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Deployment, military, Reintegration, support, Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program

Military Support Series: Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program

January 20, 2014 5 Comments

Making sure those that are remotely stationed, and those that aren’t close to a larger base, has been something I’ve been passionate about for many years. When I first started getting out there to advocate for this group of people I was a young MilSpouse with a one year old. It was 2007 and I jumped feet first into the EANGUS community with the goal of spreading the word about young military families. I am pleased to bring you more information about the Yellow Ribbon Program, which is available to National Guard and Reserve families (of any branch). As an Air Guard family, we frequently were able to participate in programs originally designed or created for Army Guard families. The same thing goes for the Strong Bonds program, so make sure to look for those as well.

The Yellow Ribbon Program offers several tips to make sure you have the support and help you need to get through the toughest things the military has to offer.

1. Find a military family readiness/support group in your area.

This can come in many different forms – through church, through the National Guard base or Armory’s family programs office, or just something you create on your own. Contact larger organizations like National Military Family Association or Blue Star Families and let them know you are there. Sometimes its a matter of knowing a group of people are there. With so many military families spread out over this country, and many not near larger installations, there is a whole group of people not being reached.

If you haven’t already registered with JSS (Joint Support Services), do it! You can search for all types of benefits and assistance that is in your area, including the Yellow Ribbon Program. They have contact information and ways for you to connect with people if you can’t find help in your area. National Military Family Association Support Group Link

2. Participate in activities and groups in your unit or community.

Once you find that support you have to get out there!! Attending the activities that are often planned for military families—including scrapbooking nights, ice cream socials, military kids nights and holiday dinners—can help you feel more like a part of the local community, especially when you’re missing your Service member. Playgroups and military spouse groups provide additional opportunities to meet people in a similar situation and exchange advice and information.

3. Get involved with OperationMilitary Kids (OMK).

Every parent knows that deployment can be stressful for children. OMK aims to help military kids cope with deployment by bringing them together for fun activities with other kids who understand. Sign your kids up for a variety of social, educational and recreational programs. Also, Our Military Kids offers scholarships for military children, whose parent is deployed, to help pay for those special activities. You can find out more information about Our Military Kids here.

4. Stay in touch through military publications and websites.

Your loved one’s unit, post or base newspaper is a vital source of information about workshops and programs offered to spouses and families. Some units will share news and announcements through Facebook and Twitter so you can stay up-to-date on upcoming events or opportunities to meet with other families.

5. Keep connected after deployment through a Virtual Family Readiness Group (VFRG).

Once your loved one is deployed, you can maintain these new connections through a Virtual Family Readiness Group, a controlled-access web system that links Service members to their families and units. The VFRG provides a secure means for your Service member to communicate with family members far from home, and the unit commander posts updates so that you have access to the latest information. Each Service has different types of VFRGs, so be sure to contact your unit or command Family Programs staff for details.

For more info please visit their website and register for events on their event’s page

You can find more resources specifically for National Guard and Reserve on my General Military tab. Make sure to check out the other resources listed under MilSpouse and Family Support. Many of the programs listed there offer specific help to those that are in the National Guard and Reserves.

If you feel like you are missing a program in your area, or are having trouble locating one please leave me a comment or email me cammostylelove (at) yahoo (dot) com. I’ll be happy to help, or point you in the right direction.
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#militarymonday, eMentor, military, Military Support Series, milspouse, support, veteran

Have you heard about eMentor? #MilitaryMonday #MilitarySupportSeries

November 5, 2013 No Comments

Welcome to another Support Series posting. I haven’t made one of these posts in bit here, but last week I had the pleasure of seeing my friend over at eMentors at one of the recent Hiring Our Heroes, hiring fairs. People need to know about eMentors, so they got bumped to the top of my list of support services to highlight. eMentor provides both a military spouse and veteran program, which I truly believe is so vital. With the growing number of military spouses powering forward in their careers with great determination, the eMentor program is one of the keys to thriving.

