Daughters of Luke SNCO honored

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Devante Williams
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FOREC BASE, Ariz. --  There's a lot of stress on children who come from military families most notably, dealing with the absence of a parent during a long deployment. Ten-year-old Bailey Caldwell used her time away from her mother to write a book, create a website and mentor others whose parents are deployed.

Bailey was selected as a semi-finalist for the Military Child of the Year Award to represent the United States Air Force in Arizona. The award recognizes children who show strength of character and succeed in the challenges of military life. The award is given to an outstanding military child from each military branch of service.

Bailey and her sister wrote "Deployed Kids: How we survived our mom's deployment," with the help of their grandmother, while their mother Master Sgt. Erin Martens, 56th Fighter Wing command section superintendent, was deployed. She also spoke at Yellow Ribbon events and created www.deployedkids.com to help military children cope with their parent's deployment.

"It inspired me because I wanted to show kids how they can react to their parents being deployed," Bailey said. She wants children to know how to cope with their parents being deployed.

Bailey and her sister stayed with their grandparents during their mother's deployment. Though military children move around a lot, adjusting to a new home is never easy.

"It was very difficult because I didn't know anyone at first," Bailey said. "I was worried that no one would be my friend. I didn't know anybody in the neighborhood or how it ran."

Bailey said she is honored to be a finalist.

"I'm not here to be famous," she said. "It's a wonderful honor, and it means that I do care about what my mom does and what she does for our country."

Martens is similarly proud of her daughters and their accomplishments.

"They're honorable kids," Martens explained. "As a military parent it's hard to always to be there for your kids. But then you hear about your kids going up for Military Child of The Year and it just makes you proud about everything."

Bailey hopes children who go through the same situations understand their parent's sacrifice.

"Be strong and don't get mad at your parents for leaving," she said. "Because you know it's for a good cause."

The winners from each branch of service were announced in March. For more details about the Military Child of the Year, visit www.operationhomefront.net.