Cathy Horsefall, Mom of SSG John Martin

Cathy's son, John Martin, is a deployment veteran. Of course, that makes her one, too. Yet every time John volunteers for a mission overseas, Cathy is able to lean on her Army family for support. To learn more about Cathy and her son John, read their story.

Training

What kind of training will my son or daughter receive?

"The Army has helped John grow as an individual physically and emotionally and mentally. The biggest change I've seen in John in the last few years are his people skills—and they are just remarkable. He has learned to deal with people in all kinds of circumstances, in all situations and under a tremendous amount of stress at times. Through language barriers, cultural barriers. The people skills that he has developed have affected his whole character and I see it reflected in his marriage, his parenting skills. And at the level that he has acquired in the Army right now, he is in charge of a lot of Soldiers and I see him handling that well and handling them well. The Army has done all of that for him."

Money for College & More Benefits

What kinds of benefits does the Army provide?

"The Army provides stability, economic security, educational opportunity and a real chance that you might not have in a lot of other careers to see a lot of different things and be exposed to a lot of different ways of thinking and different cultures. The Army offers opportunities that are unlimited. If you're willing to work hard and make the effort I think that goes a lot further in a career in the Army than it does in a lot of cases in the civilian world."

Deployment

What happens during deployment?

"As far as the training and the Army and the program and the units and how they handle themselves, I've always been impressed with the lengths that the Army and the entire military go to keep Soldiers safe. ...Every time my son is deployed with the Army, I feel that he has been completely prepared and it is very reassuring to me to know that he's well trained, he's well equipped and that he's ready for the mission that he's being sent on. It's very helpful. It's very reassuring."

Keeping in Touch

How will I communicate with my son or daughter?

"When Soldiers are deployed and when John has been deployed, our experience has been that we have lots of options for communicating. The Army goes out of their way to make telephone access possible from their end to us, and e-mail whenever possible, and they do that as quickly as possible. So communication has always been readily available."