As the spouse of a Special Forces soldier, she’s always tried to be conscious of how much she advertises that she and her three young children are a military family.
“It’s hard because you are so proud of what my husband does, but lately so many spouses that I know are actually scared that they could be targets of ISIS or someone who sympathizes with ISIS,” she said, asking that CNN keep her name out of the story for that reason.
This week brought the latest in a string of attacks that members of military families say has spooked them into quietly changing the way they operate online and in real life.
The U.S. military’s Central Command Twitter account was hacked.
In all caps, this message: “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING. WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.”
The tweet included a link to a statement that said, in part, “We won’t stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children. U.S. soldiers! We’re watching you!”
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A spouse in Montana who was gripped by depression during a third deployment can find a spouse in New York who was going through the same thing, and they can help each other in a way that no traditional therapy could.
Marine Corps. spouse Liz Snell relies on her new non-profit’s website Military Spouses of Strength to be a conduit to family members who have suffered from depression and the general wrung-out feeling of enduring years of war. Her husband has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan five times.
“I see being online as a way to stay honest, to stay healthy, to help,” she said. “I don’t want that to be hurt because of some threats that are just some dumb hacker. I don’t want to let them win that way.”
Amy Bushatz agrees. The Army wife writes the SpouseBuzz column for military.com, which has 10 million members.
“Being a military family is a vulnerable experience, period. If you live in a military town, this is the norm,” she said. “Is there more cautiousness now? Sure, but that’s not a bad thing. (There won’t) be a victory for anyone who thinks they can frighten us.”
CNN’s Pamela Brown and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report.
