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2011 Family of the Year Award Winners

For the first time in the history of the National Military Family Association’s Family Award Program, families from two Services tied for top honor as Family of the Year. The Broesch family, an Army National Guard family from Hayden, Idaho, and the Arnold family, an Air Force family from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, shared the honors at the Association’s 2011 Leadership Luncheon held July 21.

Joining them on stage were the winning families from each of the other Services, who distinguished themselves in their own communities:

Navy Family of the Year—The Hatzung Family, Point Mugu, CA
Marine Corps Family of the Year—The Rucker Family, Dallas, GA
Coast Guard Family of the Year—The Henley Family, Sitka, AK
NOAA Family of the Year—The Beaucage Family, Kailua, HI
USPHS Family of the Year—The Thompson Family, Eagle River, AK

These families were selected because they lead in ways that extend far beyond the requirements of their military job. The National Military Family Association’s Family of the Year Award recognizes strong military families who embrace their service to the Nation and are role models in their community.

Among other things, the families raised money for scholarships, worked to protect the ecology of their community, opened their home to foster children, volunteered in schools, supported the spouses of deployed service members, served as mentors and friends to someone in need, and encouraged healthy living in both kids and adults. Above all, they demonstrated a central belief of the National Military Family Association—”Together we’re stronger.”

Support for these families, and military families around the globe, was lauded by top-ranked leaders from the civilian and military communities. Guest speaker, Michèle Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, remarked that she stands by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' belief that families, "are the power behind the power." Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, Generals Martin Dempsey (Army), Norton Schwartz (Air Force), and Craig McKinley (National Guard Bureau), Admiral Jonathan Greenert (Navy), Vice Admiral Sally Brice-O’Hara (Coast Guard), Rear Admirals Kerry Paige Nesseler (USPHS) and Jonathan Bailey (NOAA), and Brigadier General Robert Hedelund (Marine Corps), as well as many of their spouses and Bonnie Amos, wife of the Commandant of the Marine Corps presented the family awards. Their presence demonstrated the critical importance Pentagon leadership places on the spouses and children who stand behind their service members.

Want to know more about these families? Click here to watch a short video of each family.

To read more coverage on this event, go to http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64764.