7 minute read
SB People
BREE CARROLL
Meet Bree Carroll, military wife, mother of three, civil engineer, entrepreneur, event specialist, speaker, and military marriage coach. She now holds one more title: the 2020-21 Armed Force Insurance Military Spouse of the Year (MSOY) for the Air Force. “I want to be the change I hope to see in the world,” she says. Her platform: strengthening military marriages. All married couples face challenges like finances, parenting, and managing responsibilities, but a military marriage brings additional challenges. Separations due to deployments or temporary duty assignments means service members are often away from home, may miss important milestones, and can test the fidelity of both partners. Learning to manage the household and parenting responsibilities alone can be difficult, and a level of adjustment is required to learn to live together again after a long separation. Moving frequently— leaving the known for the unknown—adds additional stress. Bree, a civil service employee for eleven years, has been married to her husband, B-52 pilot Captain Donovan Carroll, for seven years. She has personal experience with the challenges of military marriages, working full-time and raising three children through three permanent moves and five deployments. At Barksdale, she assists spouses in navigating government hiring and shared tuition assistance and scholarship opportunities. She has advocated for spousal employment and diversity outreach, and was proud to serve as President of the Officers’ Spouses’ Club during the administration that transitioned it into an open and inclusive Spouses’ Club. In addition to her career as a civil engineer, Bree has an event planning business and has been awarded a top wedding planner by both Wedding Wire and SB Magazine. Her goal has always been to help couples design a marriage that celebrates their core values and becomes even more beautiful than their wedding day. After a few years, she recounts, “I realized that at my core I cared more about the couple’s relationship than the color of their table linens.” When the pandemic postponed
events, she focused on finding new ways address marriages in her military community. She hosted a Combat COVID Marriage Summit, rallied local creatives to put together an elopement for a service couple whose wedding plans were cancelled, sponsored a survey to get data on the health of military marriages, and did more speaking and coaching on how to develop a thriving relationship within military life. According to Bree, the current culture doesn’t emphasize strong marriages. She was surprised to learn how few resources were available to help military couples considering divorce. At one point, several friends began to file for divorce and a few suicides on base really hit home. Shaken, she wanted to be a part of the solution. She began to volunteer with The Warrior Network non-profit, serving over 3,500 active-duty families. Now, as the Director of Family Events, Carroll helped raise $8,000 to give to Airmen in times of crisis and need, and she supports quarthree, civil engineer, entrepreneur, event terly events to bring Barksdale service member families together to discuss both lighthearted and serious subjects, like coach. She now holds one more title: the 2020-21 Armed Force Insurance Military Spouse of the Year (MSOY) for the Air suicide. She also launched Hearts & Stripes, an internationally broadcasted podcast where she speaks on the power of relationships and gives advice to military spouses. Force. “I want to be the change I hope to see in the world,” “Our role as military spouses is not an easy one,” Carroll notes. She was named a Key Spouse for the 20th Bomb Squadron, and became responsible for maintaining close personal relationing, and managing responsibilities, but a military marriage brings additional challenges. Separations due to deployments ships and support for 60 spouses. Her dedication was recently put to the test as the squadron was tasked with a no-notice deployment and were unprepared for the sudden life-change. often away from home, may miss important milestones, and can test the fidelity of both partners. Learning to manage “My proudest leadership moment came with consoling and supporting a young spouse who was frantic,” she says. the household and parenting responsibilities alone can be In 2020, she founded a virtual international event around Milidifficult, and a level of adjustment is required to learn to live tary Marriage Day (celebrated annually on August 14th) to give together again after a long separation. Moving frequently— couples resources based on four core values: fidelity to nation leaving the known for the unknown—adds additional stress. and relationship, diversity as every marriage is uniquely beauBree, a civil service employee for eleven years, has been married to her husband, B-52 pilot Captain Donovan Carroll, for seven years. She has personal experience with the challenges of mil itary marriages, working full-time and raising three children through three permanent moves and five deployments. At Barksdale, she assists spouses in navigating government tiful, community as a necessary support for healthy marriages, and intentionality in strengthening and celebrating relationships. “My hope is to create proactive and resolution-based resources for our military couples. I believe the strength of the military family has direct correlation to the strength of our armed forces and the core of that is the marriage,” she says. This year the event will reach Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and tunities. She has advocated for spousal employment and di versity outreach, and was proud to serve as President of the Officers’ Spouses’ Club during the administration that tran Air Force service couples internationally. As Spouse of the Year, she has represented Barksdale and the Air Force on supporting military families to the Joint Chief of Staff’s spouse and other military community leaders. In September, In addition to her career as a civil engineer, Bree has an event planning business and has been awarded a top wedding plan ner by both Wedding Wire and SB Magazine. Her goal has al ways been to help couples design a marriage that celebrates their core values and becomes even more beautiful than their wedding day. After a few years, she recounts, “I realized that she will attend the MSOY Town Hall in Washington, DC, speak to fellow spouse leaders in the military spouse community, meet with Senators and Governors, and participate in the 20-year remembrance ceremony of September 11th. Her focus will be to raise awareness and rally support for Military Marriage Day and marriage resources for the service community. at my core I cared more about the couple’s relationship than the color of their table linens.” When the pandemic postponed events, she focused on finding new ways address marriages in her military community. She hosted a Combat COVID Marriage Summit, rallied local creatives to put together an elopement for a service couple whose wedding plans were cancelled, sponsored a survey to get data on the health of military marriages, and did more speaking and coaching on how to develop a thriving relationship within military life. According to Bree, the current culture doesn’t emphasize strong marriages. She was surprised to learn how few resources were available to help military couples considering divorce. At one point, several friends began to file for divorce and a few suicides on base really hit home. Shaken, she wanted to be a part of the solution. She began to volunteer with The Warrior Network non-profit, serving over 3,500 active-duty families. Now, as the Director of Family Events, Carroll helped raise $8,000 to give to Airmen in times of crisis and need, and she supports quarterly events to bring Barksdale service member families together to discuss both lighthearted and serious subjects, like suicide. She also launched Hearts & Stripes, an internationally broadcasted podcast where she speaks on the power of relationships and gives advice to military spouses. “Our role as military spouses is not an easy one,” Carroll notes. She was named a Key Spouse for the 20th Bomb Squadron, and became responsible for maintaining close personal relationships and support for 60 spouses. Her dedication was recently put to the test as the squadron was tasked with a no-notice deployment and were unprepared for the sudden life-change. “My proudest leadership moment came with consoling and supporting a young spouse who was frantic,” she says. In 2020, she founded a virtual international event around Military Marriage Day (celebrated annually on August 14th) to give couples resources based on four core values: fidelity to nation and relationship, diversity as every marriage is uniquely beautiful, community as a necessary support for healthy marriages, and intentionality in strengthening and celebrating relationships. “My hope is to create proactive and resolution-based resources for our military couples. I believe the strength of the military family has direct correlation to the strength of our armed forces and the core of that is the marriage,” she says. This year the event will reach Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force service couples internationally. As Spouse of the Year, she has represented Barksdale and the Air Force on supporting military families to the Joint Chief of Staff’s spouse and other military community leaders. In September, she will attend the MSOY Town Hall in Washington, DC, speak to fellow spouse leaders in the military spouse community, meet with Senators and Governors, and participate in the 20-year remembrance ceremony of September 11th. Her focus will be to raise awareness and rally support for Military Marriage Day and marriage resources for the service community.
