I was lucky enough to attend Military.com’s Military Blogger’s Conference this past weekend and wanted to share some of my experiences! I was there representing USAA’s Military Spouse Community and am always blown away by the amount of positive feedback I hear about USAA. It makes me so proud to be working for a company whose dedication and support to our military is unwavering!
Friday night was a cocktail hour, dinner and awards ceremony to present bloggers with a “MilBloggie“. I was THRILLED to meet some other military spouse bloggers* and encourage you to check them out too!
Goodnight Moon http://www.goodnight-moon.org/
Riding The Roller Coaster http://www.ridingtherollercoaster.com/
USMC Life http://usmclife.com
Diamonds Dog Tags and Diapers http://www.diamondsdogtagsdiapers.com
Our Military Home http://www.ourmilitaryhome.com/
Angela from Home Front United http://homefrontunited.com
Cameron from Military Town Advisor http://militarytownadvisor.com/ (Fellow Aggie! Whoop!)
Chris from Macho Spouse (a site for Male Military Spouses!) http://1102productions.com/Macho%20Spouse.html
And of course I was there with the fabulous other spouses who work for USAA’s Military Spouse Community:
Tara Crooks from Army Wife Network and author of 1001 Things to Love About Military Life
Wendy Polling founder of My Military Life
Chazz Pratt author of Fort Living room Transition Course
* I wish I had more time (and more of a voice) to talk to each of you more!
All dressed up and ready for the awards ceremony
Friday nights award ceremony was fun, but the highlight for me was meeting Colonel Charles McGee. COL McGee spoke of his experiences as being one of the first African-American fighter pilots and an original Tuskegee Airmen. He is now at a ripe young age of 93, and I can only hope to be so eloquent and look so good when I am in my 90s! His story of perseverance in a time of such ugly prejudice and inequality gave me goosebumps. It as an honor and privilege to be in the presence of such a hero, with 409 combat missions under his belt. AMAZING.
Tara, Wendy and I ended the night with some cookies and milk martinis (who knew there was such a thing -delicious!).
Saturday began early with breakfast and a Q&A session with Virginia Congressman Randy Forbes.
Chazz Pratt, Wendy Poling, Randy Forbes, Tara Crooks and Me!
The remainder of the day was filled with panels including a DoD blogger roundtable where each branch discussed their plans for social media, then a more dramatic panel with some reporters answering some tough questions about military in the media but my FAVORITE Q&A session was with Scott Waugh, co-founder of Bandito Brothers Films and Producer/Director of the film Act of Valor. I admittedly had not seen the Act of Valor film (in which the actors are not actors they are real US Navy Seals!). While his use of colorful language made me giggle, his respect and admiration for the Navy Seals and their families blew me away. I am thankful there are people like him in Hollywood who appreciate our men in uniform and wish to portray them just as they are, as heroes. I watched the movie after returning home, and enjoyed it as much as a military spouse can enjoy a movie about the dangers and harsh realities our loved ones in uniform go through. I boo-hooed the entire movie, while my husband appreciated the use of real Seals, real “bad a$$” equipment and weapons. I encourage you to check the movie out (probably a better idea to watch it while your spouse is NOT deployed).
The rest of the conference was enjoyable and informative, but I have to admit my favorite part is networking. Meeting other bloggers and matching a face to a blog you read is so fun! If you were at the MilBlog Conference and I missed you, or we did not get a chance to talk, feel free to contact me! I would love to connect or possible write something together!!
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Amelia
Amanda
Briana
