Military spouse/journalist will speak about war’s hidden impact on military families on Oct. 21

War's often unseen effect on military families will be explored in a Longwood University talk by someone who has lived through the homefront experience as a military spouse and covered it as a journalist.

Kristin Henderson will speak Thursday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Molnar Recital Hall in Wygal on "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon: War's Hidden Impact on Military Families." Henderson, a Quaker who has reported from Iraq and Afghanistan, is married to a Navy chaplain who served with the Marines in both countries. She is the author of While They're at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront, an in-depth portrait of military spouses in wartime.

Henderson will discuss the changes a military family undergoes as it confronts the stresses of a wartime deployment. These stresses include the emotional cycle of deployment, anticipatory grief, isolated stressed-out children, money problems, alienation from the civilian world, fears of infidelity, homecoming, reintegrating a changed warrior back into a changed family, and combat trauma. She'll also explore how these stresses impact civilians who come into contact with military families, and she'll discuss the resources available to these families.

Henderson's writing has appeared in The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Times, and Military.com and won her the 2008 large newspaper/magazine domestic coverage from Military Reporters & Editors. In addition to While They're at War, she also is the author of Driving by Moonlight, a critically acclaimed homefront memoir. She is a member of the National Military Family Association and has participated in the Marine Corps' Key Volunteer family support program and Compass, the Navy's spouse mentoring program.

The talk, which is open to the public, is sponsored by the American Democracy Project, the Cormier Honors College for Citizen Scholars, and the Longwood Student Veterans.