INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN C

Susan has two sons in the Air Force. Her younger son, Chad, 24, spent four months in Iraq. Her older son, 35, lives in Germany.

Susan: I home-schooled Chad until he was fifteen and he went to Hawaii Pacific University. When he was 16 he joined ROTC. He attended Officer Training School in Texas and it was hard to see him leave home. But we were very proud of him when he was granted the honor of Warrior of Camp. He graduated with a B. Sc. at 18 and with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

Chad was based in Baghdad for four months but I can� talk too much about his job �I don� know very much, actually �as he� in Military Intelligence.

After our children left home my husband and I wanted to travel around our country and see places like Mt. Rushmore and places I� never seen before. About ten years ago there was a TV show called �romised Land�that really stuck a chord with me. We decided to find a way to follow our dream and now we are full-time RVers.

We live in our RV and travel from place to place working at different RV camps around the country and try to make a difference. For example, we took on a tough job in Las Vegas, Nevada, when we cleaned up a camp that was very rough, lots of drug use, lots of danger �I slept on the floor for the first weeks because I was afraid of random gun-shots coming through my windows. One resident had lived there for seven years and he barely came out of his home because he was afraid. He called us �ngels�when we were successful in maintaining order. But what we try and do is create an environment where people can do something to help themselves, no matter how small that job is.

My six-year-old grandson lives with us and I home school him. He� very proud of his uncle Chad and he� very proud of his country. He� only six but he draws great pictures and he always uses red, white, and blue inks.

We�e stayed in RV parks on military bases in states such as Texas, Virginia, Maryland, and we try to console people whose children are in the war.

I�e been very concerned about all the disputes going on about the war. There is so much finger pointing and looking at what is wrong instead of looking at the good our troops are doing. I grew up during the Vietnam War era and I remember how poorly those soldiers were treated when they came home. I don� want anything similar to happen to our troops when they come back from this conflict.

To me now, the most important thing is that we stick together as a nation and a country. We must be one America and be proud of what we are. My husband and I talked about what we could do to make a difference. We came up with the simple idea of creating a pro-America pin. We call it our CHAD pin �Character, Honor, And Discipline �and its selling well.