Laurie Trahan: Welcome to Camo and Crayons. This is our first episode of our podcast that we are bringing to you as military parents, as active duty, and as veterans. My name is Lori and I am so excited that you're going to be here joining us. Sherry Army Mom: Hi, my name is Sherry and I'm an army mom going on two years. Annika Lyon: Hi, I'm Annika. I'm a Marine Corps veteran and also an active duty Marine Corps spouse. I'm just happy to be here along for the ride to bring what we can to y'all. Laurie Trahan: okay, so I am a Marine mom. My son joined the Marine Corps almost four years ago. He went to boot camp at Paris Island and I was completely lost. He is my last child. My daughters are older than him, nine and eight years older than him. They were already off to college. They were getting their masters and in their careers. And then our son decided that he wanted to join the military. We kind of always knew that, but I honestly was hoping he was gonna go play baseball. I'm not gonna lie. You know, he loved sports, he was always active. We spent all all our weekends at the baseball field, but there was always that little thing inside of him. We have a cousin named Skip. We call him Skip. he is a Navy captain and he's been obsessed with Skip since he was a little boy. And in the back of my mind I always knew it was going to happen and I can't tell you how proud I am to be his mom. But I struggled and I want to share those struggles with you and how I was able to overcome those struggles. How I was able to learn everything about the military that I've learned so far and everything that I learned about the Marine Corps because it wasn't available to me when my son joined. And that's my passion is sharing with other parents and letting them know that they don't have to crawl up on the couch like I did and cover themselves up and think my whole world is over because I'm an empty nester now and my kids have grown up and moved out. Now it's my turn to be Lori and to be the woman that I always meant to be. And I'm gonna take you along on that journey. So welcome to our podcast. Sherry Army Mom: Hi, I'm Sherry, and we have always known that Piper was going to be in the military. We just didn't know what branch. it was a struggle at the beginning because he didn't do some things correctly, like get off his medication the correct way. And so we didn't know if he was ever going to be in the military. And then finally we got the the word and a great recruiter that helped us and he went in and it was it was a whirlwind. I mean, one day he's at the recruiter's office, the next day he's at a MEPS, and the following week he was gone to the military. And so we have always known that he was gonna go. one thing about the army is they don't walk you through anything, they get you in, they have you sign papers, and then it's like pretty much you're not involved anymore. And so I went through a lot of things blind, and I don't want other parents to go through things blind. I want to help. them go smooth through this process because it was kind of a rough start for us and now that we're going on two years in I've learned a lot of things and I want to pass my knowledge on to them. Annika Lyon: that. Hi, I am Anika. I am a Marine Corps veteran. I was just medically discharged about this time last year in twenty twenty five. I found Lori, what, less than seven months ago and It's been nothing but a dream since. I spent about ten years within the Marine Corps. I got out as a staff sergeant. I am a mom. I am a wife to a warrant officer within the Marine Corps. And one of the main things that's kept kept me within the group, not just the lovely ladies that I get to spend time with every day, but is just the knowledge that I can share with individuals 'cause one of my main jobs right before I got out was family and unit readiness. So anything to do with any type of question I needed to have an answer for. And I loved it. Every bit and piece of it I loved being able to provide the knowledge that I had of the Ring Corps. Only these two ladies know I'm a Marine Corps nerd. I will sit here, I'm I'm out, and I will sit here and just read publications. I will read Army publications, I'll read Navy publications, I'll read it all just because I want to be able to provide answers to those who need it. even being out, I still have Marines and sailors texting me, Sasha Art Lion, do you know this? do you know this? And I w if I don't know it, I'm gonna find it. And that's been the beauty of this group, and being able to be part of it. is just sharing everything that I've learned throughout my journey. Cause if you would have asked anybody when I was a kid, the Marine Corps was not in my future. much like Lori's son. I played soccer from the time that I was three. There were colleges I was gonna go to. We had the whole thing set up and I was like, heck no, I'm gonna join the Marine Corps. Completely through all of my parents for a loop with that one. So I am just happy to be here, provide answers, and just have a good time and be able to help you guys all through things that my parents didn't have help with. Cause The amount of questions my parents asked me, I can imagine how many parents have questions just as similar. So I'm just happy to be here to be able to help and tell you guys that your kids are gonna have a great time and they're gonna be okay. We don't need to crawl up on the couch, we don't need to go crazy. I promise you, they're going to enjoy their career just as much as I did, no matter what they face. So Laurie