Connecting Military Families and the Outdoors

The following story is written by Nicole Rawlinson, a Blue Star Families DEPLOY Fellow and 2021 Rethink Outside™ Fellow. In her roles, Nicole works to connect military families and people of color with the outdoors.

Every year, 600,000 military families pack up their entire lives into shipping crates, moving trucks, or storage pods and relocate to another part of the country, or even another part of the world. We call it PCS season. Permanent Change of Station — except it isn’t ever permanent. Most military families will find themselves relocating every 2 to 5 years. They are sent where the needs of the military require, not to places of their choosing.

I know this because I live this life. As a military spouse, I have uprooted my family seven times in the last ten years — but every time we land in a new place, with new surroundings, we take root in that soil and find a way to grow. I remember the first time we moved across the country as a young couple with a baby and just the beginnings of a set of household goods. As we drove across the interstate, we took detours to survey the land that my husband swore an oath to protect and that I was proud to call my home. We explored the national treasures cared for by the National Park Service and found connection, comfort, and stability in knowing there was an abundance of natural resources to experience and explore as we continued on our journey of military life and moves.

In our world full of change, our constant, as a family has been our connection to the outdoors. In every place we have lived we created opportunities to spend time outdoors together to connect with the land, reconnect with each other, and develop bonds within the community. I found my space and my sense of place hiking in the Olympics in western Washington, digging my toes in the sand of the Atlantic Ocean in Newport, Rhode Island, and paddle boarding down the Occoquan River in northern Virginia. I feel so fortunate to have found that sense of stability and consistency for my family, and I want to invite more military families to also feel that sense of belonging, welcoming, and consistency when they arrive in a new community and can look to the outdoors as a place of respite and wellness.

At Blue Star Families, I have the opportunity to engage in this essential work of developing opportunities and creating space for families to connect with each other and their communities in outdoor spaces. I understand that advancing toward a more equitable experience in the outdoors will require putting in work, learning about the history of exclusion in outdoor spaces, and proactively approaching our work from a place of recognition, empathy, and inclusion. I was honored to support the development of a curriculum around the lack of representation, history of exclusion, and structural racism that has created barriers to equitably accessing and enjoying public lands and outdoor spaces, which is being delivered to our program facilitators and fellows across the organization. I have also had the opportunity to acknowledge and highlight people of color as leaders and experts in the outdoors as we develop our program offerings.

Through my work at Blue Star Families this year, I will deliver a year-long cohort-based program of outdoor adventures along with opportunities for connection and education to 100 families across the country that represent a broad spectrum of our diverse and vibrant population of military families. I hope that each family finds a space, a connection, and a continued sense of belonging in the outdoors as a result of this program. I want to ensure military families of color are not only informed of the outdoor opportunities we provide, but invited into a community of outdoor explorers through thoughtful approaches to recruitment and encouragement to participate. It is the reflection of a personal commitment I have made to the communities with whom I share parts of my own identity and is why I do the work I do. I’m working to be the invitation to the outdoors, personified, to military families who have never been invited, or who haven’t seen themselves represented in the outdoor narrative. I want to help other families shape their connections and stories while introducing them to spaces that have been carved out for all of humanity and look to welcome them with open arms.

With all we have in common with nature — our resilience, our strength, and our collective diverse beauty — we all deserve a personal connection to it and all the outdoors have to offer.

Get to Know Nicole

My name is Nicole Rawlinson. I am a mother, daughter, spouse, sister, friend and colleague. My roots were shaped all over the globe by my ancestors of African, Caribbean, Icelandic and Romanian heritage. I am connected to many places that I have called home, and I have found that my connection to the outdoors has been shaped by each and every one of those places. Professionally, I have the honor to work with military families at Blue Star Families, an organization dedicated to supporting families as they navigate military life and finding connections to combat the feelings of isolation that come with constant moves to new communities. My position at Blue Star Families is one of the first of its kind. I am a DEPLOY (Diversify and Expand the Pipeline of Leaders Of Your military community) Fellow. As a cohort of eleven women of color, we collectively advance the initiative of Racial Equity and Inclusion within the organization, and within the military family experience. I am also honored to be a Rethink Outside™ Fellow for its inaugural cohort, and to be a part of the shared narrative of Rethink Outside™, as I work to uplift the experiences of military families who may find a renewed sense of connection and belonging through a relationship with the outdoors.