A Heartwarming Homecoming for Air Force Veteran’s Family in Georgia
After eight years in the military, and being stationed away from their families, Air Force Staff Sgt. Trevor Allison, his wife Brittany, and their six-year-old son Cohen are moving back home.
Both Brittany and Trevor grew up in the Atlanta, Georgia area. However, the family has been stationed in Idaho for the duration of Trevor’s enlistment, which included deployments to South Korea and Southwest Asia. Trevor had planned on serving for his 20 years until retirement but a back injury and PTSD have resulted in a medical retirement.
Reintegrating into civilian life has been challenging for Trevor but being able to get back to the Atlanta area will mean having much more support than they had before.
“My son, he’s only seen my dad a couple of times,” Trevor said. “And he’s only seen my wife’s parents a couple of times as well. It’s a big deal just to have our family around us to support us.”
The support will not just come from family. Trevor applied and was accepted into Operation Homefront’s Transitional Homes for Community Reintegration program. THCR matches a family to a home for a time period of about two years during which they work toward financial stability, increase their savings, and raise their credit scores. The goal is to set up the family for homeownership in the community.
With the support of generous donors, such as Pillsbury, the Allison family will be moving into a transitional home in Canton, Georgia. Through its partnership with Operation Homefront, Pillsbury donated the funds to purchase a newly built Meritage Homes property for the THCR program. This home will enable Operation Homefront over the next 15-20 years to serve and offer a path to success for multiple military families transitioning out of service.
Brittany and Cohen got to see the house during a visit to her family, while Trevor was still working in Idaho. Cohen is excited to move into his new room and Brittany was brought to tears when she first entered.
Trevor and Brittany met in high school. Brittany grew up in Canton and Trevor is from a nearby town. They have been married nine years and made the decision together that Trevor would follow his dream of enlisting in the military after taking some college classes but still feeling like he had no direction.
When they realized he would be getting out of the military they wanted to move back to Georgia but were unsure how it would work. Without knowing when his separation orders would be approved, the family could not look for housing. Plus, finding another job in Georgia while working for the Air Force in Idaho was not easy. They thought maybe they would end up living with relatives for a bit.
Now, Trevor is looking forward to saving more money, paying off debt and becoming more financially stable so they can build towards a down payment on a home in the area.
“I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Trevor said. “This is changing the course of not only my life, but my wife’s and my son’s lives as well. I thought we had a pretty direct path in front of us and that path changed. And now (Operation Homefront and Pillsbury) have changed that path again for us, and for the better.”