The Military Spouse eMentor Leadership Program welcomes mentors and protégés who are spouses or widow/ers of military members and veterans. We also invite representatives of military spouse-friendly firms to serve as corporate mentors to assist protégés seeking employment or with other career issues. The program puts military spouses in virtual touch with more experienced spouses and corporate and career mentors for guidance and support with challenges of all kinds and for assistance with finding meaningful employment with longevity and upward mobility.

Their program knows no bounds. If you’re in a field, they probably have a mentor for you. In my last conversation with them they had found a Micro-biologist with some crazy specialty that I had never heard of. A mentor is a valuable resource that I don’t think many think of. They have walked in your shoes, they’ve been there. If you factor in the added value of a fellow military spouse, who has faced the unique challenges that we have in our lives….well, then you’ve struck gold my friends.

Aside from the MilSpouse program, eMentor also has several other unique programs: Officer Women (Male officers can participate as mentors only), CadetMidnWomen (women officers, officer veterans and officers-in-training in all the services: U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines) and a Veterans program (a valuable resources for those seeking to transition from the military to civilian world).

The program is easy to particpate in, simply chose the program you’d like and click “join”. There you will complete an online profile so that you can be matched correctly. The relationships take place online mostly, but phone conversations and in-person meetings offer further support. Mentors and protegees will receive online newsletters, emails and periodic trainings to further support the relationship. There are also discussion forums available for further conversations with others enrolled in the program.

I really encourage anyone looking to further their careers, or begin anew to check out the eMentor program. Whether you are a teacher, a nurse, a micro-biologist or an entrepreneur; if you a Veteran looking to move forward in the civilian world, check out the eMentor program.

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Air National Guard, Army National Guard, Deployment, drill, Family Readiness, FRG, Key Spouse, National Guard, Reserves, separation, support

Military Monday: Lets Make a Readiness Folder #militarymonday

April 22, 2013 No Comments

I’m no stranger to the “going it on your own” life. In more ways then one it applies to the military life. For some it is the very essence of their world. For those of us in the National Guard or Reserves world it can be a daily thing. Having been stationed fairly remotely, without the conveniences of a standard base, find the kinds of support many of my online friends talked about was difficult, if not impossible. I have a couple of friends who aren’t even stationed in the same town, or even the same state, as their significant others unit. Many National Guard and Reserve Units are lacking in the support department, don’t have FRGs and don’t have the resources to provide remotely located spouses with the guidance they need to navigate these tricky waters of MilSpouseDom. For those that are girlfriends or finaces the waters can be even more treacherous to explore.

So, what can you do to stay afloat? One thing you can do is put together a Family Readiness Folder. I happen to extremely blessed with a husband who actively makes sure I’m connected in some way to his Unit, and he has an amazing boss, who feels more like family then a co-worker, having been the rock I’ve leaned on whether he knew it or not.

What makes a good Readiness Folder?

Contact Information is Key:

Gather together key contact information from your husband, the base website or anyone else you can get it from.

1. Family Services Contacts

Family Programs local
Family Readiness Assistant
Youth Programs
Air Wing Family Programs Coordinator (or other branch Equivalent)

2. Support Services

Military OneSource Consultant

Transition Assistance Advisor
ESGR (Employer Support Guard/Reserve
TriWest (for your area)
ID Cards/DEERS
Survivor Outreach Services
American Red Cross

3. Wellness Team

Director of Psychological Health
Military Family Life Consultant (adult/family & child/youth)
Chaplain
Personal Finance Counselor
Suicide Hotline (national (800) 273-TALK)

4. Yellow Ribbon Program contact info

5. Your local unit or operations group contacts

Group Commander
Squadron Commander
Operations Support Commander
Director of Operations
First Sergeant

6. Track down the list of FRG or Key Spouses, or maybe your s/o’s buddy’s spouse or significant other. Finding a connection with another spouse, girlfriend or family member connected to your husband is important, even if its just one.