Trahan: So on these episodes, when you join us and you hit the subscribe button, we're gonna talk about real life issues. We're not going to candy coat things and say pew pew. We're gonna use the word gun and we're gonna use the word suicide and we're gonna use the word healing and we're gonna use crying and we're gonna laugh and we're gonna grow together. We wanna take real serious issues and talk about them and not downplay them like we can or like we have to. on TikTok. While we love that platform, we want to move over here where we can talk about really serious things, right? For example, parents are very sad, and a lot of them do resort to laying in bed all day long and just being sad and they can't get out of their depression and they have a serious issue with their own sons and daughters that are maybe suicidal or very depressed. or have gotten hurt and they can't be the parent that they want to be because they're in their own depression. Those are the things that we want to talk about. We want to talk about growth and healing and how awesome your sons and daughters are going to do when they are in the military, but also how we can grow as our own self, as a woman. Who was I before I was a mother? Who was I while I was a mother to little kids, to teenagers and now to adults and adults in the military. And we have so much growth that we're going to be able to do together. as a community and talk about these things without disguising them with silly words like pew pew or, you know, different things like that. We're gonna use real grown up words because we're real grown ups. Annika Lyon: one thing as a somebody who spent time active duty that I'm excited about, the mission of this podcast is like we get to get down to the nitty gritty. Like there it's not always sunshine and rainbows. It's not always this beautiful dream that's somewhere far over the rainbow that we heard The wizard of Oz thing about like that it's not always like that. It is there's hard times. There's times where you're not really sure you made the right decision. There's times where you really just second guess everything and you're not happy. And that's okay. It's good to hear it firsthand, uncut and raw, rather than have to say childish words like pew pew. Have to ch say childish words like unalived. Like it's true things that happen every day. And we have all had people that have gone through these things. Whether it's our children, whether it's somebody we're related to, whether it's somebody that we're friends with, we've all lost people. We've all dealt with hard times. We've all dealt with something, whether it's in the Marine Corps, in the Army, in the Navy, in the Space Force, whatever you do, the Air Force, or as a civilian, everybody goes through these hard things. And one thing I've noticed about the work that this group is able to do and the t people that Lori and Cherry have both touched is You're not just touching military par parents too. I've seen civilian people just involved in these conversations because it truly brings light to so many things. And that's one thing I'm so excited with this podcast is you get to be able to see not the there's a dream somewhere. I have a dream. Fantastic. It it's not always a dream. There nightmares are dreams too, unfortunately. And that's one thing we all have to face in the adult world. And We get to bring that to light. We get to talk about it because no there's no other platform that talks about these things. Truly. There's no other way for you to get the nitty-gritty and understand it firsthand from people who are dealing with it firsthand. So this is a thing that brings so much to individuals that get to be involved and are handling it day by day, firsthand basis. Many parents coming to Lori, many k parents coming to Sherry, parents in my inboxes of things we can't truly talk about on TikTok, but we can share here safely and be able to address those things and be able to help all walks of life, no matter what it is. Sherry Army Mom: I wanna say that, you know, the your kids are gonna have trials and tribulations that, you know, like it's like any other job. There's days I you know, I'm a teacher. There's days that I love my job and there's days that I'm like second guessing, what did I do? Why did I pick this profession? I mean, that's one thing. In as parents, we can't go to their job and say, well, so and so is having a bad day. Let's, you know, coddle them. That we just you don't do that in your regular child's you know Civilian's life you don't do it in the military. And so yes, you wanna be involved, but when your child's in the military, it's a different way of being involved. Laurie Trahan: Absolutely. Annika Lyon: Absolutely. Laurie Trahan: And I just want to put out there too, we have quite the lineup. We have people from sergeant majors all the way down to kids coming out of boot camp that are going to be on this podcast at different episodes, talking about their experience, talking about how they feel, why they decided to join. And we're talking about across the board, all the different branches, not just the Marines. We have a sergeant major from the army that's going to be joining us. We have a captain from the Navy that's going to be joining us. We have a sergeant major from the Marines that are gonna be joining us. And we have a recruit that's in boot camp that's gonna be joining us. And and so we have somebody from all avenues that are gonna join us. We have mental health counselors that are gonna start joining us. So we're gonna have an array