Tammi grew up in a home where her parents were hoarders. She joined the military to escape that life. She wanted to get away from her hometown and start fresh and saw the Navy as her opportunity to make that happen. She ended up joining undesignated and through the support of her leadership and a lot of hard work was able to become rated as a personality. Today she runs her own business to help others as they overcome challenges with organizing.
Check out the full show notes at https://www.airmantomom.com/2021/10/joining-the-military-to-escape/
Check out the full transcript here.
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Amanda Huffman00:00
Welcome to Episode 156 of the women on the military podcast. This week my guest is Tammy Moses. Tammy grew up in a home where her parents were hoarders, she joined the military to escape that life. She wanted to get away from her hometown and start fresh, and she saw the Navy as her opportunity to make that happen. Because of her rush to leave, she ended up joining on designated and through the support of her leadership and a lot of hard work was able to become rated as a personnel list. Today, she runs her own business to help others as they overcome challenges with organizing. It's another great interview. So let's get started with this interview. You're listening to season three of the women on the military podcast Here you will find the real stories of female service members. I'm Amanda Huffman, I am an Air Force veteran, military spouse and mom. Hi Korean women in the military podcast in 2019. As a place to share the stories of female service members past and present, with the goal of finding the heart of the story, while uncovering the triumphs and challenges women face while serving in the military. If you want to be encouraged by the stories of military women and be inspired to change the world, keep tuned for this latest episode of women on the military. Welcome to the show. Tammy, I'm excited to have you here.
Tammi Moses01:30
Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to connect and chat with you here.
Amanda Huffman01:35
So let's start with why did you decide to join the military?
Tammi Moses01:39
Well, I was thinking this morning, I was like, Why? Why did I do that. And honestly, I really wanted a change. And I really wanted to get out of the town where I grew up. And I really wanted to see the world if you will. And I happened to talk with the recruiter who came to the high school in my senior year. And they basically said, you know, three Hots and a cot, if you will, and probably travel there was, you know, money for school, as well as somewhere down the line, you could get a home, or at least you know, the idea that you could use some sort of VA benefit to get a home. And for me, it was a lot of I wanted to travel and see the world type of thing. And the Navy recruiter happened to be the first recruiter that I talked to, and my dad had also been in the Navy. So I kinda was familiar already with that. And so for me, it really was about doing something different. And I really just wanted to go do something without being tied down. And because I had friends that I saw, getting into marriages and relationships, and I also didn't want to go to more school, like I'm just finished school, but then again, the military is also school and education. Just a different environment, if you will, than going off to a dorm room or something like that.
Amanda Huffman03:08
So you weren't planning on going to college after you graduated, or you didn't really want to go to college? Is that what you're saying?
Tammi Moses03:14
Well, I actually had applied to a couple of community colleges. And I thought I wanted to be a nurse. But I also like to write and so I had been looking at like a school for journalism. But basically, there was no room there was like a two-year waiting list. And I was like, Well, I don't want to sit here for two years, I want to still do something. And so I had that college letter saying come over to community college. And I was like, Yeah, I don't, I don't think that's going to happen for me. And so the military was very attractive because I felt very, I guess I'll say judge growing up, given the environment, which was we lived in the country, and we had some hoarding issues, my parents had hoarding issues. And so it was very, kind of very isolating. And I really felt like if I didn't get out of there, I'd never be judged on my own merits. And so that was part of me wanting to go away and not stay in that town, or even stay nearby, like I really had this drive to, to just go fly and be me and not feel like I had this burden of judgment on my shoulders. And now that I'm way older, I realized that was a lot of internal battle, not necessarily external. But it was a very driving factor for me at that time to find some way to escape. And I mean, honestly, and I know there's people that would disagree with this, and I get it with our current climate and everything. But for me, the military, I think was the right choice and really opened a lot of doors for me that still allow me to maintain connections to this day.
Amanda Huffman04:54
Yeah, I would agree with that statement. So you mentioned journalism, what was your career field when you joined The Navy.