Pre-deployment Information Form

Find one of these and fill it out before a deployment. This will have important information for the unit, like deployment location and time information, who your family is, who your child are, emergency contacts, information about you so that you can be located and specific concerns about the deployment. It is important that you are kept in the loop during a deployment.

Important Dates

Include an important dates section in your folder – drill schedules, special events, or local events that might be helpful to those stationed near you, and for those that are not. They may want to make the trek closer if there will be special base events or holiday events (especially for families). Our local base had Easter, Halloween and Christmas events for the kids. There is also usually a unit BBQ. For the National Guard many states have a State Military Ball where all branches affiliated with the Guard and Reserves in the area are usually invited.

What My Family Should Know:

This is a guide for all the things you should know, your family should know. It is also a great way to get the conversation going about topics no one wants to talk about. Lets face it, who really wants to have a conversation about funeral arrangements before anyone is actually passed on. Talking about those things is important none the less. For me, I wanted to confidently be able to stand my ground and specifically state that I knew exactly what my husband wanted. This may also force your significant other to have this conversation. If I could recount the stories that I’ve been witness too where that was never discussed and problems arose. Contact information going unchanged – never being changed from a parent to a wife, and other similar situations. Being married to an Eagle Scout, being prepared is a mantra around here. It never EVER hurts to be prepared…it can always hurt to be unprepared.

Here’s a link to a packet if your unit doesn’t have one. I can also probably get one of mine, so please feel free to email me if you feel the one linked to doesn’t work for you.

Other Notes:

Many Family Readiness Groups on base have booklets for deployments and info ones to have around all the time. Seek them out. If you aren’t near your husband’s unit, but you are near another base, reach out to them! Currently we are nowhere near hubby’s home base, but close to so many. I am always actively seeking programs that we are eligible for. We have full rights to the MWR too. Last year we got a pool pase for a great deal. Sure it wasn’t the local neighborhood pool that I could walk to, but it was hundreds of dollars cheaper. If you’re a mom look for a local MOPS group. The base here has one, but there is bound to be a local church that hosts one. Each one is different, and while all of them are faith-based, they are all different. Seek out other Moms groups in your area as well. There was more than one in the area we were in previously, faith based or not. They are out there! Look online for military support groups, or facebook. While many can have drama (what doesn’t in life anymore), I can tell you that I have made some amazing friends that I have 6yrs later, and many I eventually met in person. These ladies were my saving grace at times and I couldn’t be more thankful. Find out if your area has a local Blue Star Families. They have been an amazing connection for me.

So, I hope this helps and is a place to start for you. Please do not hesitate to contact me for clarification on anything listed here, as well as help tracking down the information for your local area. If you’re totally lost and wouldn’t even begin to know where to start PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me and I will help you!!!

Air National Guard, Army National Guard, Army Reserves, Marine Corp Reserve, military kids, Military Support Series, Naval Reserves, Our Military Kids, support, wounded warriors

Military Support Series – “Our Military Kids”

April 11, 2013 No Comments

Jumping back into the swing of things, I am so very happy to bring to you the third installment in my Military Support Series. In light of April being the Month of the Military Child, I thought what better organization to highlight first this month then Our Military Kids.

Our Military Kids, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to provide support and recognition to military children. This may include children ages 3 years through the 12^th grade of deployed National Guard and Reserve service members, along with children of Wounded and Fallen Warriors from all branches of service. The grants to children pay for fees associated with athletic, fine arts, and tutoring programs. Our Military Kids’ grants keep military children engaged in activities of their choosing, helping to relieve the stress of separation from a parent by providing a positive distraction, minimizing emotional destabilization, building self esteem, and enabling academic achievement.

Our Military Kids provides tangible support to the children of deployed and severely injured National Guard and Military Reserve personnel through grants for sports, fine arts and tutoring that nurture and sustain the children during the time a parent is away in service to our country.

