About Jodi Martin
Twenty-six years in uniform. Three children raised. Eight books written. One unchanging purpose — teach the next generation to lead with courage, discipline, and love.
I've commanded soldiers and I've raised children. If you asked me which was harder, I'd say the same thing every time — I couldn't have done one without becoming better at the other.— Jodi Martin
A Life in Three Acts
1991 — 2017
Commissioned out of West Point at twenty-two. Twenty-six years leading soldiers across three continents. Pinned on the silver eagles of a full Colonel in her forty-fifth year. Retired with two Bronze Stars, a Meritorious Service Medal, and the quiet respect of everyone she ever led.
1998 — Present
Three children raised — largely between deployments, often over long-distance calls, always with letters home in her pocket. Her greatest command was never the one on her insignia. It was the one at her own dinner table, teaching three small humans how to be brave, kind, and true.
2019 — Present
Eight children's books and counting. A growing community of parents, teachers, and caregivers. The Soldier Mom series wasn't a plan — it was a promise. To keep serving. To keep raising leaders. To keep showing children that courage is what you do when it's hardest to do it.
The Long March
The eldest of four in a working-class family. Her father, a Marine veteran; her mother, a schoolteacher. She learned discipline at the dinner table and grit on the school bus.
One of just 149 women in a class of 1,200. Graduated top quartile in leadership evaluations, with a degree in English Literature and a minor in Systems Engineering.
Ella was born on a Tuesday in March. Nine weeks later, Jodi shipped out for Bosnia. She kept a journal every night — the first draft of what would eventually become her first book.
Commanded a 600-soldier logistics battalion in Iraq. Awarded her second Bronze Star. Missed her son's eighth birthday. Called him from a satellite phone at 3 AM his time. She still remembers what he said.
The silver eagles were pinned on her collar by her three children — a tradition the Army allows only for family. She cried through the ceremony. So did the rest of the room.
Twenty-six years, seven overseas deployments, one very long homecoming. She hung up her uniform and immediately started asking: what now?
"When Mama Wore Boots" was released with no PR budget, no publicist, no plan. It sold out its first print run in nine days. The second run sold out in three.
The Soldier Mom series has reached 12,000+ families. Jodi speaks at schools, military bases, and leadership conferences across North America. Book nine is in draft.
Friend —
If you've read this far, you're probably a parent, a teacher, or someone who cares deeply about the small humans in your life. I want you to know something.
You are doing one of the hardest, most important jobs on Earth. And you're doing it mostly without applause, mostly without a manual, and mostly on very little sleep.
I wrote the Soldier Mom series because I remember what it felt like to be in the middle of that job and wonder if I was getting it right. I wrote it because bedtime stories are quiet acts of formation — and formation is what leadership is. I wrote it because the next generation is watching us, and they deserve to see courage rendered as clearly as the alphabet.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for doing the work. And thank you, more than anything, for the leaders you're raising.
With respect and love,
What Jodi Believes
The bar we set is the bar they clear. Lower it, and they'll meet it. Raise it — with love — and they'll surprise you every time.
Not the loud kind. The kind that says: you matter enough to me that I will not let you be less than you are.
How we speak to our children when the day is done — that's the leadership training that lasts.
It looks like telling the truth when it costs you. Like saying sorry first. Like showing up on the days you don't want to.
The military taught me that no one stands post alone. Parenting is no different. We rise together.
The Archive
As Featured In
"Jodi Martin writes with the moral clarity of a battlefield commander and the tenderness of a mother reading her child to sleep. The Soldier Mom series is destined to be a modern classic of children's literature." — The Atlantic
One Invitation
Read a book. Join the community. Bring Jodi to speak. Whatever the next step looks like — it starts here.