Tammi Moses05:01
So this is the part where I can go into to the school when you have the opportunity. I was more focused on leaving versus Where am I going? And so I did ask to be a corpsman. They didn't have room. And instead of exploring other career fields, like, there's a lot of them, I just kind of said, Well, that's all right. I'm going anyway. And so I went without a school. And it wasn't till about two years ago, when my mom reminded me that I had been really interested in journalism. And I'm like, so why didn't I ask about that? Like, why did I not? Why did I just think, Oh, this one thing isn't happening. So I'm not going to ask any questions. And so I would say you still retain the power at that point before you enlist before you sign on anything. And there's no reason why you can't explore what is available. So I highly recommend doing that. I ended up becoming a personnel man. So I did pay documents, ID cards. But before I did that, I was considered an under designated Seaman, which means I got to sweep on the ship and paint and basically do whatever they needed. And in the Navy, they call it striking. So I became a striker. And I studied to become a personnel man. And I had people really rooting for me in that regard. And so I studied, like crazy, because I was determined that I would make that rate. And I did. And so after I was on a ship, the USS Niagara Falls was a supply ship, and I was there through we decommissioned that ship. And then I moved to shore duty after that, but my chain of command was very protective of me to make sure I made right before I talked to a detailer and got new orders to go somewhere. So I'm very grateful that I had people really watching out for me in that piece of the chain of command at that duty station.
Amanda Huffman07:03
Yeah, it sounds like your recruiter didn't do a very good job of watching out for you?
Tammi Moses07:08
He tried. In fact, I think he tried to convince me not to go because I had grown up going to church and singing choir. And I think I was very appeared to be very soft. And so it was like, Why in the world would you go in the military, but I clearly wasn't that soft, and was able to navigate it. But I think the main thing was I had this idea, I won't fail, like, I'm not going to fail. Like I hadn't, I felt like I had no other choices. And over the years, it's become I will succeed. But I I feel like I had a very negative mindset, although it was what pushed me through like, I have no other options. So which you know, was probably not accurate. But in my head, that's what I was like, well, I here, I'm here, I committed, I made the decision, I'm going to make this work type of thing. And I can still remember running in Florida in August, and you're always pushing and I just remember, I ended up being one of the people that would put your towel out and pull the person behind you like, there would be a group of us running together. And even though it slowed your time down, there still was some merit for helping the other person keep going. And I feel like that is something I've carried forward even now, I can see someone struggling and I don't want to leave them there. And I'm not gonna say that's always a positive. If you aren't in a good place yourself. Like sometimes you can totally drain your cup trying to help someone else, I developed this attitude that if I could make it through boot camp for basic training, then I could probably do just about anything, so don't get my way.
Amanda Huffman08:51
Yeah, so you feel like your recruiter was a little worried about you, but you were determined to get through it. And then you had that self confidence because you made it through boot camp and it was challenging and then you had those your first command where they took care of you and help make sure that you got rated so that you could find your next your shore duty and not still be under submitted.
Tammi Moses09:15
Right because you basically if you go in that way and you go to your next place like you have to prove yourself all over again like that you're worthy of you know, whatever like I think it is really comes to a self worth thing but it's also a you have more choices. If you get a little bit of rank a little bit of rate, you have more choices, and somehow I ended up being Junior seller the quarter, twice, two different commands. And to me it was like what, like I didn't I never felt like I was doing anything super special. You know, like, I'm like, I show up. I have my uniform. I did my stuff. You know, I might volunteer for something here and there. But it just didn't occur to me that I was doing anything special, you know, but I did find myself being in a position of Oh, the duty section is you You know, you're you're in tonight, you're doing eight o'clock reports, and you're going to talk to the xo today, you little before. And I mean, I was found myself in well, and I think it's true for most in the military, you go in young and making a lot of experience, but all of a sudden, you're in a position where you better show up and lead or, you know, no one's gonna do it, or there is no one else sometimes. And so I feel like leadership is a matter of knowing when to step up, but knowing when to step back, and I think that is something the military develops in people is being able to assess that and is it Do I need to follow right now? Or do I really need to step into this and, and lead the charge. And I think that that can be a challenge when you leave the military, because that's very much a mindset that not everyone embraces or understands.