Last month I had the amazing opportunity to sit down and have lunch with Linda Davidson, co-founder of OMK. It was truly amazing to hear the story in person, to talk about the direction and how the direction has grown and changed over the years. To talk about the future and what other things this wonderful organization can accomplish. Starting as a group of people who sought to serve the children of Guard and Reservists in the State of Virginia only, then growing nationwide, and not stopping until OMK began helping the children of Wounded Warriors as well.

me and Linda Davidson

Linda, and the amazing staff, Board of Directors and volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide grants of up to $500 to cover six months of extra-curricular activities for a child of a deployed service member, who is deployed for 120 days or is one of two missions overseas totaling 180 days in a one-year period and there are at least 30 days remaining, and the child will start the activity before they return home. The grants are to support athletic activities, fine arts and also tutoring. Most of us that are military-connected know what its like to have a loved one gone, even if its only for a two week training or field mission. Regardless of the length of time, when it involves children its difficult. Two weeks, two months or a year, to them its all hard. I have personally experienced so many different types of separations and they have all been hard on my children, especially when they are too young to really understand anything. We haven’t been lucky enough to be a recipient (because I didn’t know about OMK!!! Crazy!!), but I know that it would have been such a blessing. One day maybe OMK can expand to include Guard and Reservists families that are in unique situations like prolonged TDYs, Geo-Bachelor, shorter stint missions and more unique situations that I know are out there.

Our Military Kids conducted a survey of recipients (in both the Guard/Reserve and Wounded category) to garner more insight and information into the lives of these families and the effect that it has.

82% noticed an increase in the stress or anxiety level of their child during the parent’s deployment
97% indicated that participating in an activity benefited their child
100% found the grant application process easy
99% reported that participatin significantly contributed to the overall well-being of the entire family
99% thought the Our Military Kids program should be continued and made available to other families

My little Military Kid

If they surveyed me I’m sure they would find very similar responses. My kids are involved in Martial Arts and Awana. I know that having those things, that pattern, that stability in their lives is incredibly valuable to my children. The support that they find, that is extremely difficult for those of us not attached to a larger unit and/or on a substantial base is beyond words.

To learn more about Our Military Kids, please visit their website and here are some special links!

Press Release – Business support OMK (if you’re in the VA read this!!!)
Donate to Our Military Kids
Vehicle Donation Program
Our Military Kids Facebook
Our Military Kids Twitter

caregivers, military, military family, military life, military spouse, support, Veteran Caregivers, veterans support, wounded warriors

Military Support Series Veteran CareGiver

March 26, 2013 No Comments

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Last week I had the amazing pleasure of hanging out with some great ladies at the Care Giver’s Resource Fair at Walter Reed. I had never heard of Veteran Caregiver, so I knew I had to add their group to my list of resources to share with my amazing readers. So lets hear a little bit more about this amazing group.

The basics of it is this….what happens “AFTER”? That seems to be a simple question, but in reality, for many veterans and Caregivers its the complete opposite of simple. What do I/We do now? That’s where Veteran Caregiver comes into play.

This site is a bridge for caregivers and veterans alike. It is a safe place to air questions and frustrations on and offline, but we also provide individualized assistance when you’ve hit the wall. As a veteran or a caregiver of a veteran, your life may be significantly altered by injury, illness, or aging. If you’re feeling isolated or alone, want/need people around you who “get it”, and you’d benefit from networking with peers and professionals, community health and recovery resources, you’ve come to the only site of its kind. VeteranCaregiver is here to fill the need for acknowledgement, mentoring as only peers can do, and to provide accessible support from others who share or can address your challenges.- Linda Kreter -Founder & CEO

It is a virtual community that provides a connection. With so much of this world “virual”, with social media being the way to go, I think this is a stupendous idea. So many of my friends have been found and developed through social media. Its like the key to the city for Military Spouses, especially those of us who have been situated in isolated areas as I was for so many years.

Simply go to Veteran Caregiver’s website and register to start!

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