What a trooper

REAL LIFE

Small charity with a big heart

Louise Fetigan, 37, fro military kids feel less alone…

I knew she needed help H eading into my daughter’s room, I tried to ease her back to sleep.

Madison was just seven, and she was struggling with her dad being away. Unfortunately, as a military family, it was just something she had to get used to.

I’d joined the army in my late teens and that’s where I met my husband, Tony, 38.

We were constantly moving, but when we had Madison, that’s when I really noticed the affects.

I slowed down my role as an army clerk, but as a solider, Tony was always out on mission. Madison could go weeks without seeing him or even talking to him, but there was no support.

I just kept getting told that as her dad was alive, ‘she was not a crisis.’ But as a young child who missed her dad, I knew she needed help.

So, one year, to keep her occupied, the two of us trekked Snowden for charity and I wrote a blog post all about it.

My child struggles, too! I wish there was help… other military mums wrote.

And I knew then that I had to do something.

So, that’s when I set up my charity Little Troopers in 2011.

The aim of the charity was to help

ts to help

all children who have one or both parents in the Armed Forces – regular or reserve.

On the website, parents can download packs and activities, t will help them to understand military life.

We try and connect the childr to their parents, no matter the mi between them.

With calendar countdowns, birthday cards and welcome hom packs, it’s a great way to keep th entertained, as well as connected We now also have an app, so military parents can log in and record a bedtime story for their child, regardless of whether ther signal where they are.

Since launching, we’ve had su a great response and the charity h only grown.We’ve now launche ttle Troopers in School itiative, to help teachers nderstand the difficult life of litary children.

Just like Madison, who is now 16, there are children out there who have to move area and

school every two years. She’s been to nearly eight different schools, each time harder than the last.

Last year, we had to move er halfway through her CSE’s and we’ll have to do the me for her A-Levels.

t’s not easy for her, and I know re are thousands of other hildren and teenagers going hrough it.

We’re lucky that Madison is so trong, and she even wants to go nto the military herself when

he’s older, but it doesn’t make it asy for her.

As I watch Madison grow and ee her daily struggles as a military hild, I adapt the charity to the eeds of all children.

As we’re not a crisis charity, we on’t get any funding.

So each year, we do the Snowden trek to raise money.

We’re a little charity, but we have a huge heart and we want to make life easier for military children.

I no longer serve in the military, but we still live and breathe it.

We don’t always know when Tony’s next mission will be and when he’s out in Iraq or Afghanistan serving his country, we’re so proud of him, but we miss him so much.

Madison knows how lucky she is to still have both her parents, but I’ve seen first-hand the struggles that military children face every single day.

So, that’s why I set up Little T t t d

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