of topics that we're gonna talk about. And it really is going to be enlightening for all of us. We're all gonna learn from these and I'm really excited to see where this is gonna go. Sherry Army Mom: We're also gonna have siblings on here talking about their feelings. We'll try to get husbands and, you know, fathers on here to talk about how they feel when they see their children in the military. Laurie Trahan: Okay, so if you want to ask us to be a guest, if you want to ask questions for us to specifically talk about a topic, you can email us at camo and crayons at gmail.com. Annika Lyon: following what Lori said, it's gonna be C A O A N D C R A Y O N S at Gmail.com. And what you'll be able to do is all of our links are gonna be provided in this description of this podcast episode. So if you wanna email us, follow us, anything along those lines, everything you need is down in the description. Sherry Army Mom: And we will also be using some of our things that we have helped people with. We will be changing their names, we will change their MOSs and things like that. But we just want to let you know the things that we do to help people. And the people that we have come in to help us help them. Annika Lyon: another topic I'm super excited to be able to talk about because it's not something you widely find. I mean you can find wave tops of it. You can kind of you learn about it when you're s getting ready to get out through going through the courses that they up provide for you. But one thing that I'm excited to be able talk about is what it is like transitioning from the active duty lifestyle, the everyday, the meetings, the briefs, the classes, the workload, everything like that to civilian life. You're a veteran now. You're not in your uniform. You're not showing up to work every day. You don't have your outlook blowing up every five seconds with calendar invites and things like that. 'cause it truly is a transition. As much as you think you're prepared for it, I thought I was. I was not. it's not a easy transition. Yes, it's exciting. It's a n whole new world out there, as my girl Ariel once said, but it truly is like this whole thing of completely different reality. Is I went from an active duty staff sergeant who was an ammunition chief, ammunition staff and C I C OIC because my OIC wasn't there. to and I was also a un URC. My it's a uniform readiness cor unit readiness coordinator, helping families and spouses and active duty members with their resources and things along those lines to I'm a wife and a mom. And I was a wife and a mom while doing all those things, but now I'm just a wife and a mom. It's a different type of chaos, but at the same time it's not the chaos I Grew to love over my time within the Marine Corps. It's scary stepping out of one zone into another. It's not peaceful. It's you have a lot of inner turmoil about it, but at the same time, it's a beautiful new world with all of these opportunities that you can have and all of these opportunities you can reach for. And I find myself talking to other veterans, and they have no idea half of the opportunities that they can enjoy, they can go for. They have no idea the job opportunities. They have no idea the classes they can go through. They half of them don't even know how much of their VA they should have been claiming. So it's like it's this whole realm of things that isn't widely talked about. And I'm excited for this podcast to also be able to help those who are retiring or medically separating. I got medically separated. That's a process within itself I'm excited to talk about because nobody knows which way is up when you're in the medical process. So for us to be able to bring first hand experiences to light and be able to talk about it, because the thing about the military is everybody has their own answer, but which one's the right answer? Which one's the one that is actually correct? Which one is the one that somebody didn't get chat from Chat GPT? Which one did they not Google? Which one did they actually read from the order, black and white that says exactly what you're supposed to be doing? And that's one thing about us that we're gonna do for you. Lori will text me, hey. need this question answered for this veteran, for this active duty marine, for this recruit. And the thing I'm gonna do for you is I'm gonna go pull the order. I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna read it black and white and that's the answer you're getting. It's not from the back of my head, I remember when I was a Lance Corporal, this is what I gave you. It's not from, my corporal once told me that I can't go to the Chow Hall in this outfit. Like no. You are for sure getting the answers. I've worked with the army, I've worked with the Navy, I've worked with the Air Force, I've done Mew workups with all of them. Sherry will text me. I have an army mom asking this question. I don't care that I was a Marine. I I you're wearing a uniform, I'm gonna find you the correct answer. Not based off of what's at the top of my head or what I can Google. I'm gonna find you in black and white, copy it, screenshot it, send it. That's what you're getting. And that's the beauty of this podcast is there's no question mark behind it. You don't leave wondering if you got the right answer. You don't leave wondering with open ended questions or open ended answers. You're getting the black and white, you're getting the straightforward, and you're getting all of the above. And that's one thing as a transitioning from active duty to veteran, I