Rachel Johnson

Share your military spouse story:
Nineteen years ago when I met that handsome man in military uniform on my small-town college campus, I had no idea falling in love with him would lead me on the greatest adventure of my life. We’ve been married now for almost seventeen years, have three amazing sons, and have moved with the military seven times. The Air Force and the Space Force have taken us from one corner of the country to the other, to include Hawaii, and they have given us the opportunity to live in seven unique military communities while my husband has served in two vastly different career fields and two branches of service. With each military move, we always arrive mourning the loss of what and who we have left behind, but we are always anxious for what lies ahead for our family in each new location. Resettling into our home seven times over has not been easy, but with time we always begin to put down roots, explore our community, and make connections with new friends and neighbors. As a homeschool mom and passionate volunteer, it’s given me the flexibility to carry our boys’ school and my service with us each time we have moved. And before long our family is in love with where the military has planted us. The countless number of people that have impacted our lives guarantees that we have “family” in every corner of the globe, to include locals and military families from every branch of service thanks to our two joint assignments. To our family and other military families, these are the ordinary parts of our lives - moving frequently, plugging into a new community, learning how to adapt to different cultures, and striving to thrive where we are planted. But the fact is, these are the things that make us the extraordinary military community that we are.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
I have been honored to serve in multiple leadership positions during my time as a military spouse, but I’d love to highlight my three most memorable roles. While in Hawaii, I served as Squadron Key Spouse in the position of Welcome Coordinator. In this role, I assembled and delivered dozens of welcome bags for newly arriving Airmen and families and assisted the command team with newcomer needs. For my efforts, I was awarded both Squadron and Group Key Spouse of the Year. While stationed in the National Capital Region, I served on the leadership team of a Base Chapel sponsored women’s ministry that facilitated spiritual, social, and emotional connections among military women during Covid. Lastly, I served on the inaugural coordinating team of the “Space Force Spouses in the NCR” which is credited for creating a thriving Facebook page (280+ followers) and laying the framework for monthly socials. Each leadership position allowed me to serve spouses in simple, tangible, impactful ways.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
I am so thankful to have had many opportunities to be involved in each military community we’ve been assigned to. In the past I have helped with planning retirement and promotion celebrations and squadron and base level spouses events. Currently, I’m serving as a Neighborhood Representative on the Peterson SFB’s Resident Counsel and was a key player in advocating to base leadership for a local dairy to continue providing services to our residents. At a Space Force level, this past year I was invited to speak as a panelist on both the Women in Space Symposium’s Spouses Panel and the Space Force Squadron Commander’s Course Spouses Panel. Both speaking opportunities allowed me to share with other spouses encouragement and wisdom from my own experiences as a military spouse.

Describe how you support your community:
The greatest way that my family and I have supported our military community is by choosing to live on base five out of our seven assignments because we love doing life alongside other military families. We love getting to know our gate guards and bringing cookies to our base firemen at holidays. We love attending base events as a family and participating in programs like homeschool co-ops, youth center camps and sports, and annual socials. Also, we love being there for our neighbors by offering support and encouragement through bringing meals, sharing walks, visiting over coffee, babysitting, or sharing from our garden. But the best thing about these small, ordinary, day-to-day ways of support is that they create relationships that impact our family and theirs long after our next PCS moves us away from one another.

What do you advocate for? Why?
This is a hard question to ask a spouse like me, because I don’t feel there is one big, monumental cause that I have championed. Rather, my advocacy has been in the day-to-day showing up for the needs and causes that matter to my military community. It’s cheering on a spouse with a kind comment on social media, taking time to visit with a discouraged, new mom in the clinic waiting room, or jumping on the phone to base representatives to find a solution to a neighborhood problem. It’s engaging a spouse who’s standing alone at a social or spending an extra five minutes visiting with a commissary bagger or retiree at the pharmacy. I advocate for the ordinary acts of lifting up my community with support. Our way of life as military spouses is so special and unique, and I want to steward that way of life well by inspiring spouses to know that it’s not the grandness of the cause but the heart behind it that matters. As a friend shared, “Rachel, ordinary work really is extraordinary work.”

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
As shared previously, I’ve had many opportunities to advocate for the everyday causes and needs of my fellow spouses. I believe the two most impactful steps to advocating are being an active listener and sharing one’s voice. Listening is key to understanding, and without understanding I really can’t know and advocate for the heart of the matter. Once I’ve listened and understood, then I share my voice in one of several ways. First, I’ve had extensive experience with public speaking in both large and small, military and non-military settings. Also, my volunteer role as Creative Media Director for a non-profit has given me skills and savviness for social media, and I see great value in leveraging those platforms for speaking up. And lastly, but closest to my heart, I share with others in one-on-one interactions, never afraid to pick up a phone or send an email to find an answer or solution. The power of listening well and sharing one’s voice is a priceless combination.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
If I was incredibly fortunate enough to receive the title of AFI Military Spouse of the Year, I would hope to accomplish two specific things for military spouses across all branches of service: Inspiration and Empowerment. My desire is to inspire other military spouses just like me, who encourage and advocate quietly and simply in their neighborhoods and base communities through ordinary day-to-day acts. I desire them to see that they too can make a difference and have an impact with their consistent, selfless service of spouses and their families. And my second desire is that I would empower spouses to listen to the needs in their community and share their voices in uplifting, creative, and unifying ways. As spouses, we are the ones in the trenches on the home-front, and so who better to be the voices of our communities than the everyday military spouse. We all have something to share and contribute to preserve the extraordinary military community that we are.