On Tuesday, May 29, 2007 Laura Armstrong writing at the Marietta Daily Journal had this to say:
From the misery of Valley Forge in 1777-78 (Martha Washington froze along with the rest that winter), through the long separations of World War II, to the extended or repeated deployments of today, it's always been a difficult life for camp followers. Yet always they endure.
But who looks out for them? During the Revolution, there were those who thought provisions should not be shared with them, despite those who picked up arms alongside their mates, fetched water or nursed the wounded.
Ironically, as some conditions have improved, others have worsened. Life insurance has increased for military families, and more private and charitable organizations are helping, but provisions for educating military widows and kids haven't kept up. The G.I. Bill, for example, that paid my entire four years at UGA, is no longer enough to
pay college costs, which have increased 35 percent just since the war started.
This Memorial Day, there's one Georgia father who's all too aware of this and has worked hard to make a change at the state level to fulfill a promise to his beloved son - looking out for the widows of Georgia's activated guard and reserves.
His name is Robert Stokely, a Coweta County prosecutor whose son, Sgt. Mike Stokely, died in Iraq in 2005. We should know about his chivalrous efforts.
According to Stokely, whom I spoke with recently, Georgia has about 26 National Guard widows, young women mostly, left behind to carry on with courage. Not all of them want or need a college degree, but Stokely and the Georgia legislature feel they deserve some help with that if they want one.
Stokely pushed, with help from State Reps. Billy Horne (R-Newnan) and Ronald Forster (R-Ringgold), to pass unanimously H.B. 131 - a measure that extends Georgia's HERO Scholarship grants to Guard and Reserve widows. Driven by grief, duty and most of all love, Stokely also helped push the bill through the state senate, where it was championed by Sen. Seth Harp, a Vietnam vet from Midland.
The final version cleared on April 19th, which would have been Mike's 25th birthday, and now awaits Governor Perdue's signature.
A passionate Stokely believes this action is a sure way to honor Georgia's fallen, and help their brave widows who've sacrificed so much.
"It's a matter of honor," Stokely says, and the legislature apparently agrees.
Two days later Governor Purdue signed the bill into law instead of letting it become law without his signature. In an email to me Mr. Stokely had this to say:
I was just a pest who would not go away, but didn't have a vote in the matter. Mike and Niki did more than will be known - I made a flyer using the last known picture of Mike in Iraq (holding the IV bag tending a wounded soldier, smiling as he always did) and Niki as the funeral ended and holding the folded flag that had just draped Mike's casket.
When I had the chance to speak at the State Capitol before the Senate Higher Education Committee (chaired by Sen. Seth Harp, I didn't know he was a Vietnam Vet), I had carried Mike's combat boots sent back from Iraq, with the dog tag still on his left boot lace. I set those boots on the table as I spoke and told them of my question to Mike the day before he left for Iraq - "son, why is that dog tag on your lace?" His comment, with a somewhat curled smile was "[D]ad, where we are going guys get blown apart and it helps them match us back up."
I then told the Committee that is what Niki, as a 20 year old wife of ten days endured as she watched her high school sweetheart march to war, watching and waiting night and day for news of his safety, and return, only to learn after three months of marriage that she was a widow of war. As I said to the Committee, she has endured enough, paid more than most, and certainly deserves the HERO scholarship, as does the others like her.
At that time an effort had been made to attach a "remarriage penalty" to the bill and I told the committee that they had paid enough and should not now be asked to choose between education and the chance for happiness that comes with going on with life. Senator Harp and others were outraged that such an attempt was being made and removed the opportunity for the remarriage penalty and even amended the bill so it would be more available to the current widows’ time frame wise.
Mike Stokely couldn't walk in that committee room that day, but he left footprints that spoke even 21 months after his death. Niki wasn't there, but her picture holding that flag said it all. All they needed was a mailman and that I could do.
Thank you [Laura Armstrong] for your time and efforts to highlight the families - especially the wives and children (and now a days, the husbands although fewer in number) whose spouse/soldier goes to a far away place and serves our country. Certainly, this war has had tremendous impact on them, and the impact doesn't end when the soldier comes home, for that is a new beginning of an entirely different impact, and for some, one without end. But they give without holding back, especially those whose soldier died in combat.
Now, Georgia has shown that it will give to the fallen by helping their families ease the cost of college, and for that, Georgia can hold its head up having put its checkbook where its words were.
The State of Georgia has done the right thing; it has not abandoned its Gold Star families for the sake of petty politics or fiscal mismanagement. Congratulations go to Mr. Stokely from every contributor and friend of The Thunder Run for his successful campaign. Its good that you are finally being highlighted in the media for only doing what you have always done…supporting your children in all their endeavors.
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