Military
Tales from mothers serving across the DMV
BY LINDSAY C. VANASDALAN
Capt. Candice
Hunt takes the
family out to
their favorite
pizza place
on one of the
days where
cooking dinner would
be too much
for her
and they
need her
attention. Lt. Col. Racine Randolph attended the Pentagon’s
Month of the Military Child Event, 2018, with her children.

C apt. Candice Hunt has her morn-
ing routine down pat. As a mother
in the U.S. Marine Corps, based in
Quantico, she gets up around 5 a.m. before
waking her three children about an hour
later to get ready for school. Her ex-hus-
band—in U.S. Air Force security forces at
the Pentagon—gives her a few nights off
each week.

Co-parenting can be difficult to navigate in
any family, but even more so in the military with
unexpected late nights, responsibilities that
take priority and sometimes long deployments.

It can be impossible to achieve balance,
Hunt says.

“I thought the military was the hardest
thing I’ve ever done until I had kids,” she says.

“There is no balance. There really isn’t. You
just try to be organized and set goals, and you
allow yourself to not always be perfect and
you keep moving.”
As a woman in the military, Hunt is a
rarity. Women comprised only 16% of enlisted
forces—and 8% of the Marine Corps—in 2018,
according to background provided by the
Council on Foreign Relations.

Pair military service with motherhood,
and the experiences are rather unique.

10 Washington FAMILY MAY 2022
Washington FAMILY spoke to three mothers
about what it’s like to be a mom serving in
the military.

You’re Never Alone
Getting by day to day often takes outside
commitments. Hunt uses a nanny for her
children—ages 2, 4 and 7—one or two nights a
week if she or her husband is deployed so that
their routines are not disrupted.

With schedules that are often unpredictable,
it helps considerably to have family members
nearby who are able to step in. In the case of
Racine R. Randolph, a lieutenant colonel in
the U.S. Army, her mother relocated with her
disabled father to help care for her 6-month-old
while she was deployed for a year.

“All of this becomes an extended family
affair,” she says. She adds that it was important
to her to have someone care for her son who
knew and loved him as much as they did.

A special camaraderie exists among military
neighbors and friends. Military families—
especially stay-at-home moms—have stepped
up for Hunt, cooking dinners or picking up the
kids, regardless of whether she was living on
base or what branch they were in, she says.

“I don’t think I could have made it,
especially on my first tour with my first kid, if
I didn’t have neighbors and friends who were
there,” Hunt adds.

Tammye Abbott found the same support. She
was a single mom during her 20-year service in
the U.S. Navy. Her sons are now 23 and 35.

“Being a single parent in active duty is not
easy,” she says.

Her next-door neighbor is active duty, and
his wife would pick up her son when she had
overnight assignments and ensure he was fed,
washed and doing homework.

Abbott says they’re still the best of friends.

“Having friends that understand what it’s like
to sacrifice—to serve in the military—they’re all
the more willing to jump in and help you out,”
Randolph says.

The Challenge of Separation
In her 16-year career, Hunt has been fortunate
enough to have only one major overseas duty
station, in Japan, where she lived with her
family for three years. Many military moms
aren’t as lucky.

Randolph recalls the logistical difficulties
of shipping her breast milk home to her infant