Moranda Hern (left) and Kaylei Deakin founders of The Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs.

Throughout April, Willow International student Moranda Hern is featured in a program on the Pentagon Channel, a network for those serving in the U.S. Military and their families. The program, “Recon: Home Front,” highlights the efforts of Moranda, a high school senior attending college classes, to form a support group for teenage daughters of deployed parents.

When Moranda’s father, a member of the National Guard, was deployed to Afghanistan, the strain of physical separation was just the beginning.

Because National Guard troops live away from a centralized military base, none of Moranda’s friends had parents in the military, and they didn’t know how to react when her dad went to war. Instead, her friends drifted away.

“We are growing the sisterhood with our mantra: unite, inspire, lead.” —Moranda Hern

“They wouldn’t call me, they wouldn’t return my calls,” said Moranda. “They wouldn’t come over, see how I was doing.”

Her self-confidence sunk. She became almost reclusive, withdrawing from day-to-day activities. The normal teenage pressures were compounded by the stress of a parent in the military, and Moranda felt alone.

Then she met Kaylei Deakin, another teen whose father had been deployed to Afghanistan and who had faced similar issues of hardship. The pair met at a national conference intended to encourage young women to follow their dreams.

On the plane ride home, Moranda and Kaylei hatched a plan for a conference of their own: a conference aimed at bringing together teenage daughters of parents in the military. The pair gathered their ideas and presented them to Brig. Gen. Mary Kight at the National Guard headquarters in Sacramento. Kight was as inspired as the young women.

Thus was born “The Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs” (BDUs are what the battle uniforms are called in the Army). In March, the first conference of the group met at the Clovis Memorial District Hall. More than 100 girls from throughout California spent the weekend listening to speakers, attending workshops, and simply “coming together to support each other,” Moranda said.

“We need to give military girls the empowerment and the sisterly support they need,” she said, “to become stronger through deployments and become stronger through reintegration and everything that comes with being a military child. It shouldn’t just be written off as ‘girls and their teenage issues’ because it’s much more than that.”

Moranda and Kaylei hope the sisterhood will continue with more conferences and expand to other states.

“We are growing the sisterhood with our mantra: unite, inspire, lead,” Moranda said.

The full story can be viewed at http://www.pentagonchannel.mil.

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