w I wish I had. So that's what I'm excited to be able to provide for everybody here. Sherry Army Mom: And that's one thing Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Sherry Army Mom: about us is we're not gonna, you know, Google an answer or chat GPT an answer. We're gonna go to the source and we're gonna get the correct answer. We're not gonna, you know, blow something up your butt telling you the wrong thing. We're going to get the source and the correct source. Laurie Trahan: Yeah. That's why you know, when I do question and answer Sundays, Saturday and Sundays, I always say, if I don't have the answer, I will get it for you. I have been able to make friends with so many people in so many positions in all of the branches that we do have a lot of people, you know, to answer questions from you know from the highest up all the way down to we know we have a recruit that comes into our he's not even a recruit anymore, he's a Marine. He comes into our lives right now and answers you know, questions about ITB. Because here's the thing, right? Onica went through boot camp ten years ago. That kid didn't just went through it three months ago. You know, and things changed. So we're going to get those answers for you. It doesn't change a lot. It changes a little bit, but we're going to get those correct answers for you because it's important to you. Because I know for me, when my son left to go to boot camp, I was completely lost. I didn't have any of these answers. And everything that I've learned, I've had to learn on my own through Experience through asking questions. You know, there's there's some people out there. There's a staff sergeant, he was a recruiter when I first started doing this. That guy must have been so sick of me because I asked him so many questions, and he always be like, No, Lori, it's okay. But I would ask him so many questions. You think I asked you a lot of questions, Annika? That poor guy, he was like every day, all day long, you know. And then we have a Marine wife, Meg, who I asked. a t I was asking her a ton of questions. I felt like I owed her a babysitter and a night out. I asked her so many questions, you know, because but that's how you learn is asking questions and then I was able to to relay it to you guys. And so that's what I'm excited about this, you know, like walking you through boot camp, walking you through SOI, walking you through, you know, what is it, AIT for for the army, walking you through Sherry Army Mom: A IT. Laurie Trahan: You know, I have I have a sailor that I became fully good friends with his whole family. And, you know, walking you through all of that stuff, his battle stations, everything that he went through to become a sailor. It's just it's just amazing what you can learn when you let the right people in. And this is what this is all about, is letting the right people in and then sharing our knowledge because what good does it do any of us if we keep it to ourselves? You know? Sherry Army Mom: my son, when I was just with him on vacation, he was like, How do you know a E9? How do you know this? How do you know this person? my god, like mom, do you understand like how high ranking they are? Like I'm just a little peon and you know, this guy is gonna mentor me and want to help me. You know, he was like he's just he was overwhelmed with the people I know and who I have become friends with. Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Annika Lyon: It's amazing. I mean, especially at that stage in your career, like speaking of somebody who was there at one point is like I remember at one point when a master guns would walk in and it's like, Darth Vader's here, like what do we do? my god, I'm Sherry Army Mom: Yeah. Annika Lyon: scared. But then at the same time, like now, Staff Sergeant Lion and Warren Warren Officer So and So's wife, Annika, is like our friend Adam comes in as a master guns, and I'm like We'd shoot the crap back and forth. I've never talked as much crap to the Master Guns in my life. But here we are. And he do he the man dishes it out to me more than I dish it to him. So it he just he gets what he asked for. But at the same time Laurie Trahan: my gosh. I love Misum Adam. Annika Lyon: I know but at the same time, like there's a sergeant major who would literally call my phone in my office and I would say, Staffs aren't lying, H and S battalion, how may I help you? And then he would giggle and then hang up on me. Like they're people too is a fun thing to remember. It's Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Annika Lyon: like their ranks are massive and they've done so much to earn what's on their collar. Everybody has. I don't care if you're a Lance Corporal. You did crap to earn what's on your freaking collar. But at the same time, they're people too. They want to have fun. They like to enjoy it. The entire point of the military is the brotherhood that comes with it. Yes, I am a girl. I call it the brotherhood because we're bros. But like this is what it comes with. It's a fantastic time and once you learn That and you get through that, it's smooth sailing and it's a great time. But the problem is not everybody talks about that. So that's the beauty Laurie Trahan: Right. Annika Lyon: of what we're bringing to the table of guess what? If I am shooting the crap with a sergeant major, that's okay because they're shooting it with me. But also, there's a respect line there. And that's the thing that people don't realize is like you have to understand that there is the line, but not many people teach that line. Not many people know what line there isn't a line you're supposed to be crossing. Like not everybody knows those things. So the beauty of what we're having and bringing to the table for all of you is you get to hear it all. It doesn't matter from one end of the spectrum to the next. You hear it all and you hear it unfiltered. You hear it from the word of it's not word of mouth, it's straight from the mouth. And that's the beautiful thing about what we're doing here. Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Sherry Army Mom: I mean it's it's amazing to see these guys like I've got to be friends with like an E nine and you know a sergeant and and some other, you know, active duty people and some veterans and it's just amazing for them to see how they want to take these kids under their wing and show them and but these kids don't understand like, my god, you know, they're 'cause they're drilled into them that you don't talk to higher ranks, but there is good leadership out there that want to take these guys under their wings and show them that you know just because what's on my collar doesn't mean that you can't talk to me like I want to mentor you I want to make you a better person and it's amazing I've been watching it and it and it it's fun going into their lives and they're like hey army sherry or hey laurie I mean it's it's great that and and they they inbox this and say we love what you're doing because our parents didn't have this Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. I have a I have a Annika Lyon: Yeah. Laurie Trahan: young man that his his dad passed away very unexpectedly on Friday evening. And he's down and out, and and rightfully so. He was at, you know, MCT and he didn't get his goodbyes or anything like that. And so I reached out to Adam, who is a master gardenery sergeant, and I said, I need you, because this young man called me at like two or three o'clock in the morning, just devastated. And that's one of the things that I do. you know, I know not everybody does that, but I do allow these kids to call me at any time of the night because sometimes if they can't get a hold of their parents, they need an adult and I rather them talk to me than somebody at a bar or something else, right? So I let them call me. So he called me. So I actually reached out to Adam and I was like, Adam, I need you to help this kid. And he picked up the reins and he helps he is helping this kid and then This young man and I I don't want to use his name to protect his identity, but he called me later and he was like, Miss Laurie, I can't believe a master gunnery sergeant just t just called me. Not text me. He called me and I'm like, but this is this is why this is why Adam doesn't come on with his rank on his stuff, is because he wants these kids to feel comfortable, you know, and and and he's gonna join us too at some point and talk about that kind of stuff. But That is a huge thing is making these kids feel comfortable going to these people. And honestly, I feel in my heart, I don't know if it's true, but I just feel in my heart and my gut that if we can help them feel comfortable going to these people now, then maybe down the road, when it does get really bad, they'll be like, I can go talk to Adam. I can go talk to, you know, this person, and it's not gonna be terrible. And then I'm gonna avoid getting into a depression and then everything else that sucks that comes with that, you know, the the suicide and the all of the self harm and the things like that. And and that is the goal behind all of this, to make everybody feel comfortable. Parents, the recruit, the new soldier, the new Marine, the new airman, Annika Lyon: Mm. Laurie Trahan: you know, all everybody and just be able to be one big community that can help each other. Annika Lyon: Absurd. Sherry Army Mom: I I wanted to piggyback off that. I want these kids to see these these men out there, men and women out there, the upper ranks, showing them their leadership. And I hope that they take a piece when they become a leader of like, I liked what behind the curtain said. I like how this one said this. I want, you know, I want them to take every bit of piece of one of them and become a better leader than they are. You know, like I the leadership, that's one of the biggest complaints I see and hear. across all branches is you got good leadership and then you have shitty leadership. And like I heard behind the curtains he was talking about if I can make one kid come in and see my live and take something from what I am saying, then I've done my job. And that's one thing I told Piper, like just go into his live. You don't have to say my name is or anything like that. I want him to listen so when he becomes that rank he's a better person. Annika Lyon: And one thing with coming into I mean, just me coming into the lives initially and what has been part of my motivation behind continuing to answer the questions, I don't I purposefully leave the rank at the door. I it's it it's something I wore on my collar. To me, my rank, whatever was stacked on my collar was how much experience I can give you. It's not yes, I earned it. Yes, I'm happy to be here, yes, I'm so proud of myself. But at the same time, what's stacked on my collar, that weight, that weight is the knowledge that I can provide to you. That weight is the knowledge that I can share. That weight is me being able to give you my experiences so you know what to do and what not to do moving forward. Like d we've all made choices as leaders. We've all done these