Family Task Force 19
FTF19 | Big Sky, Montana
Patriots to Thank:
Ascend Properties
Big Sky Resort
“The moment we landed in Montana, our daughter immediately shouted, “look at all of the snow!” We had finished the four hour flight where the whole time I was pep-talking myself to find some ounce of confidence to drive from Bozeman to Big Sky after a historic snow in the area. When I checked my email Jackie had emailed saying that she and Ally were picking us up from the airport and Jeremy and Blake would drive my family out to Big Sky due to the recent weather. My stress immediately dissolved as Big Sky Bravery, once again, purposefully planned and thought through every detail of the Family Task Force my two children and I just began. We had private ski lessons for the kids, dinner reservations in a yurt, snowshoeing, dog sledding, sleigh rides, and more already lined up, but this care for us three by chauffeuring us revealed how they truly think through every detail. Within ten minutes of our drive, my son asked if we could move to Montana, and honestly I was just as tempted as they were.
Something about driving straight towards those mountains along the Gallatain River brings a peace over one’s soul.
I first experienced this when I attended a Spouse’s Task Force and now my children and I were getting to experience the Family Task Force. When I was invited out to Big Sky the year prior,
I was the first Gold Star Spouse to be a recipient of a Task Force with Big Sky Bravery.
It had been almost five years since my late husband, Peter, died in a training accident doing his job as a pararescueman. To still be included in the community speaks volumes to how Big Sky Bravery esteems operators and their families and truly will never let them go, no matter what the career field throws at them. Now, for our children, as the first Gold Star Family, to be invited as well and get to experience the adventure of a Task Force speaks even more to the love and care BSB offers to families, especially my children, who have experienced so much at such a young age.
The three of us made memories to last a lifetime as we attended event after event around the “Big Sky Bravery Mountains” as my daughter now calls them. The high of our trip was our last day of skiing when my children and I were riding a chair lift. We woke up to -13 degrees, and it was freezing. They were so excited to put their private lessons into practice and go down the mountain for the first time. Tears of mine were falling, well freezing, down my face as I was so immensely proud of my seven-year-old and my four-year-old and how they embraced this trip.
It was a vivid reminder that we can do this life that was handed to us, not in our own strength, but by living in our faith and not by our fear.
With Big Sky Bravery handling the logistics of our whole trip, I could focus on simply being a mother to my kids and encouraging them every step of our adventurous way. Big Sky Bravery, thank you for the work that you are doing in the lives of our operators and their families.
Your organization is vital to helping operators finish the job well. More so, Peter would thank you. He would thank you for orchestrating the most adventurous trip for his family and how we will always have this experience as a foundation of being able to do hard things. You are making a lasting impact that will be seen in generations to come.”
-The Kraines Family