Amanda Huffman10:56
And that's really drilled into you as a service member. Because sometimes, like lives depend on the choices that you make. And so it's not just like, Oh, I didn't file a paperwork, it doesn't really matter, like everything is related to the mission, and the mission affects people's lives. And sometimes you can't see the direct impact. But I guess there's just a greater responsibility when you're in the military than in like a civilian job.
Tammi Moses11:22
It's not, you know, sometimes it really is that life or death situation. And other times, it's just really annoying things like you need an ID card to access medical or to go into the commissary or the exchange or get on base, and all of a sudden, whoops, it's expired, or someone you issued it with the wrong date, or something dumb. So it's just very inconvenient. Sometimes, if you make some sort of an error, and I mean, now, it's simpler to create some of these documents. But I remember typing like in triplicate, if you screwed that up, you couldn't really just put some white out on it, you know, you had to start over or get a new form issued or whatever. And so now, I'm hopeful that it's simpler for people to do their jobs with technology. But then there's other times when you look around, and you see something needs to get done, and you just kind of do it. And you don't necessarily think oh, this isn't my job, you just think, Oh, this needs to get done. And depending on where you work, some people might not appreciate that, because they think you're trying to make them look bad. And the truth is, I wasn't thinking about you, I was thinking about, Hey, I saw this thing need to get handled. And so I think there is a difference in that mindset, if you've been in a place where this is maybe a really silly example. But if you open a door, you shut it, like, you know, it's a watertight door on the ship, you don't just leave that thing hanging open. Because if something happens, you want the water to not get into that space. So you just can't leave it hanging open and slamming around like you really it's something very simple, something very minute, but it's like you opened it, you close it and but there's a reason for it, too. It's not just some arbitrary thing, like, Oh, I'm just being lazy today. Like there's a reason why you're taking these actions, even if they're seemingly very small.
Amanda Huffman13:15
So you said the you decommission the first ship that you were on? Were you guys decommission it when you arrived? Or did you do any tours of I don't know what the Navy calls.
Tammi Moses13:27
That's a little different. Some people go on very, like six or nine months or even a year deployment, like you're on a ship, you may or may not pull into port, I was actually on that ship for a short period of time. If you look at some people careers, like they're on ships, like, you know, 20 out of 25 years or something, I spent about a year and a half on the ship. And when I got there that actually just returned from a deployment to Saudi Arabia, that area over there. And so I did not experience all the joys that they did in Bahrain in some of those areas. But we did travel to Australia, it was like 20 days, I think, for me, that was like my longest time and we did go dead in the water, which means we were out like three days with no engine, and you had like shower rotations. So it is the middle of the day and you know, a through you know, queue or whatever it goes and takes your shower, and then the rest, take a shower, like you're on this kind of weird rotation, but you're in very close quarters, you know, on a ship, and you need people to be hygienic and all that. But it was one of those times that I was like, if we sink, we're dead. Like we're in the middle of nowhere, you know, and we have no power and of course, the everyone's working to get it going again. But it was an older ship. And the interesting part to me is that my dad had a co worker when I was growing up that had been stationed on that ship during Vietnam. And I was like, how out of all the places I could land that I landed on that ship and I Just always thought it was kind of cool that I had been on that ship, but the ship decommissioned and went to a USN s ship instead of a USS ship. And so basically civilians took that over. And that ran, they took it over and it was in existed for quite a few years, I think it's been about four or five years, when I learned that, you know, the ship was used for target practice, basically. But it was very weird, because I feel like a lot of my youth was on that ship. And I got to travel and see different places like Australia, like Japan, you know, Bali, one of my favorite places to say is June panggang, in Indonesia, but I mean, they really had a little rickshaw carts, you know, where you be, they took you to the hotel, right in one of those things. And I remember going to Thailand and you had Liberty boats. And so the ship is way out there, you take a Liberty boat to a point, and then you have to walk the rest of the way in the water up to the shore. And so I also became a shellback during that time when we went to Australia, which basically means we crossed the equator, and we got hosed down with, you know, fire hoses and crawled through trash. I have this picture of me coming out of the trash chute. That's so gross. But it's one of those things to where you're like, yep, survived that one, too. So what else you got? You know, in high school, you write some goals, you know, we 10 years or whatever, and one of mine wants to travel. And I really feel like I accomplished that in spades by going in the military. And I always wanted to go see, like, wherever I was at, hey, let's go to Tokyo. Oh, but that's like three hours away. Yeah, on a train, I have my little guidebook I have to be it's Friday, I have to be back here by Monday, like, I'm pretty sure I can figure it out. You know, I'm not going to just sit here and not go explore it, because I may not get back here again. But I did manage to go a couple different times anyway. And one of the cool things I got to do was climb Mount Fuji. So that's kind of one of those things where you know, you're not sure you're going to get there again. But there's also like a saying that says like he who climbs once a fool who climbs twice is an even greater fool. So I only claim the first but it was for me, there was a lot of I mean, there were some difficulties being a woman in the military. But there was a lot of upsides to where I just, I feel like I had to really develop a very sassy attitude just to navigate sometimes, but I still feel like it was the right choice.