things. As a staff sergeant, did I have it all together? No, who does though? We're It's everybody's first time living too. So within the Marine Corps myself is the rank that I have on my collar is purely just for me to I liked what Sherry said earlier because it's a big part of my leadership mantra is I'm here to help you mold into the person you're supposed to be because there is a life after the military. It's the military is not forever. It is not your forever peace. There's a end of contract for everyone. Some, unfortunately myself, Comes way sooner than you're expecting it. And so for you to be able to take the experiences you learn and you hear and you actively participate in and push forward to help mold the future generations of either the military or even when you're it may be the future general generation of the military, but you're also molding the future generation of the civilian world. These kids are gonna go out in the civilian world and be active participants someday. Two different worlds. Very different learning that currently. I am learning, I am speaking, I am living embodiment of learning what that means. And to be able to instill things within these kids and have them to be able to take you don't have to take everything from my leadership position. I understand. I didn't take everything from my leadership. You take the pieces that you think is good, you leave the pieces that are bad, and you mold yourself into what you want to be. Good or bad, it's your choice. But at the same time What we can provide here is pieces from leaders that are there. Cause you talk about Adam, you talk about me behind the curtains, staff aren't butters. All of them are leaders that are gonna show you the way to not only be a good active duty service member, but being a good freaking person. And that's the best part about what we do. Is Laurie Trahan: Yeah, huh. Annika Lyon: you're learning adult everyday things that are gonna translate and that's one thing that you don't get while you're active duty too. Laurie Trahan: Yeah, I totally agree. Learning how to be a good leader is a is a big thing. And, you know, one thing like I was talking to Sergeant Butters a couple of weeks ago about this podcast and and things like that. And then, you know, we were talking about a Phillips experience going into an army recruiting station and he he was like, holy you know, was like, holy crap, I just learned something by having a conversation. So you can learn stuff even when you're the leader, being able to be coachable and learn things also is a big deal and showing other people that you can do that, you know? And that's what I want for this whole this whole podcast is to show, you know, not only on the military side, but also on the parent side how we're all learning and we're all growing, you know, because it's not easy as a parent either to watch your children go off and You know, some of us have a hard cutoff, some of us have to struggle through phone calls every couple of weeks. And and it's hard, you know, but it's not the end of the world. You know, it's it's we're all gonna learn from each other and the leadership around the whole circle is what is important, you know. Sherry Army Mom: Mm. I I've said to Piper, like, or and I've even said it to you and Annika. Like, I love seeing what I couldn't give Piper. I love that the military's giving him something that we could have never done. I, you know, he's been to how many you know states already? He's gonna be going to overseas soon. I mean, we couldn't have done that as you know, parents, and and as a regular job, he wouldn't have been able to do that. So I love what the military is doing for him, and I love what they have installed in him. him and like behavior wise and motivational wise. Yes, does the sock suck? Yes, he he'll tell you that. But he says you have to learn to overcome that because it's an any job. Annika Lyon: Absolutely. Laurie Trahan: Yeah, that's the truth. It is in any job. No matter what you're doing in life, you know. But you as as a parent, I can tell you, I've seen I saw a kid that just turned eighteen years old, left for boot camp and came back at he was still himself, but a totally different person, you know. He matured at a rapid rate versus his peers here at home, you know, and still like I I see people that he went to school with and I see stories on Facebook And I think, my gosh, you know, he doesn't do any of that stuff because if he does, it could be jeopardize his career, you know. And that's a big thing I want to get across when we're doing this too, is that our kids leave to go to boot camp, just like my daughters left to go to s college, right? And when they graduated college, they had a career. When Philip or any anybody that goes to boot camp graduates boot camp, now they have a career. Our kids aren't on a vacation. They are starting their career at 17, 18, 19, 20 years old. And it's a big deal, you know? And it is and it's an important, it's important, you know, and we're blessed as parents to sit back and watch that, you know. Annika Lyon: that's one stigma I want to fully cross with in this podcast is like I've seen parents within the lives comment, like it's not a real job. My friend, Laurie Trahan: it is. Annika Lyon: I promise you it is. Like I I I've dealt with it in my own life of people that are I almost said over me. Like they're my leadership. people in my own life that are blood relatives of just treating it as if I'm at summer camp. Like just treating it as if I'm doing an in-between until I find Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. Annika Lyon: what I'm really doing in life. I promise you, someone in whatever higher power was like, this girl's gonna be a Marine. This is what she was supposed to do. Whether that was cut short or not, I don't care. I truly felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be and I was exactly where I wanted to be. And it was the career that I made it because it was a career. And that's one thing I w am so excited to be able to talk about whenever we do our further episodes of what my career was like, what other people's careers were like, hearing it because you truly do f some someone listening will understand that it's it is a career, it is a job, it is everything and more that you are doing on the outside is just unfortunately we have a lot of paperwork and a lot of different uniforms we have to wear that goes with it. It's different. But at the same time, it is the same. Laurie Trahan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sherry Army Mom: The other thing I want to you I want to touch on too is like if they go in as their MOS then you know and they don't like it and when their contract is done and they re they want to re-enlist they can change their job it's it's just like us out in the civilian work world. If I don't want to be a teacher, I can change my job to do something else. They can do that in the military too. They just have to go to re-class at school and stuff like that, and then they go back in and they do their their job what they are. So I mean people have to. understand the military isn't all as bad as people perceive it is. Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. Sherry Army Mom: they have a lot of opportunities, college, traveling, different career paths. I know like if Piper stays in where he was or is he said if he retired at 18 he would want to go on the civilian side of programming the tanks and stuff like that. So I mean there's there's so many opportunities that they can do. Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Annika Lyon: I heard someone say it the other day on a live I was involved with, and they said, I didn't go to jail and I'm not at summer camp. I'm working. So like that's the best way I could put it. Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Well Yeah. That and I've changed some of my narrative in a few of my videos the last couple of weeks because we've had a lot of issues with parents going, you know, it's devastating. He left to go to boot camp and you know, when am I gonna talk to him and when do I get to do this? And I don't like how this is going. I wanna talk to them. I mean, I seriously had a a parent over in San Diego show up because she was gonna sign her kid out of boot camp. You can't do those kind of things. You know, that's not a reality. When she told me that, I was like, Honey, you can't sign your kid out of boot camp. I don't really know what to tell you. You know, he signed a contract. A contract is a legal binding c you know piece of paper. He's there. And you know, that's I think a thing that you know that's why I have started in in some of my videos, if you've seen it, I talk about my two daughters going to college and then starting their career. And then I'll say, and Philip went to boot camp and started his career because I'm trying to have people see that, you know, Philip didn't go to boot camp and sit on the circle rug and wait for me to check him out because he had a tummy ache that day. Do you know what I'm saying? And so so that's, you know, I think people need to understand that these kids aren't going to summer camp. They aren't in kindergarten sitting on the circle rug with their legs crisscrossed applesauce. They are actually learning how to do their job. They are in their 90-day period like you would if you started another job, you know? So it's it's important to have these discussions because I know it's hard for these parents to understand sometimes, especially if they don't have anybody that's ever been in the military. I was lucky. I had, you know, my brother and my best friend were in the Air Force. My cousin was in the Navy. So I understood how it worked. It was way different sending my kid because I'll tell you, I was like, my brother went, my you know, my best friend went. And then my son went and it was totally different, totally different. But I still understood the concept of, you know, this is serious. This is a legal binding contract that he signed, or I had to sign, he was 17, his dad and I signed, worst permission flip ever, but we signed it, right? I was like, I felt like I was signed the worst permission ship flip to go on a on a trip with school. But you know, it's it's a serious job and you can't just go sign your kid out. You can't just call the senior drill instructor and say, I don't you know, my kid said that he didn't feel like he was being appreciated, you know, because we've had those too. And I'm sure Annika, you you being a wife of somebody that was a drone instructor already, you've got the stories too, right? But I I mean I'm telling you, it's a serious job. It is a career. And even though they're 17, 18, Sherry Army Mom: Yeah. Laurie Trahan: 19, It is still their career. Yes, their boot camp was their college and it was short, but they're still learning while they're there. So it's a serious thing. And that's something that I really want to get across to parents while we're doing this too. Is that and it doesn't have to be sad. It does not have to be sad. You know, now is our