What struck Kaylei Deakin about Moranda Hern wasn’t the determination to start an organization for teenage girls who had a parent deployed overseas, though that was impressive, considering they were both in high school.

What Deakin remembers is just how Hern, now on the diving team at the Air Force Academy, didn’t act like she was 16 years old. Deakin didn’t know anyone back at her high school who was that mature.

“It blew my mind the way she spoke for her age,” Deakin said.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs – a cute play on a movie title, substituting the acronym for battle dress uniform at the end – was an inspired idea, a group that helps teenage girls who wrestle with issues such as struggling in school, isolation, eating disorders and sometimes severe issues like cutting themselves when their parents are off in a war zone. Also, it is a bit amazing the organization got off the ground.

Never mind the time Hern and Deakin spent putting together PowerPoint presentations or going through the administrative duties of starting a nonprofit organization or working to get sponsorships. After one of her first big speeches to a group, Hern was approached by a woman she estimates was in her 40s, who was crying.

“She said ‘I have two little kids, and my daughter is 7, and both me and my husband have deployed at the same time, and she’s struggling with exactly what you were talking about – she’s cutting, she has an eating disorder, insomnia,’” Hern said. “She was pouring her heart out to me and asks, ‘What can you do to help my daughter?’”

Hern was 16.

Hern said she got the woman in touch with a military Family Readiness Group, but the moment was a crucial one for her crusade. There was a realization that even though she was a junior in high school, she was putting herself in a spot to deal with some intense issues.  

“I remember that moment distinctly,” Hern said. “It was really overwhelming, for one. But it was really inspiring to keep going and keep pushing through, for people like her who were relieved someone was doing something.”

Hern remembered her own struggles with her father’s deployment. Lt. Col. Rick Hern was deployed to Afghanistan for six months when Moranda was a sophomore in high school. Her friends, not wanting to say the wrong thing, quit hanging around her. She had self-esteem issues. She struggled in school. What complicated the problems was she knew nobody her age who could relate. The normal issues teenage girls deal with are intensified when a parent is overseas, Hern said.  

Hern and Deakin met at a National Guard leadership conference in St. Louis, and finally Hern found someone who knew what she was going through. Deakin’s father had also been deployed.

“I realized I struggled a lot when he was deployed,” Hern said. “When I met Kaylei, I realized I wasn’t the only one. I kind of kept quiet about it, figured ‘I just had a tough time, maybe I’m just weird.’ When I talked to Kaylei, it was an ‘Aha’ moment, where I realized I wasn’t the only one. I was relieved.”

Hern, who is from Clovis, Calif., kept in touch with Deakin, who is from Elk Grove, Calif., about 160 miles away. Hern went to a women’s conference where she heard Maria Shriver speak, and on the plane ride home she had the inspiration to start an organization to help teenage girls of military families.

“I have always encouraged her in whatever she felt passionate about,” said Molinda Hern, Moranda’s mother. “When she came to us with that idea, she came to us with such passion I couldn’t do anything else but say, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Putting together the Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs wasn’t easy. Deakin said she and Hern were on Skype just about every weekend night putting together plans and presentations. Hern’s mother said she encouraged her to battle through every sponsorship rejection. Deakin said there were times she wavered on whether she wanted to continue, but Hern kept her going.

“She’s definitely different,” Deakin said. “I’ve never met someone with such an ‘I can do this’ attitude. There were no road barriers for her.”

Not long after starting up the organization, National Public Radio did a story on the Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs. That helped get the word out. Since then, Hern has been on CNN, Fox News and the “Today” show. She remembers taking a high school chemistry exam, with one television camera over her shoulder, another in her face and an entire class staring at her. She was nervous for those moments, but it helped the cause.

“We represent so many girls whose stories are never told and feel alone,” Hern said.

The organization continues to grow, through the website (http://www.sisterhoodbdus.org/), Twitter and Facebook. Their next conference will be in Pennsylvania, the first conference outside of California. Hern estimates that more than 1,000 girls have connected to the sisterhood in some form. The group not only offers support, but strongly encourages community service as a way of getting through a parent’s deployment.

Hern isn’t as hands-on with the organization at the moment, considering she’s busy as a cadet at Air Force and is also a pretty good Division I athlete. She has the top score for Air Force this season in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform diving events. Hern found herself at the White House on April 11, giving a speech and introducing First Lady Michelle Obama during an event recognizing people and organizations that have supported military families. Deakin is busy too, as a lance corporal stationed in Quantico, Va. She is a military police officer with Marine Squadron One.

Hern’s goal is to stay involved with the sisterhood for the foreseeable future, but figures that since they are instilling leadership values in the members, she might remain in a secondary role. But she recognizes the importance of the organization she co-founded.

“This is something we want to keep going as long as it’s needed,” Hern said.

Contact Frank Schwab: 476-4891

Twitter @GazetteAirForce

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Photo by

Moranda Hern, left, and Kaylei Deakin, co-founders of the Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs. Moranda and Kaylei, both daughters of servicemembers, founded the Sisterhood to create a support group for teenage girls who have a family member in the military. Photo by CHLOE SEGOVIA

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Air Force Academy diver Moranda Hern. Photo by COURTESY OF AIR FORCE ACADEMY

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