on our unique military family for the Veterans Day issue. The reporter and photographer chatted with us way into the evening, so Mr. Mercier ended up having to come over the next day in order to get a picture of us in daylight.
FAMILY FORCES: The Read family in November 2000, clockwise left to right - Joseph (age 6), Chris, Bryan, Amanda (age 10), Abigail (age 3), Rachel (age 7), and baby Mary (age 1) in the center. (Michael Mercier/Huntsville Times)
My little siblings and I were a bit giddy with excitement to see our interview and picture in the newspaper.
So, in that morning's paper - if you happened to make it past the front page featuring Al Gore pleading his cause against George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election - you would eventually reach the little story on my family titled, "Family Forces: When there's a career Army person at home, everyone is on duty".
As we walked home with copies of the paper, our friend began reading it aloud:
"Amanda Read counts on her fingers. She was born in El Paso. From there she moved to Monterey, Calif. She moved next to Ithaca, N.Y. Then it was Germany, with a two-month stay in Uzbekistan. Then West Point and now Huntsville. Amanda is 10. A pretty girl with long brown hair and olive-shaped eyes, Amanda is what is often referred to as an 'Army brat'. Her dad, Bryan Read, is a major in the U.S. Army. But Amanda is no brat. She’s articulate and self-assured..."
Probably blushing with self-consciousness, I quickly interrupted and scolded, "Don't make anything up!"
"I didn't make any of it up," our friend laughed as I jerked the paper away from him.
Sure enough, the flattery got even worse!
"She helps her mom, Chris, take care of her four younger siblings. She’s smart, too. 'They know their geography,' said Bryan Read of his children. 'Amanda can point out on a globe where we’ve lived.'..."
All my fellow Army brats read the paper and laughed, well-prepared to tease me (one even said she would hang the picture up in her school locker!).
Eleven years later, my father is now a veteran (retired as a Lieutenant Colonel) and I'm more likely to be the interviewer than the interviewee.
(Oh, and I now have twice as many siblings.)
The little red ranch house has been torn down and replaced with newer things; many American soldiers have since become veterans of a new war, and traditions have been tampered with.
But the honor and challenges of military life never change.
Be thankful for our veterans and family forces. We rely on them more than we realize.
SEE ALSO: A tribute written upon my uncle's return from Afghanistan - also featuring a notable soldier of faith during WWII whom I later discovered to be a relative of ours.
Amanda Read is an unconventional scholar, a Southerner without an accent, a Christian who hasn’t been a churchgoer in 17 years and a college student who lives with eight younger siblings. A writer and artist, she blogs at www.amandaread.com and is the author of the historical drama screenplay The Crusading Chemist. Amanda is majoring in history and minoring in political science at Troy University.
Keep up with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmandaChristineRead and Twitter:
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