Amanda Huffman17:34
Yeah, it seems like you got to do so much. And so I loved hearing all your stories about the different ports that you got to go to and and even how different it is. It's like sometimes the Navy, you go on deployments, and you're gone for like six or nine months. And then sometimes you do one of these are shorter tours, where it's just like 20 days, or 10 days or whatever. And so that's really interesting, because I don't think I've really heard anyone talk about all the different ways that the Navy keeps you guys trained and ready to go.
Tammi Moses18:05
And that's really true, because like I was on a supply ship, so we had connected or con reps and vert reps, we had helicopters that would ferry stuff to other bigger ships. Other times you would just shoot shoot a line and carry it across, like on a line on a rope or wire rope carry the things across. But I was also part of the flight deck. So you know, you would see the helicopters and things coming in. And then you have like a fire team. If there was a fire, you know, they're ready to put that down, lay down the phone or whatever type of file you're dealing with. And I have a lot of opportunities. I shoved a lot of things into a four year time period. But I always wanted to have like I wanted to be the little old lady that had fun stories to share someday. It sounds
Amanda Huffman18:50
like you did that. So you're on the ship for about a year and a half. And then you said you transferred to shore duty, which I know means that you're not attached to a ship, but you're kind of like a break but you're still working just to in a different mission. Where did you go?
Tammi Moses19:06
So the ship was homeported and on Guam, and I opted to stay oversea? Well, I get its overseas shore duty, but technically Guam is, you know, part of the US territory anyway. So I went to personnel for detachment there. And it was a nice break though, because you went from like duty every third day to twice a month. And most of the time, the weekends you were at the beach or snorkeling or doing something like you. I would say it was an easier pace, but you still had people transferring and just a lot of different pieces of the puzzle and so supporting more commands there then so any surrounding command, we handled their paperwork and transfers and ID and people would come there and you wouldn't have housing right away. So you're always looking at their hotel costs and Trying to get those things taken care of, because you're not only serving the service member, you're also dealing with their families and their kids, and you're trying to make that transition something easier for them. And it's not always that way, because you get their bring an animal, they're in quarantine for X amount of days, you don't have your household goods, you know, there's a lot of transition piece. And if you're newly married, or new to the military, as a spouse, you may not know some of the things that you should be asking. And so that can be really challenging when you come to a new location and don't know anyone, and you maybe don't have a car. So you're trying to hitch a ride, or it's difficult to be in the military. And there was always kind of this joke that if you were supposed to have a family, they'd have issued one in your sea bag or a spouse. And I did see that kind of attitude what like, we brought you here, we didn't ask you to bring everybody else. And it's like, well, I know, a lot of people have dependence in the military. Anyway, I do feel honored that there are times when you step in with emergency orders, or someone failing or passed away or something like that. And you're that person that gets called up at midnight on duty to go in there and deal with it. And so I think I feel like I was able to handle some of those things with compassion based on my own experiences based on my younger brother being in a wheelchair. So I kind of understood that special needs aspect. And so I just feel like I was able to lend some empathy in those situations, sometimes that same with going in the military, I believe that God had a purpose for that. Because now I am connected with a lot of people because of that service. Because of kind of reconnecting to what I call my inner veteran. I never said I wasn't one, I just didn't embrace it that much. Once I separated. And once I was married, it was very weird to go from being active duty to a spouse.
