December 2010 Navy
By Kathleen Moakler, Government Relations Director, National Military Family Association
Military families have been receiving a lot of attention lately. They get a lot of play on the evening news. Poignant family reunions as a service member returns from combat duty overseas or a long deployment at sea. Military children attending free camps helping them learn how to deal with frequent separations from mom or dad. Concern for the wounded and how their families are coping with a service member suffering from debilitating wounds or wounds they cannot see. The biggest spotlight of all – the First Lady and the spouse of the Vice President calling on the people of America to support military families – our Nation’s families – as they contend with ten years of war and multiple deployments.
This article provides a broad overview of some of the programs and resources available to military families today. We’ve listed some additional resources in the sidebar. As is often said, knowledge is power. Empower your family by becoming familiar with the many resources that can prove helpful to you – learn about them before you need them.
Military Families – One Size Does Not Fit All
In these past ten years of war, military families have shown themselves to be strong and resilient. They come in all shapes and sizes – one size does not fit all. While the so-called nuclear family – a dad, a mom and several children – is alive and well in the military, we also have many single parent families, dual military families, blended families and families where the children spend only part of the time with a military parent. The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard) have had to take this into account when crafting tools and programs to serve military families. In addition, fifty percent of the force is single, many times receiving support from parents, siblings or other relatives. All these folks have assumed the role of support for the service member as he or she is deployed. The challenge has been to create programs to help caregivers support their service members.
Support for service members and their families has always worked best as a Commander’s program. The personal outreach from family readiness group leaders and volunteers, Ombudsman, wing family coordinators and other unit sponsored staff or volunteers working for the commanding officer has enhanced unit cohesiveness and given the families a sense of belonging. Families should know that they will receive credible information about the unit or ship from these staff members and reliable information and referral when they need to access resources. The key to involvement of family members in this information and support stream is the service member providing the name and contact information of the family member to the command. Individual augmentees assigned away from their unit or ship can request support for their families through specific programs such as the Navy’s which offers a special handbook, briefings and updates.
Installation-based programs such as Fleet and Family Support, Army Community Service, Marine Corps Community Services, Airman and Family Support Centers and the Coast Guard’s Work Life offices stand ready to help military families no matter their Service or Component. These Centers offer resources for deployment, financial education and counseling, relocation, personal and family wellness, crisis intervention, career development and spouse employment. Increased use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, has also made families more connected and serves as a way to push helpful information out to young military families.
Today’s challenge for many of our families is being so geographically dispersed. Whether they are community based as members of the National Guard or Reserve, or do not live near the installation, they need access to information and resources that are readily available. The Reserves have set up regional centers to serve as resource centers; and each of the fifty-four states, district and territories have National Guard Family Readiness Offices usually in the state capital. Family Assistance Centers are set up near units that have deployed, for the length of the deployment. The Army Reserve has established several regional family assistance centers that are brick and mortar, such as one in Rochester, New York. These regional and state offices offer a myriad of support services to serve all Reserve Component service members and their families including Yellow Ribbon programs, deployment support, information and referral, transition assistance, child and youth services, and volunteer training. Families should familiarize themselves with military resources in their respective regions or States and know they can be served no matter what the Service is that offers the resource.
New Conflicts Called for New Types of Resources
One of the most effective resources for families of all Services – and spouses, children and parents – has been Military OneSource (MOS). Created in the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom – Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF-OIF), the program serves as an effective resource for the geographically dispersed. MOS offers both an 800 number and a Web portal. Directed by the DoD, it offers an information component that can be both community and Service specific. While many families access it for deployment tools and resources, one can also request information on child care, relocation, elder care, and other areas of everyday living. One of the most frequently used aspects of the program is a referral program for local, no-cost counseling.
Military OneSource offers three kinds of short-term, non-medical counseling options to Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve members and their families – face-to-face counseling, telephone consultations and on-line consultation. Military OneSource counseling services are designed to provide help with short-term issues such as adjustment to situational stressors, stress management, decision making, communication, grief, blended-family issues, and parenting-skills issues. Information provided to counselors will be kept confidential, except to meet legal obligations or to prevent harm to self or others. All counseling adheres to the same informed consent, confidentiality, privacy, and reportable-event protocols. A family member may seek counseling without the knowledge or consent of the service member.
Health Care
Ten years of war and repeated deployments have taken their toll on the physical and mental well-being of our service members and their families. While military families have viewed the quality of their health care as good, it is most often the access to that care that can be a problem. It is important for family members to learn all they can about TRICARE, the military’s managed health care program. Understanding the benefit can help families navigate the appointment and referral system. This is especially important for National Guard and Reserve families who are much more reliant on TRICARE’s civilian network of health care providers.
While military families have shown themselves to be resilient, there is still a need for awareness of and access to behavioral health care. DoD and the Services have been marketing behavioral health care and resilience programs in an effort to reduce the stigma attached to seeking help. The tensions and worries during deployment and the stress associated with reintegration when service members return weigh heavily on military families. We mentioned the counseling available through Military OneSource. The Services also augment counseling services on installations and at remote Reserve Centers and National Guard Armories by offering the Military Family Life Consultant program. These consultants, licensed social workers, offer non-medical counseling and serve as a resource for family readiness and support groups, military students in schools and service members in their units when they return. They provide classes on dealing with stress, how to build resilience and coping with deployments. They may meet service members or family members one-on-one over a cup of coffee to coach or talk through problems. This program has been a resource multiplier for the military. Family support centers also offer these types of programs as well.
Every effort has been made to reach service members and families no matter how remote their location. The TRIAP program, offered by the TRICARE regional contractors, is a telemental health program. It can be accessed through computer either face-to-face with a SKYPE-like program, chatting on line with a counselor, or visiting a regional center and speaking with a counselor or mental health professional through teleconferencing. Of course, medical behavioral health resources and treatment with psychiatrists and psychologists are available through TRICARE when greater care is called for.
Family Priorities: Education and Employment
Education of their children has always been a priority for military families. Our children regularly bounce from school district to school district, Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) school to local school district. Eighty-five percent of our military children are educated in public schools. They are often challenged by the rules imposed by these local school districts affecting issues like kindergarten start age, state history requirements, or eligibility for year book staff or sports teams. Recently, the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children was enacted to address some of these issues, leveling the playing field for our military students. Often, the children of those serving in the National Guard and Reserve with a deployed parent feel isolated during deployment. Community organizations like the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), the National PTA and others have reached out to teach those teaching our children about their challenges and stressors during deployment. DoD provided programs like Tutor.com to try to compensate for the family math expert or history buff being deployed, providing on-line or telephonic help with homework.
For military spouses, education and employment often go hand-in-hand. The My Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA) offered through Military OneSource offer career and education counseling and stipends for education for junior enlisted and officer spouses. The ability of eligible service members to transfer their Post 9-11 GI Bill benefits to their spouses and/or children has expanded educational options and opportunities. Installation education centers offer course and career counseling, too.
Kathleen Moakler is the spouse of a retired soldier and the mother of two active duty soldiers, one an Iraq veteran. She is a long-time advocate for military families with the National Military Family Association.