Chrissy Gibbs | Photo submitted by Chrissy Gibbs ()
“A challenge is always good,” said USAG Bavaria Base Winner, Chrissy Gibbs, 2023.
Since 2008, Armed Forces Insurance (AFI) has honored military spouses all over the world and from each military branch with the Military Spouse of the Year (MSOY) award to recognize military spouse contributions and help to the military community and the U.S.
Nominees compete at the base and branch levels for the ultimate honor, the overall Military Spouse of the year. The overall winner will be selected in May 2023. In Germany, four military spouses won at the base level for USAG Rheinland-Pfalz, USAG Stuttgart, USAG Bavaria and Ramstein Air Base.
I had the pleasure of talking to USAG Bavaria Base Winner, Chrissy Gibbs, and she told me a little about herself and her platform.
Chrissy, along with her four kids and husband, has been stationed at Grafenwöhr Army Base since July 2022. Chrissy volunteers with the Soldiers Family and Readiness Group no matter where she is stationed and also with Mission: Milspouse (formerly Army Wife Network), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. She began her work with Mission: Milspouse in 2020 as a content curator and has recently accepted a promotion with Mission: Milspouse to Director of Development.
Chrissy’s platform is based on education, knowledge and community. She stated, “I feel like when I became a military spouse, I was clueless…. There is so much you don’t know…I need to help them (new military spouses) figure it out.” She continued, “we want to empower all of the other people going through it because we’ve been there.”
Her work with educating spouses has been mostly remote. However, she hopes to expand to provide more in-person resources and connections- especially being OCONUS where finding community can be difficult. Mission: Milspouse hopes to bring back their in-person, on-base conferences to help foster in-person resource education and connection. Aside from her volunteer work with Mission: Milspouse and the SFRG, she is starting a fitness group called “Sweat Like a Mother,” a stroller-based fitness group that provides community and cardio options for people who cannot easily find childcare options.
You can read Chrissy’s full profile on the AFI MSOY website here.
