My name is ArmyWifeToddlerMom and I am a diarist....

Why did I go to the mil-blogging conference? I am not a "mil-blogger". I know. I am a diarist. I write about far less serious matters than my counterparts. I did not blog while my DH was deployed, because I just did not have time or energy. I did start my blog, almost the moment he returned home.

I will add here a certain level of my sanity (some of you may disagree) was saved by the mil-blogs. Scouring for news after getting the babies to sleep. Looking for some other news than the reel that repeats itself. The story the MSM likes to pat itself on the back for getting to us. The news was frustrating. I will add here, that my DH, plays by the rules. He never discussed anything other than life "back home", and I rarely asked anything outside of that. So I would sit in my computer lit kitchen and dig for news.

So I started reading Blackfive. My DH 's unit lucky enough to have a journalist embedded with them and I was treated to her stories every couple of days. I was also lucky that this journalist told the real stories coming out of Iraq. There was My War, reporting daily from theater. I also started reading Sgt. Hook. Smash. Oh and Mudville Gazette.

So I learned quickly I was not alone. One of the best gifts I have been given by the blogosphere. You see my DH is A National Guardsman currently, and I am stuck in the suburbs, my family 12 hours away. And while he was deployed, I would pack up the babies in the stroller and head to the park, just to break the monotony of every day. I would push my babies in the swings and I would hear the women next to me complain "my husband is going to be out of town for the weekend, what am I supposed to do?" I would stand, swinging my babies and think about the 18 month deployment and wish it was a weekend, or a month, or a year.

I would fear returning home after the park, and was always worried pulling into our block about seeing the military sedan parked anywhere on the street.

I would fear coming home to a message on the answering machine. You know, the one that would say..."baby, its me, I had time to call and the lines were short. I miss you and love you, squeeze the babies."

So to the mil-bloggers, thank you for reminding me I was not alone, and that it takes strong men and women to do our fighting for us.