Lindsey Gandy
Branch: Air Force
Duty Station: Hill Air Force Base
Number of Deployments: 2
Number of PCS's: 4
Share your military spouse story:
I am an Air Force wife of over fourteen wonderful years. My husband has served two deployments as well as countless TDYs. I have two young boys, one of which has special needs. I want spouses of those that serve to know that they are strong enough to accomplish anything put in front of them. Whether it is advocacy or getting dinner on the table. You can do it and we can do it together.
Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
I have won Volunteer of the Year at our last base as well as awards for being a key spouse. I recently won Caregiver Advocate of the Year from Caregiver.com. I am also the Director of Legislative Affairs for a nonprofit that I am apart of called Mission Alpha Advocacy. With these roles, I have been able to lift other spouse as well as bring awareness to issues within our community that can be changed.
Describe your involvement in the military community:
As stated, I am the Director of Legislative Affairs of Mission Alpha Advocacy. I have spent many hours advocating for military spouses, military families, and dependants with special needs. I have done this on the federal level as well as the state level. Last year I connected with over 200 offices in Congress.
Describe how you support your community:
I show support to our community by trying to encourage and teach other spouses how to successfully advocate for themselves and their families. I think with that comes confidence and may encourage others to try and teach other military spouses advocacy as well.
What do you advocate for? Why?
I began to advocate for my family, specifically my son that has special needs, as well as others who were in my same situation. We started to lose services he desperately needs. It wasn't only happening to my family, but those who have the same diagnosis in my community. We all want the best for our children and family.
How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
The nonprofit I work with has a social media platform as well as a website. I have also successfully briefed numerous Congressional offices.
What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year®
title?
I hope to spread my message that together we are stronger and can make a difference. As spouses, we are united in our own mission. It can be advocacy or it can be simply making it through deployments.
Nominations
Lindsey leads a busy life as a military spouse, mother, executive assistant, and caregiver. She understands the hardship of caregiving without local family support.
Lindsey volunteers as an advocate through Mission Alpha Advocacy to represent military caregivers. I’ve worked with her for two years and she has never wavered in her commitment to ensure that our military families have access to quality healthcare. She has traveled to Washington DC to meet with legislators in order to influence policy creation to benefit these families. Lindsey also empowers other families to self-advocate by teaching them how to effectively share their struggles with legislators and DoD leadership.
Her efforts led to a policy that will allow a seamless transition in specialty medical care for military families when they move duty stations. Influencing federal policy can be a slow process. Lindsey has said “this may not benefit my family, but it will help those service members who follow behind us”.
- by
Kristi Cabiao