Teens Create Support Group for Military Daughters

Two daughters of servicemen created a support group, Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs, to show other girls in their position that they aren't alone.

By Gimundo Staff. Posted on October 07 2009

Image: iStockphoto

We all remember our adolescent years, fraught with unstable emotions and that aching desire to fit in. Those feelings are intensified when the security of your family is threatened, which happened after now sixteen-year-old Moranda Hern’s father, a member of the National Guard, was deployed to Afghanistan. Along with drastic changes within her family, Hern’s friends weren’t sure how to respond and withdrew from her. And even the reappearance of her father didn’t provide the normalcy she sought and sense of belonging she had felt before his departure.

A chance meeting at a conference for young women in California between Hern and Kaylei Deakin, also 16, became the catalyst of a blossoming grassroots idea. Like Hern, Deakin’s father is with the National Guard, and she was the only person who fully understood the sacrifice of a military parent. After Deakin’s father was sent overseas her grades drastically suffered, she began parenting her younger siblings, and gave up on activities that had once mattered to her.

Hern was inspired to begin a conference for teenaged daughters of military personnel and knew just who to enlist – Deakin. They figured out potential details via phone and texting, working toward the goal of taking their idea to Brig. Gen. Kight of the National Guard, who was receptive. “I just wanted to run up and hug them, they had so much to say,” Kight told NPR. The girl’s proposal included a venue, how to ferry participants from across California to the event, topics for workshops and speakers who would appeal to their age group.

Hern and Deakin have now taken their message on-line to reach out to other girls to join the inaugural conference set for 2010. With the name “The Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs,” a cross between a young adult novel (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) and military uniforms, they talk about their goals for young women who are struggling because their families are in the same situation.

“We’d like to boost these girls and their self esteem and their self-confidence,” Deakin says on YouTube. “We are growing the sisterhood with our mantra: unite, inspire, lead,” Hearn continues. Their future plans include soliciting large corporations for donations and fitting in time for schoolwork in the upcoming year as they prepare for the event that will be the first of its kind. To find out more or to make a donation, visit http://www.sisterhoodbdus.com.

By Jennifer Taylor

Filed under: General Interest,

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