Monica Poulsen

Share your military spouse story:
My husband and I have been together since high school, and he factored the dreams we had for the future into his choice to enlist in the Air Force when he graduated college. I missed the first couple of days of classes my senior year of college to go down to Lackland for his graduation, flew down to Texas again over Indigenous People’s Day to get married while he was in tech school at Sheppard, and graduated early in December so we could move to Kadena AB, Japan together in January of 2013. I will never tell anyone that being a military spouse isn’t hard. Even the smoothest path for us has unavoidable potholes, but I love this life. I have gotten to travel to places I’ve never seen and spend 2+ years living more or less like the locals. I have gotten to know people a lot like me, and very different from me, who come from all over the world. I have made best friends who grew up just hours from me, but I never would have met without the Air Force! Over the past 12 years I’ve been a military spouse, I’ve been involved with a community theater program for DoD personnel and dependents on Okinawa, I’ve had a baby in Alaska and in Nebraska, and I’ve served on the executive board of two spouses’ clubs. I’ve learned a new dialect of English known only to the military community!! I’ve weathered three deployments with young children; one in the depths of a pandemic and another with a brand new baby. I’ve been ecstatic and depressed. I’ve made people’s days, and ticked them off. All of these experiences, great and terrible, have been lessons I hold dear— they’ve helped me know myself and humanity a little better. They’ve made me more compassionate, and taught me to recognize opportunities to use my own strengths to help others. Being a military spouse isn’t easy. But it’s damn well worth the pain.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
In the past, I have served on the General and the Executive Board of the Offutt Officers’ Spouses’ Club, first as Hospitality Chair, and later as Parliamentarian. I also served as POC for the club’s Playgroup for multiple years; planning, advertising and facilitating playdates as frequently as weekly. While at Offutt, I was a team POC at two Spouses’ Dining Ins. I’m currently serving my second fiscal year as President of Goodfellow Spouses and Community, where I am also POC of the Coffee Club. I am Chairperson for Goodfellow’s first Spouses’ Dining In, which will be on February 22, 2025. I am also co-founder and co-facilitator of the Goodfellow Community Playgroup, serving every family with base access in the Goodfellow/San Angelo Community.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
With Goodfellow Spouses and Community, I help run the base thrift store, which is a resource and volunteer opportunity for service members of all branches and services who find themselves at Goodfellow. On behalf of the club I also attend a monthly info fair where I meet incoming service members and orient them with the resources GSC can offer them.

Describe how you support your community:
One of my proudest achievements at Goodfellow so far is the reintroduction of a base-wide playgroup. I believe this type of activity is essential for supporting military families. I have worked hard over the past 19 months to foster a culture of inclusion in the Goodfellow Spouses and Community, leading to a quadrupling of club membership. In my tenure as President, we have also made major improvements to the thrift store, which have led to a major increase in store income, and therefore in funds dispersed via community grants and military dependent scholarships. I have seen in action the power of a Spouses’ Dining In to build a strong military spouse community. I believe that the upcoming First Goodfellow SDI has the potential to build upon the major strides in community-building the GSC has accomplished, opening up new relationships between all spouses at Goodfellow, not just spouses’ club members.

What do you advocate for? Why?
I advocate for acceptance of everyone. None of us can ever know the full scope of anyone else’s life or circumstances, and I believe that we can actively make the world a better place by giving others grace and understanding, and teaching our peers to do the same.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
I strive to spread the message of acceptance with every interaction I have, but it’s most visible in my leadership of the Goodfellow Spouses and Community. I advocate by direct communication with the individuals I interact with.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
We live in a time and place where there is a lot of pushback to the idea of accepting individuals exactly as they are. I hope to prove that it’s not just a cheesy idea, but a real way forward to a future where everyone feels better about themselves and their neighbors, and therefore brings a bit more kindness to every interaction.