Ashley Owings

Share your military spouse story:
My journey to becoming a military spouse started out with me being a service member. I joined the Army National Guard in Highschool and left for boot camp right after graduation. My military journey had me traveling from the time I turned 18. In 2012 I realized I really hadn't slowed down, I felt like a piece of my life & adulthood had been taken from me when I joined the military so soon, I missed my friends and family and missed home; I missed Kentucky. With moving so often I didn't have a boyfriend and to be honest I hadn't felt that I had met the one, I felt a real void in my life. I decided that at that moment I wanted to do something that I had never done before, not only turn my life fully over to God but I wanted to read the bible for the first time through, all by myself and to really study the word. On September 30th 2012 I finished reading the bible and throughout the whole time I prayed on the word and that God would bring me the spouse he wanted for me. A year to the day September 30th 2013 God did just that for me, I remember the day taking a photo before going into work knowing that photo would be special one day and it was, it was the last photo I took before I met my future husband and we have been married 11 years now. Our journey has been a hard one from Infertility issues from the start, to many struggles, a very belated honeymoon 4 years after marriage, because of the 7 losses we had between family and friends back in OK and KY with cross-country funerals traveling to and from, too frequent and sometimes back-to-back deployments. At times life got very hard for us; but we had each other. After 7 years of infertility we were able to get pregnant via IVF and in 2021 we gave birth to the sweetest little fellow Henry. Early on we noticed that Henry was having feeding and speech issues and soon after, he was diagnosed with Autism; our days are filled with many therapies and lots of giggles from our little guy and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
At a young age when I was abused as a child, when going to court against my abuser; I was given a teddy bear & in high school I collected bags of teddy bears and donated them to that same organization and the Center for Women and Children. I learned early in life helping others was my passion & that even a small act can help & in the Military I volunteered for duties that would take me into the communities so that I can help and learn from others. I served in both the Army and the Navy and in the Navy, I became a Suicide Awareness coordinator where I helped service members get the resources they needed in vital time. As a military spouse I worked hard to see where spouses were hearing No's and helped them get to the Yes. As a spouse I saw all the barriers put up, all the hurdles and the loneliness felt everyday and I began holding spouse groups, volunteering and helping through resources and became a leader in Advocacy for military spouses, veterans, service members and the disabled.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
In 2007 while in high school, I was selected to be part of the People-to-People Student Ambassador Program. Growing up poor and abused, I had saw no way out of this lifestyle; but, the program took students out of their comfort zones with people from all around the world and helped us to make induvial plans and projects to help our home communities. I went back home and worked hard on implementing projects that could help and create change. Learning the laws and regulations and how I can create change in certain areas. While in the military and as a spouse I have taken these skills with me seeing where family members and service members were struggling in areas of mental health, health, EFMP, suicide awareness, resources, moral, infertility, veterans resource, involvement, community and recreation and made it my goal to work with service members and their families to where no voice is left behind and they receive the help they are needing even if it means creating that change.

Describe how you support your community:
I support the military community by working on change through advocacy. Many times, spouses and service members cannot get the resources that they need because they do not fall into certain categories or check the correct boxes, and I truly believe that service members and their families need resources and help in many areas. Instead of people telling them no and you don't qualify service members and their families need more support and people that are willing to get them to the yes and create change. I can't count how many times as a spouse and service member I was scared to reach out and put on my brave face and asked for help and was told sorry you don't quality and there is nothing we can do and the same for my special needs son. I work as an advocate for change and getting service members and families the resources they need & inclusion. I also work behind the scenes to create changes through working with our gov reps to try to create new bills to help service members and family.

What do you advocate for? Why?
I advocate for helping others, volunteering your time and resources to helping others and working my due diligence to help others in the military community, the families, the service members, the veterans. From helping with, volunteering for and advocating for injured veterans, mental health, suicide awareness, EFMP causes, resources for military families and for active duty, reserves and veterans, dependency help for service members, veterans and spouses dealing with dependency issues related to drug or alcohol, helping them to get the direct and correct resources they need. I truly believe that our service members and their family should have the access to heal, whether it be through rehab, counseling and medications if needed and should not be restricted by one strike rules, fear of being kicked out or roadblocks to care. I also advocate for infertility, homeless veterans, Veterans, spouses and military children dealing with illness and disabilities and for the military family.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
I have spread my message for advocacy through social media platforms, local and national news new groups, through written articles for organizations and interviews in news articles and in person at events, through public speaking and through face-to-face meetings and engagements with organizations, government and military officials, nonprofits and other organizations, to create change and help the military community. I am currently working on two projects to help the military community; first being working with our Congressmen/Senators to create "Chase's Bill" to help military members to access rehab and help resources without retaliation or being kicked out; whether active duty with the one strike rule, veterans out of the military, or drilling reservist. My second is creating a nonprofit to help service members and their family struggling with dependencies, mental health, military issues, EFMP, fertility issues, and in need of fair treatment, to get the resources and help they need.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
What I hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the year title is to truly hear the concerns of the military community and implement the change needed to fill the gaps; by working with our congressmen and representatives to create bills that will help our community with inclusion instead of hearing the word "No" every time a servicemember, spouse, veteran, reservist or family member reaches out for help. I hope to create a resource center for military members and families to help them get to the yes, to get the resources that they are asking for and truly need. I hope to help other spouses to meet with representatives in their areas, to help them with creating new bills that help to support their advocacy, causes and needs for the military community. We all run into roadblock in this community, I want to help with bridging the gaps and help others to succeed not only in their endeavors; but to also make that change they are setting out to do. You're not in this alone.