Amy Shick

Share your military spouse story:
Jason and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage this year. In usual Army fashion he will be deployed and several thousand miles away. Moments like this have taught us to celebrate all of life's accomplishments and special days to the fullest when we are a complete family. Jason and I got married when I was 18 and he was 21. He was a young, enlisted Infantryman in the Marine Corps and I worked as a waitress while I was in college. When his contract was coming to an end, I urged him to get out and go to college and give civilian life a try for me. I remember telling him that if he didn't like it, he could always go back to the military. Shortly after he graduated college in 2003 he commissioned into the Army through OCS. We know this Army life is exactly where we should be. It's also the community that has helped raise our children and supported our family during difficult times. Even after 20 years of deployments, moves, and raising our family we still feel that our military community has given so much to us. We feel a sense of duty to the next generation of military families. We remember those early years of our military life together. This sense of duty is what keeps us here, serving in our military community.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
The leadership experience I am most proud of was during COVID. We PCSd to JBLM three months after the nation shut down. Jason took command of 1-17 Infantry, a battalion of 700+ Soldiers. Social distancing and the stress of the pandemic made connecting with families and maintaining a team of devoted SFRG volunteers challenging. I picked up the phone and started calling spouses one by one. I started with the Top 5 Spouses and then all the SFRG volunteers, and company level leader spouses. I was pleasantly surprised how eager they all were to contribute. We came up creative ways to get the families together while social distancing like the Halloween Trunk or Treat, hiking excursions, and Easter Egg Hunts. We formed a Care Team and partnered with another battalion. I am so proud of how our team pulled together to support parents who came to JBLM after the death of their Soldier. Our battalion had many long-term training exercises. Our team was there to support any crisis that arose.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
Currently I am serving my military community at the local and national level. I am the Senior SFRG Advisor to Rainier Battalion in 2SFAB as well as serving as an Advisory Board Member to Military Family Advisory Network. Over the past 20 years I have had an active volunteer role in Jason's units starting at the platoon level up to the battalion and brigade levels. I have also volunteered as the Chair to the Fort Wainwright's Spouses Club Scholarship and Welfare Committee. In 2014, I founded a business with a military spouse friend to support military family relocation and real estate investment, as well as co-authored two e-books. Today I support my military community with education of the VA loan benefit as well as mortgage advise in my role as a Loan Officer.

Describe how you support your community:
I support my community in several ways. I plan and host several events for the spouses whose Soldiers serve in Rainier Battalion. This has been my main focus since the unit will be deploying soon. I also support my military community as a whole in a myriad of ways. For example, in August my co-worker/friend and I hosted a "Will you be my emergency contact?" get together at a local park so new spouses around the JBLM community could meet other spouses. I am also on several facebook groups and share resources and advise to military spouses seeking support. I also serve as an Advisory Board Member to Military Family Advocacy Network, a national non-profit supporting the improvement of services and life of military families.

What do you advocate for? Why?
I advocate for better housing options, improved access to quality health care and educational opportunities for military families. These are all issues that have affected not only my family and friends over the years of service but also of several of the families whose Soldiers served with Jason. There is room for improvement at every level of our military. I want to help be a part of the solution, so Soldiers and families have better resources to support their military lifestyle.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
I have spread the message of my advocacy through my work in entrepreneurial endeavors as well as my volunteerism. I have appeared on several podcasts and get involved in groups and sensing sessions wherever the opportunity arises. I spread the message of turning this military lifestyle into an adventure through our family's story that has been written about in several military spouse publications.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
I hope to bring more awareness to the topics I advocate for and to be a bridge between the highest levels of command, national military family support organizations, and military families. We need to bring back personal relationships, mentorship, and community within our military culture. Our unique culture and tradition are what makes the military a lifestyle and the best community to raise a family.