Amanda Huffman22:00
Let's talk about that transition. So you said you are in for four years, right? Then did you get married right before you transitioned? Or how did that all work?
Tammi Moses22:12
I did get married. You know, it was one of those romantic, you know, we met on Guam. And I ended up I did get married right at the end of my service. And we lived in California for a while. And then we actually went back to Guam. And so I felt in a way like I was kind of old school because I'd already been there. And I already knew the transition and bring in a I did not bring a pet but I already knew like living in a hotel for two months, and you don't have any of your stuff. And you're looking at houses. And it was very weird in a way to go back there. But again, I had good experiences there we lived in our first house was like a duplex with a nice view until the termites came. They treated one side of the duplex for termites and not both sides. So they treated the side of my neighbors. And then one day I came in my kitchen and I heard like this munching and I was like, but I got termites to open it up. Yep, they'd bet got on the backside of this box, whatever. And they treated that place twice. And they still couldn't get rid of them. And so I went one morning, very early down to housing, and I said, I'd like to move and you've already treated this twice. And there has to be some other place for us to live. And the main reason I share that story is because sometimes people don't realize you really have to ask for something. And even if you're feeling less than as a military spouse, it doesn't mean you don't have the right to ask for something. You can be polite and courteous and all that don't make it harder for your active duty member. But by all means try to address the issue so that you're not suffering. And so anyhow, I was able to get a less like I was kind of probably overbearing cuz I'm like, I'm not leaving until you tell me what houses I can go look at. But, you know, within like two weeks, we were on, we were moving and I couldn't stand the termite thing anymore. And I'm sure for me some of that was how I grew up without like finished floors and things like that. I don't recall termites, but I was very much freaked out about weird living situation. So anyway, the transition was strange, in a way, and it took like a year to get some kind of disability rating. And so this would have been in 1996. So I ended up I did divorce the person I was married to after 15 years I refer to as a necessary divorce. There's all kinds of things that went into why I've made that decision. But to say it was necessary is true, and you can find life after that. But it took about a year for that disability decision to show up back pay and all that and I would say one of the challenges even now is dealing with the VA it can be very easy sometimes I've had great experiences. Other times it's like oh women served in the middle. Yeah, for how many hundreds of years, like 100 years probably, you know, it's not like I'm just some, it's not new. And sometimes people act like it's very new. Like it's an epiphany that women serve in the military. Sometimes I find that very alarming the level of disbelief and the amount of convincing you have to do if you even mention it. And I just find that to be kind of strange.
Amanda Huffman25:29
And isn't at the same VA office? Because I'm guessing you're or did you move around a lot because of the relationship.
Tammi Moses25:36
So initially, I was in California, then I was in Guam, and they had VA spaces at both of those. And then I moved on, I live in Washington state now. So I was seeing look at the Seattle VA, but they also have community health, if you're considered rural, or I think more than 30 miles from a facility, or if they don't have space capacity to take on new patients, then they can assign you to providers in your community, which, that has been very helpful to be able to do that. But there is sometimes a lot of rigmarole as far as getting through on the phone and getting the forms and the paperwork. And so I just recommend we like Don't give up, because I felt that but you know, you have to be patient, you have to call again, you know, if you're able to get into your online accounts now, which are amazing, like you can get in there and file for a claim, you can see the status, you can upload documents, there's a lot of things that are easier now than when I went through that having to make sure you have copies of everything and things like that. So there are improvements that have been made. But there still is a level of frustration, I think that exists. And I don't see it only with that entity, I see it with other entities as well, where sometimes it's like this barrage of information that is 45 pages, and you have to weed through it to figure out what pertains to you. And so I find that if you have any kind of issue, whether it's PTSD, or you have any kind of MST, or anything that makes paperwork difficult, like it's so challenging to work, or I know people that are blind, or you know, have limited sight. And so it's so frustrating to be trying to navigate that. And so I just feel like there's ways that we could be improving how we are serving our veterans across the board.
