Corie Weathers, an Army chaplain’s wife from Fort Gordon, Ga., is in the running for Military Spouse of the YearThe 38-year-old wife of Captain Matthew Weaters, is a licensed professional counselor who has been involved in more the 35 Strong Bonds retreats for Army families.  She was voted as the top Army spouse in the Military Spouse of the Year competition for 2015, an event sponsored since 2008 by Military Spouse magazine.Branch winners were selected last month, with Weathers winning the Army title. In the finals, she is up against spouses from the Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard, Marine Corps and Navy.Voting for Spouse of the Year happens on March 4 at http://msoy.militaryspouse.com/. The winner will not be announced until May.Under contest rules aimed at preventing a spouse from a large installation for having an unfair advantage, the popular vote accounts for only 25 percent of the final decision on who receives the title. An advisory panel and a special Military Spouse of the Year panel are weighted to make up 75 percent of the decision.In an essay, Weathers says she has two sons, 10-year-old Aidan and 7-year-old Jackson, has been married for 11 years and moved three times as a military spouse.She writes that because of her experience and education as a counselor, she was asked while her husband deployed from Fort Carson, Colo., to Afghanistan, to be the head coordinator for the Care Teams and a member of the Go-Team when her husband deployed by Afghanistan. “I was tasked to work with new widows once they were notified of their soldier's death and train other military wives how to care for these new widows,” she writes. “Offering support during their own grief and anxiety during the deployment was also crucial. We could not have anticipated losing the 12 soldiers we did during that deployment.”She has worked as a therapist for military families “struggling with the effects of combat, reintegration, parenting, domestic violence, and spouse self-care,” co-wrote with her husband a marriage enrichment program called ENLIVEN and operates an outpatient therapy program aimed at teenaged girls who are dealing with the stress of bullying, cyberbullying, cutting and other self-harm, promiscuous behavior and esteem issues.”In an email to AUSA Weathers shared, “I am grateful to have the opportunity to work for non-profits in the community and realize how important it is to connect military families to the organizations that can serve them outside the gates. Military families are already strong, but asking for help is not only a healthy practice, it can make them stronger. If I am given the AFI National Military Spouse of the Year title, I hope to remind spouses that it is okay to reach out for help if you are weary or struggling. I also hope to bridge the gap between the military and America by supporting the new regulations that give non-profits better access to the families on-post. By working together, true healing can happen in people's lives.”More details about Weathers and her competitors can be found here: http://msoy.militaryspouse.com/