Faith in Family: The Heynes

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ryan Sparks
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  "Since our country's founding, brave members of our military have stood strong as one American team, ready to defend our homeland and safeguard the values for which we stand.  They represent the best our nation has to offer, and serving alongside them are proud and loving family members -- heroes on the home front.  Each day, they make sacrifices for their loved ones and their country.  They have answered their call of duty, and as a nation, we must answer ours and serve them as well as they have served us.  During Military Family Month, we pay tribute to and thank our military families for their service to our country, and we recognize the extraordinary ways in which they give of themselves for us all," said Barack H. Obama, President of the United States of America.

President Obama proclaimed November 2015 as Military Family Month. The family members that support members of the military often go unnoticed, but they provide the necessary support to allow our service members to complete the mission. The Heynes are an example of the unique challenges and never-ending support that make a military family.

Kristin Heyne and Maj. Corby Heyne, 319th Medical Support Squadron medical readiness and logistics commander have been married for more than 11 years, but they have only been a military family for a little more than seven years.

"We joined because we wanted to serve and because we believed that it would be best for us," said Major Heyne.

Being a military family provides unique challenges many civilian families won't ever face.

Kristin recalls Major Heyne's six-month deployment to Afghanistan as a particularly difficult time, but she said the support she had was pivotal.

"Our Air Force family is just that, family," said Kristin. "When Corby deployed my friends were my lifeline. They were there in an instant if I ever needed help. They offered me unwavering support, love, help and company."

Major Heyne also feels their Air Force family played a vital role during his deployment.

"When we were stationed at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa and I deployed our military family did an amazing job of stepping up and making sure that my family was taken care of," said Major Heyne. "It meant the world for me to know in the deployed environment that I had people making sure that my family was taken care and I know that it meant a lot to Kristin to have individuals to support her and help her in those situations that her husband normally took care of." 

The decision for Major Heyne to join the Air Force came with a decision for Kristin as well.

Kristin said she had to leave a good job when they moved to their first duty station. She said at first it was difficult, but it turned into a blessing because she was able to become a stay-at-home mom and fitness coach.

Another challenge unique to the military family is moving to a new place.

"It's difficult uprooting every few years and starting over from scratch," said Kristin. "Making new friends, finding new schools and homes, routines and being separated from my husband at times and wondering what our future holds, but on the other hand I also see how through all the changes, struggles and challenges we have been made stronger and more thankful as a result."

Dealing with challenges takes a combination of support and faith, according to Kristin. She said Major Heyne is constantly making sure that their family is doing well and that she is comfortable and happy at each new duty station. She said he puts the well-being of her and their two children Kaison and Kinley above his at all times.

Kristin feels that they have benefited from the unique choices and difficult decisions their family has faced during their military career.

"We've lived overseas and experienced more things in seven years than most people will see or do in a lifetime," said Kristin. "We have made incredible friends. We have become more well-rounded, stronger, resilient, appreciative, empathetic and 'cultured' from all of our experiences in the military."

Kristin has faith that their decisions will lead them on the right path.

"We know that through challenges and difficult times you grow and find your strength. That what's creates character and resilience," said Kristin. "We try to keep our priorities in focus, lean on God and each other, communicate, communicate, communicate and persevere."

The Heynes have experienced a lot of challenges during their Air Force career. They have moved multiple times, been through a deployment and persevered as a family. Major Heyne feels that his wife and family have benefited from the challenges they've overcome.

"I think that military families have unique opportunities to face and conquer challenges that give us the potential to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with each other. I have seen my wife grow into a strong and confident person because she has dealt with things that her civilian counterparts just can't imagine," said Major Heyne.  "She was a single parent in a foreign country while I was deployed, that is an experience that not many people have, for good or bad. Facing that together as a family though has allowed us to grow closer together and has challenged her and given her opportunities to grow and develop that she would have never been given otherwise."