Bay Area military support club adds meetings in Hollister
When Karol Roy Burke drives around town, she always makes note
of the vehicles that have a
”
Proud Marine Parent
”
or other military stickers on the back. The Hollister resident
has a daughter who is a second lieutenant in the Marines, an
air-traffic controller in Yuma, Ariz.
Bay Area military support club adds meetings in Hollister
When Karol Roy Burke drives around town, she always makes note of the vehicles that have a “Proud Marine Parent” or other military stickers on the back. The Hollister resident has a daughter who is a second lieutenant in the Marines, an air-traffic controller in Yuma, Ariz.
For Burke, her daughter’s initial interest in the military was a surprise.
“She’d always wanted to be a fashion designer, so it was a big turnaround,” she said.
After Sept. 11, however, Burke said the teen became interested in joining the military. She enrolled in Navy Junior ROTC classes at San Benito High School, and was a commanding officer her senior year. Burke’s only request was for her daughter to enroll in a college ROTC program and graduate as an officer instead of enlisting.
“She was too bossy to be enlisted,” the mother jokes.
Walton enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute, an academy for all branches of the military, and graduated 16 months ago.
“She really likes her job and she likes the fact that she chose the Marines because of the discipline,” Burke said.
At the time of Walton’s graduation, Burke heard another mom mention Blue Star Moms, a support group for military families.
“I thought mistakenly that your child had to be deployed [overseas] so I let it go,” she said.
But in March, she got curious about it and did a Web search for a local Blue Mom Stars group. She connected with the South Bay Blue Star Moms, which holds a general meeting on the third Tuesday of every month, and supports several smaller city group meetings where members can get together for support or advice.
The group is open to anyone who has a family member who has served in the military or is currently serving –including moms, grandmothers, wives, girlfriends or even aunts.
Burke, who works as a police officer in San Jose, said she quickly talked to the chapter officers about starting a cities group in Hollister.
“Everything was up there [in the Bay Area],” she said. “But there were members already from Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Hollister.”
With the support of the chapter, Burke organized her first city group meeting in September with 10 new members showing up. The main goal of Blue Star Moms, which has chapters across the nation and was founded during World War I, is to provide support to military families.
Linda Bayer, a co-president of the local chapter, first got involved in August 2006 when her son Jared Bayer, a staff sergeant in the Air Force, was being deployed to Iraq.
“I knew I was going to need some support to help me get through his deployment,” she said. “A new mom can be a little bit intimidated. You are not sure what to expect. I wanted to meet other moms.”
Bayer’s son Jared is now stationed stateside at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and her son Ryan is a veteran of the Air Force.
Now that her sons are both home, Bayer said she hopes she can support other moms who are going through what she had gone through.
“I understand how they feel the very first time,” she said. “They are concerned about their [child’s] safety, and we try to give them the strength that they are trained well, hopefully will be speaking to them, that they can keep busy and do something positive.”
As a group, the South Bay Blue Star Moms organize fundraisers, support care package drives and sponsor Operation Postcard. For Bayer, however, the most important part of the group is the support offered.
“In small city groups, you share your stories,” Bayer said. “You talk about when your child first decided to go into the military, how you felt about it. We talk about it as they graduate, if they are deployed, how they are communicating or if they are not communicating.”
She said the meetings have also made her more aware of the sacrifices military families are making and the need to prepare for when family members return home.
“They will need us even more,” she said. “Want to make sure they have proper benefits, healthcare and the welcome home that they deserve that the Vietnam Vets didn’t get. Many soldiers are coming back with PTSD [Post-traumatic stress disorder] and as families, we want to make sure we understand so we can help them and encourage them to get help.”
Both moms stressed that they have women from all walks of life with family members in all stages of military service.
“We’ve had moms walking in when their kids’ just signed up and the moms are scared to death,” Burke said. “We have people who are anti-war, but their child has chosen to sign up and they are conflicted.”
Burke and Bayer also stressed the pride shared in the groups.
“They are very proud,” Bayer said. “They share in the pride and the feelings they have.”
Upcoming Events:
General meeting, open to members of all city groups, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., American Legion Post No. 564, 2120 Washington Ave., Santa Clara
Contact: 408-235-9835,
bl************@ya***.com
or www.southbaybluestarmoms.org
Hollister Area City Group, Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Contact: Karol Roy Burke,
so***************@at*.net
or call 801-6935
Care package donation drive, Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. , Nob Hill Foods in Gilroy (First and Wren streets). Items needed include beef jerky, tuna packs, protein bars, eye drops, first aid kits, shaving cream, T-shirts, socks and current magazines
Second annual casino night fundraiser, Saturday, Oct. 24, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., San Jose National Guard Armory, 251 W. Hedding St., in San Jose. No host bar, light refreshments. Tickets are $25 a person or $35 per couple (admission includes a $25 chip.) Texas hold ’em tournament is $20 a person and requires advanced registration. Contact: Carolyn,
cw*********@ya***.com
