Joint Base honors MDL Key Spouses

Published June 10, 2016
By Senior Airman Lauren Pitts & Airman 1st Class Zachary Martyn
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --- -- Members of the joint base attended the annual Key Spouse Appreciation Luncheon at the Falcon Creek Golf Course here, June 9.

The event highlighted the MDL Key Spouses Program -- an Air Force initiative designed to support spouses of deployed service members and arm the families with resources and information so that they thrive during the deployment.

"If the spouses at home are taken care of, the spouses that are deployed can focus on their own mission," said Kara Weekly, a 305th Aerial Port Squadron key spouse. "We are wingman support."

Weekly, who was recently named the Air Mobility Command Key Spouse of the Year, addressed the importance and significance of the program by remembering her own experiences as a teenage newlywed, left alone at a base in Oklahoma during one of her husband's first deployments.

"I wish I would have had a Key Spouse all those years ago," said Weekly. "But now, 13 years later, I can be the one to reach someone."

Col. John Price, 305th Air Mobility Wing commander, reiterated the importance of the Air Force Key Spouse Program as he addressed the audience during the luncheon, stressing the vital role it plays in mission success.

"We recruit the members, but we retain the families," Price said. "Our Key Spouses allow our folks to ensure their families are taken care of while [the service members] are down range."

Price continued by listing challenges military families face, especially during deployment tours. He described the Key Spouses as a sometimes necessary "pressure relief valve," critical to maintaining mission focus working with families through base resources.

"These Key Spouses are the compassionate side of an organization that isn't exactly known for its compassion," Price said. "It's vital that we don't forget the role that they play."

"Our mission is a balancing act and one that I think we master quite well," Weekly said of the key spouses. "Almost anyone can be a military spouse, but not everyone can be a key spouse."

"A very little key can open a very heavy door," said Weekly, as she left those in attendance with a mission of their own. "I challenge each of you to keep being the key, and keep turning that lock."