opportunity as parents to live our life, to figure out who we are. What do we want to do? Do we want to travel? Do we want to, you know, learn how to throw pottery? Do we want to open up one of those rage rooms where you beat the shit out of everything in there and be the owner of it, you know, 'cause sometimes I do, you know. I mean, but seriously, like what is it that makes you wanna be you after your kids have grown up, you know? Annika Lyon: that's such a good line. Sorry, I just had Laurie Trahan: No, Annika Lyon: to learn that it was so good. Laurie Trahan: It's true though. What is it do you want to who do you want to be when your kids grow up? I'm still always gonna Sherry Army Mom: I mean Laurie Trahan: be their mom. They're always gonna need me, you know? My daughter calls me all the time to watch her damn cats. She always needs me for something, right? Philip calls me in the middle of the night for the password for peacock. He always needs me for something, but he's not a child, he's not a baby. He doesn't need me 24 hours a day. And listen, you can ask anybody in my family. We up and left, I was 21 years old, we up and left, we moved to New York and we haven't been back in my home state ever since. And I don't regret it one bit. And I want that same thing for my kids. Whatever works for them, I want them to live their life. You know, my brother was another one. He up and left and and then he never came back either. And I don't think he regrets it either. You know, you have to form a life for yourself. And I did it. Why would I not want my kids to do it? Sherry Army Mom: You know, I I I wanna piggyback off that because like, you know, going you know, growing up that you you lose your identity because you're Piper's mom or you're Brennan's mom. It's my time to take back who I am and I'm Sherry. And so like that's one thing that I want parents to understand too is like this doesn't have to be a sad situation. You can you can live, I don't wanna say vicarious through them, but like I love seeing the the men that they have. come I love seeing them travel I love him you know both of my boys are are going into some kind of a you know like Piper's in the military Brennan's going to DNR and I just love sitting here watching these two young boys become the men that they are and now I'm not considered Brennan's mom I'm not considered Piper's mom I'm Sherry Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Sherry Army Mom: and I'm taking I'm taking my life back Laurie Trahan: Absolutely. I did my job. I raised my kids and I raised damn good kids too. And I'm proud of it, right? I raised damn good kids. I'm proud of it. And here's what I tell parents all the time too. Remember when our kids were little and you would take them to the playground and you'd meet parents or you'd take them to a function at school and you'd meet parents that they go to school with. And then they kind of grew up, right? And that was your kind of your group, right? I met a lot of parents through baseball. And now my kids in the Marines and my friends, my civilian friends, they don't have to understand how I feel or what I'm going through. So my son's playground just went from our little town here in Florida to the whole damn world with military parents, not just one branch, but military parents all around the world, right? And I actually have a lady that I talk to, her son is in the Navy in the UK, and we talk all the time, even though our kids are in different countries. For different things. We just talk about how it is not ha you know, having a kid that's off in the military and empty nesting, you know, but your playground just became the whole world. Reach out to other parents that know what you're going through. You know, you don't have to sit in your little room all day long and be sad. You take back your life, right? Right? Who is Sherry? Who is Lori? You know, who is Annika when when her son grows up? You know what I'm saying? Annika Lyon: Absolutely. I agree. Okay, friends, listeners, one thing we want to be able to do every episode for you guys is the email we provided earlier, it's also in our description box. We want you guys to be able to participate in our episodes. So one thing we want you guys to do is send us a brief bio of your service member, family member, son, daughter, uncle, anybody that has provided service for our country. And email us a brief bio of them and we're gonna pick one person a week to be able to highlight a military family member. So we're gonna call it our military family spotlight and we're gonna shine some light on your service member and praise them for what they did and talk about them a little bit and bring what they did to the world. So utilize that email down in the description box, send us your loved one, and I look forward to talking about them more in our next episode. Laurie Trahan: Okay, so that's the end of our first episode. I hope you guys really enjoyed our conversations and everything that we had to share for you. Down in the description, we'll have our show notes, everything that we talk about, our social medias, our any kind of information if we're quoting somebody or putting in some solid information in there for you. We will have those in the show notes and in the description for you. Don't forget to follow us and subscribe and share out to your friends and family. And to military personnel too. And then let's just grow this community together. You guys have a great day. Annika Lyon: Bye. See ya Sherry Army Mom: Bye. Annika Lyon: next time. Laurie Trahan: Bye.