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Thearmysdaughter's facebook and blog are full of flaws, alot of them are mental blocks that are author/user centered. My pictures are crap quality, my profile picture is lousy, my computer skills are laughable, the important thing is that the heart is there. Even if I am privately reluctant about this endeavor, still I'm passionately attached to it.This project makes me cry because I did not realize how personal, it would and could become. I think I forgot somehow that my big Army years, are seven years that I can't even talk about, and shouldn't talk about. This inhibited access to my readers is not what I had planned on because I think those are the years I wanted to write about. The research I did for this blog reminded me that I am not the normal Army kid, and speaking to the masses pretending I am is so much more difficult than I imagined. I hope the message of the blog/Facebook page is clear none the less, I love our military and I am so proud of this culture. I wanted 100 likes out of this page badly, today I have 207. One of the biggest portions of this project was the TalkingPoint interview. That one hurt, the evening before the show, my dad recieved a call from a former troop whom he had mentored through his deployments and afterwards. This soldier came over for dinner often, and knew to run to my Dad at any roadblock or sign of turmoil. He called me Dad in shambles the night before the interview and my dad spoke to him well into the night about some of his afflictions and his personal struggle with PTSD. When this topic surfaced right before the interview I felt my Dad shrink down, in this life you'll be dumbfounded by how ironic life is sometimes.  I put my Dad into that situation with the interview, since then I have been sort of scared to even bring him up on my blog now, I don't like to see my Dad worried. My dad wouldn't look worried before battle, or staring the adversary in the eyes, I know that truly, but his worry shown over a fellow soldier just yanked my heart. That was something different. It wasn't something I haven't seen before, but still it's hard to see. I wouldn't do the interview differently, it taught me something special, and reminded me to not be so scared. Things will turn out fine, I don't have to prepare perfectly, and I need to have more confidence in myself because when I don't, it shows. Being an Army kid and putting my best foot forward has left me exhausted at age 22, I can't be outgoing and pour out confidence anymore like before. I have spent so many seconds trying so hard to be there that I've become the complete opposite and reverted to a unfounded shyness I do not recognize in myself. The outreach and messages and pats on backs with this project have shifted my perspective.


A neighbor from North Carolina, a neighbor from the hard years emailed me after she watched the show and it really got me. I forgot that people that knew me would see this. Her first email is the one I am going to share, the rest are just for me.

Hey Bette. I just wanted to say that I have been following your blog since the beginning and watched you on Talking Point today. I heard the host say that you are doing this blog as an assignment. I wanted to make sure I told you how great I think your blog is. It tells the story of us Army Brats in a way that most people can't understand. When your assignment is over I really hope you continue your blog. Our way of life is something that should be shared and our stories should be told! Keep up the good work and let me know if you ever want a guest writer!

All posts were a success, because they shared a little bit of the military life as I know it. And even if it didn't help someone else, it helped me through a hard transition. This blog is going to live a very long time.




Time for the number crunch!

My momma shared most everything, and she knows a ton of military mommas, so that was a great outlet, and she was so good about our TalkingPoint interview, she was on it for photos and sharing the link so people could watch it! She tagged me in a billion pictures, there was no way people could ignore them, and not be curious to watch me talk on tv. Ya know, like my grandparents and stuff... 

Inviting people was hard but it worked! I was nervous and apprehensive, most of the people you know don't get to see your writing, they simply see the "youre a babe" or "lookin great" comments you make, so exposing people to my writing was scary. But I did it, and I'm so so proud of the 200 something likes. 

The links for readit sites, or buzzfeed, with the "23 signs you're an Army brat" or "12 signs you lived overseas", those kind of shares did well, they got reshared and clicked on, with reaches in the thousands. It inspired me to one day spiff up my writing and be more clear like those sites.

The biggest disappointment is how big of a gap there is between men and women users. Whyyyyy such a female presence ?!?! Like where are the male troopies at?? 72% to 28%, that gap is enormous, which is why I started posting more photo-memes, guys seem to like those.

This puzzled me huge, the sites people got to my page that weren't on Facebook.... Ldsmatchups.com? Huh?