Scholarship Puts Navy Spouse Back on Track to Long-Delayed Accounting Career
During her first 20 years as a Navy spouse, Melissa Mosher paused her education and career goals to focus on her family and supporting other military families. Now, she’s back on the path that took a detour when military life shifted her priorities.
Melissa recently celebrated earning a 4.0 grade point average as she completed her first semester at Southern New Hampshire University. She is one of five military spouses who received full-tuition scholarships to Southern New Hampshire University in partnership with Operation Homefront in 2025.
“It’s amazing to have the opportunity to even put my name in the hat,” said Melissa, who works full time traveling around Washington state to educate military families about resources available to them.
She saw the scholarship opportunity in an Operation Homefront social media post. She was familiar with the nonprofit and its mission of building strong, stable, and secure military and veteran families by improving their financial, emotional, and social well-being. The Mosher’s son, Mason, was Operation Homefront’s 2025 Military Child of the Year® Award recipient for the Navy.
She appreciates the opportunity and is especially grateful for organizations and institutions like Operation Homefront and SNHU that see the sacrifices not ju/st of service members but also of military families.
“It gives us peace of mind,” she said.
Melissa’s goal is to help military families with money matters after earning a degree in accounting and finance and become a certified public accountant.
She was working as a bank teller and pursuing an associate degree when she met Jason, a new Navy enlistee. He predicted she would become a CPA one day.
Within a year after they married, they had a baby and moved across the country to a new duty station in Virginia.
“Mason is our honeymoon baby, and my whole life stopped” with his arrival, she said. “I was in school pursing my degree, and we decided we didn’t want anyone else to raise him.”
The realities of military life — frequent moves, unpredictable schedules, and solo parenting during deployments, training, and time at sea — factored into the decision. Melissa knew firsthand the extraordinary effort necessary to create stability for military children. She is the child of dual-career Air Force parents, and they moved every three years.
“Being a military dependent, my heart is for military families, especially spouses. … I understand the sacrifices.” – Melissa Mosher, Navy spouse
She also considered the economics of her family’s reduced income, another reality for many young military families as spouses stay home or work part time to provide stability for children. Frequently, military spouses are underemployed, earning below their potential because frequent moves impact longevity and advancement.
“I married my sailor when he was an E-2, and we had a baby right away,” she said. “We were poverty level.”
With a positive outlook, she framed her circumstances as temporary and sought opportunities to pour her knowledge and energy into roles that helped other military families. She worked at the Armed Services YMCA, a job that allowed Mason to tag along. She served with family readiness groups, as an ombudsman, and in other roles supporting military families.
“Being a military dependent, my heart is for military families, especially spouses,” she said. “I relate to them. I understand the sacrifices.”
Jason, now a chief warrant officer 3, is often away for training and deployments. In their 21-year marriage, he’s been gone a combined total of 15 years, Melissa said.
During their four-year assignment in Japan, he was home only six weeks of each year. One mission extended from six months to 11 with four different homecoming dates. She was homeschooling Mason and remembers adding links to the paper countdown chain after he went to sleep.
“I take every role and every assignment as it is, but it makes it hard to make a decision on setting a goal,” she said. Instead of dwelling on the sacrifice, she tells herself, “This is my role until later. This is my opportunity to serve my husband and my son so they can reach their goals.”
As she supported others, Melissa also navigated serious health challenges, including cancer treatment.
The Moshers are currently in Washington state. Mason is a college graduate, Jason is assigned to a float training group, and Melissa’s health is stable.
“Now it’s my turn,” she said. “I want to make sure the rest of my life is there to serve.”