Cars of Military Families

Submitted by Brighton E. Moore on 08/21/2019

Growing up in Virginia Beach, I have seen many friends and their families move to and from this beautiful transient military town every year. Some have moved from a military base overseas to one of the Navy bases here, some leave here to move to the west coast, and everything in between.

My hometown has a population of approximately 450,000 people and of those, more than half are here because of their current or former military affiliation. My mom moved to Virginia Beach as a young child when my grandfather was a pilot in the US Navy and was transferred here from Charleston, SC. She has been fortunate to live here for over 40 years. Most military families however, area only here for a few years.

This can take an emotional and financial toll on families. To a family whose entire life is being uprooted by military orders, one of the most important things about the move is the safety and care of their personal belongings. Upon arrival in their new city after most likely traveling for days, familiarity will be non-existent when it comes to their home, their school, their places of work, and their neighbors. However, one thing that will be familiar is their family car.

The scent, the feeling of the seats, the comfort level they feel when they get in and buckle their seatbelts…all of this will matter to the adult and child family members alike. Even the family pets sometimes are dependent on the emotional stability of the family car, particularly when all of their familiar surroundings have been changed. So many family memories are created in or around our family cars. Parents bring babies home from the hospital in the family car, children are carpooled back and forth to scouts, sports practices and school in the family car, and as time passes, teenagers in the family often learn to drive in that same car. I spent many nervous hours and days with my mom in our family car, as she taught me to drive the busy interstates and back roads of Virginia Beach.

The family car for us is a place where it is just us…we are not watching TV, mom is not folding laundry or washing dishes. We are just spending time together in an enclosed space with much fewer distractions than we have at home. Some of our most valuable and treasured conversations have happened in the car. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of moments we spent in the car…hearing a favorite song and joining in to sing it together, driving to our grandparents’ house for Christmas, being dropped off my first morning of high school, and then taking the car out by myself for the first time.

The significance of a family car cannot be underestimated. Still today, when I get in our family car, I am reminded of so many great things we have done together and places we have been. Some of my favorite memories are packing the car full to the very edges as we head out for a camping trip or a summer beach trip. My sister and I play multiple sports, so my mom drives carpools nearly every day…this means we often have to eat our meals in the car, which is another fun memory. My mom gets up before the sun usually to prepare food for the day ahead; ensuring we have meals that are healthy and easy to eat in the car. Though it is not a traditional family dinner, we still spend time together eating and talking on our busiest weeknights.

I believe the idea of making family memories in and around the family car is even more true to a military family. If their family car is safely moved to their new hometown, it is like a piece of emotional stability for them. It is something they can count on and one thing they don’t have to re-learn…unlike everything else; friends, neighbors, schools, workplaces, traffic, etc. When everything around them is changing, the family car is right there in the driveway waiting to welcome them just as it has in the past. Reading the customer reviews on A-1 Transport’s website leads me to believe that this is a company who understands the importance of a car to its owner.

The reviews include comments about how well the customer was treated by staff, how the costs were competitive among other brokers, how accurately the schedule was kept, how knowledgeable and information the sales office was, and how impeccably the cars were treated during every phase of preparation, transport, and delivery. Customers also mention that A-1 is organized, prompt and reliable. These are some of the most important qualities customers seek in a business and these reviews make it clear that the customers’ emotions and needs are taken into consideration.

While many people may not think much about cars being transported across the country or overseas, I often do. I think about the importance of that vehicle arriving in the same condition it started in and arriving on time. I think about how important that car is to its owner. It should be one thing that a family who is moving does not have to worry about. There is so much responsibility placed in the hands of the drivers and the transport company for whom they work, which is why A-1 Transport bonds every driver and proudly displays their quality safety record for the public to see.

The core values of A-1 Transport (Authority, Expertise, and Transparency) are why they have been such a widely-chosen transport broker company for the past 20 years. They offer customers not only competitive pricing, but reliable, safe and secure transporting. In addition to their impressive transport services, I have learned that A-1 is a company that supports local youth sports, promoting healthy lifestyles for American children, as well as a company that makes considerable charitable donations to a variety of community groups. This is the type of organization with whom I would be proud to be affiliated.

Submitted by Brighton E. Moore on 08/21/2019