News

Family support vital to Reserve

  • Published
  • By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
  • National Guard Bureau
DEARBORN, Mich. (AFNS) --  Family support is vital to the more than 700,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve who have been called to duty since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the assistant secretary of defense for Reserve Affairs said here July 27.

"The only way that we can sustain that kind of effort is by having strong families and strong relations with our nation's employers ... both of those groups have served magnificently so far," Dennis M. McCarthy told 1,200 attendees of the 2009 National Guard Family Program Volunteer Workshop here. A presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate on June 25, Mr. McCarthy is responsible for the overall supervision of the affairs of the 1.2 million-strong reserve component for the Department of Defense.

Families fill the gap when we deploy, go for training, or whatever the mission that takes us away from home," said Master Sgt. Steven Thomas, 446th Mission Support Squadron Airman and Family Readiness Center, McChord Air Force Base, Wash. "Events like the upcoming family day picnic on Aug. 8 are ways to recognize them and say 'thank you' for allowing Reservists to do what they do. It allows them to focus on the home front."

In addition to the family day picnic, which is not specifically an Airman and Family Readiness Center event, there are programs designed especially to help families and thank them for their support. And these programs are often run by volunteers, along with the staff of the 446th MSS A&FRC.
Mr. McCarthy emphasizes the importance of service before self when it comes to family readiness programs.

"Volunteers are the heart and soul of any successful family readiness program," said Mr. McCarthy. "We simply could not have successful programs without the work that our volunteers do."

About 948 Guardsmen and Reservists have died since Sept. 11, 2001, including 708 killed in action, said Mr. McCarthy.

"It's clear that our country is going to continue to be under attack," he said. "And it's going to need the Total Force effort that we have seen over the last eight years to continue to defend our country. That level and intensity of service is questionably going to continue.

"In doing that, we're all going to stay on this rotational cycle that we have come to accept almost as 'the new normal' over the past years," said Mr. McCarthy. "Units are going to get ready, they're going to deploy, they're going to come home, they're going to rest and retrain and refit and get ready again and go again, and those who choose to make a career of the military service and the Reserve components are going to be making these cyclic deployments."

For that reason, family programs must be tailored to meet the unique needs of the Reserve components, which are different from the active-duty components, said Mr. McCarthy.

"We need to shape our programs to meet our situation," said Mr. McCarthy.

According to Carl Supplee, chief of the 446th MSS Airman and Family Readiness Center, his staff has a program to look out for family members of deployed Reservists.

"When a member is deployed longer than 30 days, we will call and check on the family to see how they are doing, with the member's permission," said Mr. Supplee.

Other family support programs through the 446th MSS Airman and Family Readiness Center are Hearts Apart and the deployed families' dinner. Hearts Apart allows family members to call military members at their deployed location for free. The quarterly deployed families' dinner, in which the families of deployed members are provided free dinner, entertainment, and children's activities, is a Team McChord event held at the McChord Chapel Annex, once a quarter.

There are also resource materials in the Airmen and Family Readiness Center, as well as many other programs to help families cope with deployments and keep families in touch.

For more information on these programs and more, contact the 446th MSS Airman and Family Readiness Center at (253) 982-5330. (Tech. Sgt. Jake Chappelle, 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, McChord Air Force Base, Wash., contributed to this story.)