Ann-Marie Hamrick

Share your military spouse story:
In 2014 I was in graduate school working for Yelp! and had just landed my dream job and the FedEx WHQ in Memphis, TN. My first day there a very suave man with long hair and a beard came up and started asking me so many questions. He explained he was in the Army (7th Group), but was just injured and was here on a 10 month training with the industries to rehab. He says for him it was love at first sight, although it took me 2-3 months to be convinced to go on a date with this mysterious guy. I grew up in Memphis, there's not a lot of military presence there, so I was completely oblivious to the life I was about to begin. Six months into dating he asked me to move with him to Newport, RI while he attended Naval War College. I was hesitate because we were so new, but I also had never lived anywhere other than Memphis. It was the best 10 months. We lived in a tiny 2 bedroom home... it was the perfect opportunity to learn about each other and fall in love. One year into dating, Brad asked me to marry him. Maybe to get on his orders to the 173rd in Italy, but I like to think it's because he was so certain. Two days after our wedding we moved to Italy. I was highly involved in the FRG from 2015-2017 in Vicenza because a week after we arrived my husband left for the Baltics. The community I had there is still irreplaceable. We still are always there for each other. It's something I am trying to replicate as I go along. To create a community where no matter your duration as a military spouse, you matter and you are a part of our family. Since Italy, we've been at ARCENT at Shaw AFB, SOCOM at MacDill AFB, and now 11th BN at Fort Story/Fort Eustis. My husband has been gone the majority of our marriage, so I realize the impact community has. It's something I strive to create and maintain for all our spouses. At the 11th BN there was no SFRG when we arrived. Now all eleven companies have an active SFRG and hold monthly events. I hope we are creating a big family vibe for many!

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
At JEBLCFS, I not only ensure spouses are included in as many events as possible, but I've also tried to improve the quality of life for the younger soldiers. I have created a food pantry in partnership with YMCA Armed Forces, USAA, Helping the Homefront, River Ellis Foundation, and the VB Food Pantry. Crumbl Cookies donates cookies every single Wednesday for a morale boost to the soldiers. We've partnered with the VA Beach Police, Fire DEPT, and Schools in the area to also ensure we are involved in the community! With that, schools have cooked hot meals for the barracks, groceries have been donated to the pantry and big changes are being made. Because Fort Story had no options for food when we arrived, we pushed and pushed... now the base has the fastest built Army Kiosk OPEN for the soldiers. As the senior advisor for the SFRG I plan the balls and have had sponsors for the younger soldiers to attend at little to no cost.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
Extremely. There's probably not enough space on here for me to describe all my involvement, and I wouldn't change it for the world. I am a senior advisor for the SFRG to assist the eleven companies. I am involved in any community outreach. I am involved with BOSS to make sure the single soldiers are also taken care of. I've supported soldiers in meetings with barracks administration. I've relayed the issues soldiers to my husband, whether it be pay, food, family or life so he can ensure he can take care of them along their side and/or connect them with one of the community partners. I work with the BN PAO team closely. I am the CARE team lead to make sure any emergencies are tracked. Every baby born is given a hand made paci-clip I made. I did the art for the BN shirts/hats/sweatshirts. I've painted the new gym with the BN logo before the equipment was delivered. I work closely with ACS, Fleet & Family Readiness, USO, & Helping the Homefront.

Describe how you support your community:
I am involved with the Helping the Homefront, USO, YMCA Armed Forces Hampton Roads, River Ellis Foundation and Fort Story Community Garden to further support the families of the BN. We frequently partner with the VA Beach police department to do community outreach events to include families of all branches. With the VB Police we had a MURPH event honoring the fallen and we had over 1000 in attendance. We hosted a Halloween event offering haunted trail rides in HMMWVs and trunk or treating for the base and all branches on the base and had a great turnout. As I am given extra grocery boxes for families I post on the wives page for Fort Story and deliver them to the families' doorsteps. During Thanksgiving we host families for a dinner at our home so we can get to know all the spouses even more or our BN in hopes they spread the same feeling of "family" across their formation. It's so important in today's society for us to show these younger families how important they are.

What do you advocate for? Why?
Adoption is also something I am advocating heavily for. Especially to reform the process for the military families. There needs to be better resources for families interested! We had a long, rough journey with our adoption process. We were extremely mislead because of us being a military family. Because of this misinformation we lost over $20k before realizing how wrong the information we received was. After two failed infant adoptions, we adopted two children from foster care. Which we were told was never an option for us as a military family. It's something I truly want to reform for families. I am creating a 50 state guide to adoption for military families and providing organizations who will financially assist. So stay tuned and be on the lookout!

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
For adoption/foster, I use social media and talk about it with anyone who mentions adoption. It's amazing to me how many military families have been told adoption is not in the cards for them BECAUSE they are military. It couldn't be more wrong. I documented our journey, the heart aches of it, the issues/barriers we ran into. I plan to develop a state by state guide to adoption for the military and have the support of multiple military platforms to distribute it once completed. We were told so many different things, spent so much money, and went through so many heart breaks because we weren't provided with accurate information and allowed an agency to control the beginning of our three year adoption journey.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
I am passionate about bringing awareness to foster care/adoption for military. That is is available and CAN BE affordable. I'd like to work closely with organizations to simplify this process for service members/families. This goes hand in hand with improving the young soldiers' quality of life. Many of them come out of similar situations and choose the military. It's a hard decision to make and they deserve to have the opportunity for a better life. The military has been so good to us as a family. We've learned and grown from it, but there's always room for improvement. I know we can make a difference for those who follow. With the support of the AFI Military Spouse of the Year® title, I hope to be able to find those gaps and receive the backing to further support families looking to adopt and young soldier who made the decision to join the service to better their future. The military provides such a good life for children, whether they are military children or join at 18.