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Samford University Graduate Becomes Nationally Syndicated Columnist
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Author: Administrator Account
Added: 01/15/2004
Type: Summary
Viewed: 1304 time(s)
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 Samford University Graduate Becomes Nationally Syndicated Columnist
January 15 2004--Sarah Smiley has made a career of the military without ever putting on a uniform. As the daughter of Adm. Lindell Rutherford (USN, Ret., former Commander CARRIER GROUP FOUR) of Norfolk, Va., and the wife of Dustin Smiley (a Navy flight instructor based at NAS Whiting Field in Florida), Sarah Smiley has been a military dependent for 27 years.
Now she has launched her own “military” career writing Shore Duty, a syndicated newspaper column with a lighthearted spin on life in the military, from a wife’s point-of-view.
Shore Duty began in February 2003 as a small local column in JaxAirNews, the base paper of NAS Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fl. There, under the title “On the Homefront,” in one year Smiley’s column helped increase the newspaper’s female readership by an estimated 30 percent.
When Smiley’s husband was transferred to Pensacola in August 2003, her column debuted in Pensacola News Journal under the new title Shore Duty. The first week Shore Duty appeared in Pensacola News Journal, it received more fan mail in one day than any other new column at the paper ever has.
Less than four months later, Shore Duty was syndicated, had a circulation of nearly 200,000 weekly, and a website (www.SarahSmiley.com) that received approximately 15,000 hits in its first 3 days online.
And the popularity of Shore Duty is still growing as military wives across the country cheer for one of the few columns written entirely for and about them.
Shore Duty's biggest appeal has been the way it sheds light on the "real" lives of military families (as Smiley says, "If you're looking for thoughts on who should be the next Secretary of Defense, you won't find it here. This column is for and about military wives and isn’t afraid to tell truth: being a spouse of the military is often a love-hate relationship -- and quite hilarious too! -- but always full of pride and honor.") Shore Duty has become a place for other military wives to say, "Wow, I feel the same way...glad I'm not the only one!"
With a delicate balance of humor and sentiment, Smiley is going where some journalists (bound by political correctness and public opinion) can not. One column titled "Military Spouses Should Come with a Warning Label" walked the thin line of political correctness (as far as military pieces go), but after the column appeared, Smiley received more positive response from fellow military wives than she ever has before.
Here's what some fans are saying:
"I enjoyed seeing the way I feel written in your article. It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels a lot of these things. Thank you for that." -Navy Wife
"New to the military life, [Sarah has been the most helpful along with my husband, keep doing what you are doing, you are great at it!" -Navy Wife
Even many active-duty and retired military men are getting on the Shore Duty bandwagon:
"As a former B-24 WWII pilot, ex-German POW and a survivor, I want to thank you for your very well done article in todays paper. Too bad they didn't put yours on the front page where everyone could read."
"A major Bravo Zulu for your column this morning. Most enjoyable. My wife and I will be looking forward to Tuesday’s paper even more now. Thanks"
While the column continues to pick up syndicates, Smiley is now writing a book, which she hopes to have published later this year.
Sarah Smiley graduated with a B.S. in Education from the Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education at Samford University. She is the granddaughter of the late Jack (also a Samford Alum) and Doris Thompson.
Smiley and her husband Dustin live in Pensacola, Fl., where she writes from her home. The two met in 1976 when they were both infants and their fathers (Navy pilots) flew together in the same squadron stationed at the then Navy base of NAS Miramar in San Diego, Ca. They were married in 1999 at Ft. Monroe in Hampton, Va. They have two young boys ages 1- and 3-years old.
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