Amanda Huffman 27:32
Yeah, I'm not in the VA Health System. So I don't know.
Tammi Moses27:37
I know a lot of people who choose not to and I understand that if you are 10%, or more disabled service connected, they'll pay for your glasses periodically.
Amanda Huffman27:46
So you transition now in the military, and you were a military spouse for time, and then you guys got divorced. And now what are you doing today, because you said that you got you weren't really that connected to your veteran side. And then now you've gotten more connected into it. So what happened to make that shift happen?
Tammi Moses28:07
So at the time that I filed for divorce, I worked full time for the state. And I did financial eligibility for state programs, cash, food, and medical. And during that time, I got a lot of training as far as facilitating groups and learning how to help people shift and into thinking more positively about things they could do in their life. And I saw people successfully leave state assistance and move on with our lives. And it was like a glorious thing the day where they could say, Hey, I finished my degree I whatever, my incomes too high, like See ya. And so there was something very positive about that. And so for a time, I thought I was going to be a social worker. And so I went back to college, and I was working full time going to college full time. And then I started to really look at do I really want to be here until I'm 65. Like, I see things that need to change. I see people trying but it's really hard. I did some project management as well. And I was always pushing for that next thing like to do something different. I was invited somehow to a women's veteran conference down in Seattle area. And so I went to that it was pretty cool. I was like, wow, I hadn't really remembered that, like, I have this whole piece of me, which is really silly because I got my job with the state using veteran's preference about my house using, you know, my VA certain eligibility certificate, like how was I missing this whole piece? So they did a fashion show of women's military uniforms over the years. And then they started to talk about, you know, the benefit of having a business and things like that. And so I really started to explore through something called v wise, veteran women in that igniting the spirit of entrepreneurship, and they had a special program where you could submit a business plan If you are an idea, basically, you did this pre homework. And then I went to a conference in Bellevue, which is a couple hours for me. And that's kind of how the whole thing started was Hmm. I see issues with homelessness where I live, like, Why are these people like already knew there was an issue because of my previous work. I've already been on a board that supported homelessness, you know, a nonprofit. And I was like, I still don't see like that we're solving anything. And so I kind of started in talking about housing issues. And then as we went a little deeper, and I got into a mentorship program with someone named Larry Broughton, I saw him speak, I decided I was going to meet him at this event, little me, my home a business card, you know, no reason on the planet that he should talk to me right in my head. But I went up to him and talk to him anyway, and ended up being part of his mentorship program that he was offering. And that kind of started me on the path of Alright, well, what else do you know about? So I started to talk about hoarding issues and how I saw that leading to evictions and how difficult that is to grow up in it, how hard it is to have a parent with that issue. And how do you navigate all that and so it kind of became onsite organizing work, and then it now it's become very much a virtual and connecting that way, because a lot of times people need that support, but you don't necessarily need the physical labor, some people do. But the other piece that I've learned over the past couple years is how many people join the military to escape something chaotic. And it doesn't have to be hoarding. But I've discovered a lot of youth like myself, who said, I'm getting out of here, and whatever it takes, like I'm going and that was kind of my experience and my attitude. And then when I started my podcast, that's some of the people I started interviewing initially was people who had survived that and we're willing to talk about it, because there's a lot of shame and isolation surrounding that, even if you didn't create it, like there's this expectation, you'll fix it. And that's really hard if there's that emotional connection and baggage and trauma. And it's all like this big ball of yarn that you just you start unraveling one, and it just goes deeper and deeper. But what what I want people to know is they are not alone in navigating this and that you don't have to carry that sense of shame forward into your life, and you can create something different and better. So now I mean, my focus really is around that issue and helping people navigate it consulting, like, Hey, I have an issue, let's set something up and talk about what we can do. And sometimes you the focus is really on the person, you the person who sees the problem, because a lot of times you're wrapped up in it, and no one's asking you how are you? You know, are you using protective equipment? When you go into these spaces? If they're really bad? How's your self care? Or, you know, where are you going to use the bathroom, if the the plumbing isn't working, like very fundamental things that you often won't, wouldn't think about, if you weren't dealing with something like that it evolved, let's put it