Daddy & Deployment

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This post was made possible by iConnect and Duracell. I was provided compensation to facilitate this post, but all opinions are 100% mine. #TheTeddyBear #ConnectDuracell #spon

Since 2001, more than 2 million American children have had a parent deploy. When Adri was just three weeks old, John left on a year-long (370 days, if you want to get technical) deployment to Afghanistan. Raising a newborn and a spunky toddler on my own proved to be a challenge, but what turned out to be the hardest part, was knowing that my kids were growing for a year away from their father. Would they remember him when he got back?

Throughout the year, there were Skype calls and Facebook messaging, but it was all on John’s time. It happened whenever he found the time between meetings and missions to go to the computer lab. Not to mention the drastic time difference, which normally meant either early mornings or late nights for us, while the girls were sleeping.

Still, we had constant reminders of John around the house. Daddy dolls, gigantic photo cutouts, talking books and picture frames, even video recordings.

John and Veronica were BFFs long before the deployment, so I wasn’t too worried about her reconnecting with John upon his return. My real concern was with Adri meeting the daddy that she never really got to know.

adri-john

Clearly, she wasn’t too traumatized..

Towards the end of the deployment, as they were getting ready to close down the FOB or traveling back to the US, communication was especially limited. Nothing like not hearing from your spouse for Christmas, right? It was at this time that I was grateful for the recorded Christmas books that we had with John’s voice.

It’s amazing how items such as recordable teddy bears and other battery-powered devices such as recordable storybooks provide reliable comfort throughout a deployment.

Duracell’s Teddy Bear film will hit you right in the feels with the story of a military child and her talking bear, which is inspired by a little girl’s actual story.

In appreciation of our strong military kids and families, Duracell is donating $100,000 to the USO’s Comfort Crew for Military Kids. Be sure to share the film and find out how you can donate to the USO, here.