Having come from a military family, Hilary Swank understands the hardships families can endure. Her father, Stephen, served as the Chief Master Sergeant for the Oregon Air National Guard, which was the cause of him being absent for a lot of her childhood in an effort to support their family. Swank explains what it was like having her father gone; “I went months at a time without my dad around. This was before cell phones, before texting, before Skype, before you could be in touch so easily like we have now just right at our fingertips. It was just the good old-fashioned phone at that point. There were things that were missed – the little things.”
Thursday, Swank attended a New York City event where she discussed her understanding and how she connects to the new emotional video Duracell released with a look inside military life. In addition, Duracell donated $100,000 to the USO’s Comfort Crew for Military Kids, which is an organization created to help children of military members during those tough years when their family can’t be together. Since 2001, and the war in Afghanistan commenced, more than 2 million American children have had one parent deployed. Kudos to Duracell and to Hilary Swank for shining a light on not only our American heroes and their sacrifices, but their families who sacrifice for our well-being also.