Missie Wertz, military spouse and mother, shares how raising her two children overseas helped her to have a better understanding of the sacrifices military kids make and illuminated the richness as well as the challenges they have now as young adults.

Third Culture Kids is a definition that refers to someone who is raised in a culture other than their parents’ or the country where they are legally considered native for a significant part of their early development years. This podcast will explore this definition and relate it to military kids who have grown up OCNUS and how their unique upbringing has impacted them.

 Book: Third Culture Kids, Growing Up Among Worlds by David C. Pollak, Ruth E Van Raken and Michael V Pollack

Melissa (Missie) Wertz grew up on a farm in rural South Mississippi. In 1989 she married Stephen Wertz and they moved to their first duty assignment at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Over the next 30 years, they served three active duty tours in The Republic of Korea and one tour at Stuttgart, Germany.  Their daughter Rachel  (25) graduated from the American University of Rome in 2020 and now lives in Washington, DC. Their son Sam (23) will graduate from The American University of Paris in December 2021.

This podcast has been made possible thanks to the generous support provided by The Association of Bragg Spouses https://fortbraggabs.membershiptoolkit.com/home and the Fort Campbell Spouses Club https://www.fortcampbellspousesclub.org/.