that way. And if you're in business, or if you're an entrepreneur, or if you're a creative person, you're always looking for some way, I think, to take what you know, and turn it into something impactful. What I see is a lot of people start things and the intent is not money initially, you know, it's very much about the impact. And then one day you realize you need money too. There are some things we could do, I think, to improve people's understanding of the financial piece of starting business and the fixed costs and even a podcast like right, it's not free. I think people don't realize some of the financial costs I shared in but when I look back, like over organic advertising and things over the past three years or so that's where the impact has been, you know, very organic, slow, but very, when you get that message that says, hey, something you did or the conversation you all had that helped me in some way. You're just like, Oh, yeah, that's right. That's why I did this. That's why I started it for the impact. And now I kind of look at it, as you know, impact freedom income, where you that becomes kind of your driving force. And that's kind of where I'm at now. And I have you know, plans for others to be able to take some of this information and use it because there's like 19 million people, an estimated amount in the USA have a hoarding issue. And even if that they only impact one other person, that's still a lot of people that are trying to figure out what to do, including firefighters, including Adult Protective Child Protective like there's a lot of people that come across these issues, and really there isn't a plan and there isn't a way to handle it or not handle it well. And I see part of my role is changing the face of that changing how we address it. So that we mitigate it before it gets to the point that there's rodents or someone falls. And like, it's impossible for Ms to rescue like, it can snowball quickly. And I just see that we can address it better. And I never in a million years thought I would talk about any of this publicly. But it's kind of, it's not a me thing, you know, it's not about that I share it, I feel called to have a voice around it. But it's about so many other people, even today, looking at our culture, everything is so much zoom in the internet and whatever. And if you're a person at all living in a space that you don't want to see on camera, you don't want to be seen in that space. Like, it is horrifying when you have to run around and figure out how can I hide this chair, I put a towel over at a sheet which closet should I hide in. And it's all things that kids and people are dealing with, even if you have no hoarding issue at all, it's still one of those shame pieces, or you want to present well in your business environment, or your school or your class or whatever, even just with friends or hanging out like you still want to present well. And so I think it's a piece of the puzzle that isn't addressed enough that there is these underlying issues. And they're even more to the forefront now. Because of the amount of time we spent at home and with our families. And some people can handle a lot of clutter, other people can cause a lot of friction in relationships. So I think it's helpful to talk about it, I think it's helpful to recognize that a lot of people struggle with it. And you don't have to do it alone by any means. Yeah.
Amanda Huffman36:41
So I'll put a link to your podcast, which What's the name of your podcast?
Tammi Moses36:45
So it's the hoarding solution, podcast, and your business name is. So I'll just tell you the full name. It's I have homes for living LLC. But the DBA is the hoarding solution.
Amanda Huffman36:58
And we'll put links to all that in the show notes so that people can get more information about the work that you're doing. And I have one last question, which is what advice would you give to young women who are considering military service,
Tammi Moses37:11
I would say seriously, consider it as an option. And look at what is available to you. And as far as a school or listening bonus or options like make sure you are looking at the whole picture. And if you are feeling overwhelmed, bring someone with you or talk with someone who has experience who has been through it or is at least willing to talk to you about their experiences. And you don't necessarily have to take first thing that comes up. And also just be prepared to be tough and stand your ground and have boundaries about your physical space, what you will and will not tolerate when you're in the military, you know, really seriously look at what you are trying to do. Because there are some great programs out there, it might make sense for you to go to college first and then try to be commissioned, you know, there are options. And it can be a great way out if you are looking for a way to be independent and experience life on someone on your own terms. And if you're coming out of something chaotic, it can be a way to give some structure and order to your life which can really carry you forward and benefit you in the long run.
Amanda Huffman38:29
Yep, that's so true. And I have a girls guide to the military on my website, which I'll link to in the show notes if you're listening and considering military life and have questions so that I can help you and thank you so much for being on the podcast and sharing your experience of serving in the Navy. I'm really glad that we got to connect.
Tammi Moses38:49
Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed talking with you.
Amanda Huffman38:55
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