If you or a family member has been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR STORY. E-mail us now at info(at)intheirboots(dot)com!

THE DETAILS:

In Their Boots gives you the chance to tell all of America what the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are like for you, here at home. This is a unique and amazing opportunity to tell your story through only your voice, without the filter and spin of the media, in a non-partisan forum. Your story can help raise public awareness of the many challenges active duty service members, veterans and their families are experiencing now. By sharing your story, you can help other service members who might be dealing with similar issues.

Active duty, Reserve, National Guard, veterans, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers and children of the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan—this is your chance to tell America what it's like: good and bad; personal victories and triumphs; struggles and sacrifices that are happening here at home, far beyond the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here are some of the stories you can tell:

• Women Veterans: As a woman veteran, what unique issues are you dealing with? What’s it like reintegrating into your family as a mother and spouse? Is it harder to get service-connected benefits? The divorce rate for woman service members is three times as high as for their male counterparts— is this something you’ve experienced?
• Military Youth: Has your child or teenager been affected or altered in some way by the time your spouse has been away on a deployment, or by the physical or mental state of your spouse upon arrival back home? The youth voice is an important one that not many have heard from on these issues. We’d like to help get that voice out into the discussion.
• Employment: When you separated from the military, did you think it would be easy to find a job? What’s it like looking for a job in the civilian world with all of your military experience?
• Financial Stresses: In these tough economic times, how are you and your family fairing? Have you been up against home foreclosure or faced unemployment?
• Relationship Reintegration: What have you experienced when your spouse comes home from Iraq or Afghanistan? Is it an easy transition? The divorce rate in the military has been an issue of concern for some time— how has your marriage been affected?
• Student Veterans: What’s it like to be an Iraq or Afghanistan war veteran on a college campus? What unique challenges do you face in this new environment?
• National Guard and Reservists: As a National Guardsman or Reservist, what’s it like to come back from a deployment and jump back into your civilian life? Is your job still available when you come home? Are you able to access health care from your home town? What kind of support is available for you?