Dallas native 'Ms. Vicki' helps military families cope through columns

I've read her column several times. She's usually right on the mark.
Dallas native 'Ms. Vicki' helps military families cope through columns
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
10:28 PM CST on Sunday, January 4, 2009
By JOANNA CATTANACH / The Dallas Morning News
jcattanach@dallasnews.com

She's the armed forces' own Ann Landers, the Department of Defense's Dear Abby – but to her loyal followers she's just Ms. Vicki, an Army wife and mom of three turned advice columnist.

Now in her 40s, Dallas native Vicki Johnson has been giving people her two cents since childhood.

"I was always the one that would sit and listen and give some kind of guidance," said Johnson, from her home in the Washington, D.C., area.

The clinical social worker has been sharing her wisdom in a biweekly newspaper column since 2005. Her topics are far-ranging, but she's best known for her niche.

"I'm the columnist for the military set," said Johnson, whose column appears in The Washington Times as well as two military publications, The Fort Campbell Courier in Kentucky and the Heidelberg Herald-Post in Germany.

"I get letters like, 'You know Ms. Vicki, I came home to flags waving and banners, and my wife wasn't there and my whole house was empty and so was my bank account,' " said Johnson, who receives 40 to 50 e-mails a week.

It's not a full-time job yet – she's a social worker specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder. But the inquiries, mostly from women concerning relationship issues, are steadily streaming into her Yahoo! account, placed on her car and pushed into her mailbox.