Army Wives Red Carpet Event at Walter Reed

Happy 4th of July! Over the years, we've looked for special ways to commemorate this holiday, but I think this year is going to be tough to beat.

Because of the success of their show, Army Wives, Lifetime television decided that they would kick off the holiday week with a series of events to honor our servicemembers and their families. Many of us were very honored to be invited to participate in the first of these events that took place at Walter Reed. The event would be a screening of one of the upcoming episodes held for selected guests and our nation's heroes and their families. It was a great evening. The USO and Lifetime went to great lengths to put on a wonderful event for the wounded warriors and their families. Everyone was very relaxed and enjoyed tinseltown being brought to them. Lee Woodruff, wife of anchorman, Bob Woodruff gave an incredibly moving presentation about the road their family traveled when her husband came back from Iraq severely injured. We all shared equal time crying and laughing.

As part of the evening's festivities, they invited some military spouses to share the red carpet with two of their stars (Sally Pressman and Brigid Brannagh) as well as big whigs from Lifetime television. I joined a handful of other military spouses to walk the red carpet, pose for pictures and answer questions about being a military spouse. It was all somewhat surreal. Even more so now when I'm getting phone calls from people who are seeing quotes and pictures in national newspapers! Very strange..... I thought I'd share some pictures with you from the event:

Tanya Biank signed books for everyone. What a good sport she is... Tanya writes a personal message in each book, so at the end of the evening, she was exhausted.

Lee Woodruff felt so strongly about attending the event that she left her family in the middle of their vacation and flew down for the day. She gave an incredibly moving speech and we all appreciated her candor and humour. The Woodruffs obviously care very deeply about servicemembers and their families.

Real Military spouses with the "Army Wives". From left to right: me, Sally Pressman, Mitja Baumhackl, Tanya, Brigid Brannagh and Nicole Alcorn. You probably remember that Tanya and Nicole were on our spouse council this past year and Mitja has applied for next year's spouse council. MOAA gets around!

Here we all are with Mrs. Sheila Casey, Kari Darga and Lee Woodruff. Mrs. Casey was giving us media tips and had us laughing hysterically!

Tanya with Sally

Brigid, Tanya and Sally. Brigid and Sally were still taking pictures and signing autographs well past when the rest of us packed it up. Their affection and respect for our military families was readily apparent.

The Caseys share a moment on the red carpet.

All in all, a tremendous evening and one that won't be quickly forgotten!