Last Sunday, my wife and I went to a meeting in Kalamazoo, Michigan to assist with the process of splitting a Family Readiness Group in to two functional FRGs. Prior to last Sunday, February 3, 2008, there was 1 FRG for 2 companies affiliated with the Kalamazoo National Guard Installation. Our involvement is being keyed by our daughter-in-law who will take on the responsibility of leadership for the new FRG.
FAFSOM wants to help where ever it can. We do not want to take over the roll of an FRG but we do want to help every FRG that exists and those that are just coming into existence. Our hope is that we will be able to make sure that every family of a deployed Soldier, Airman, Marine, Sailor, or Coast Guardsman (Active, Reserve, or National Guard) will have all the support they need to have the most positive experience possible. We know that is a tall order but we have enough people who have been touched by deployments that I am confident that we can find a "Deployment Buddy" for every deployed family.
To help these folks we are preparing deployment survival kits. Our goal is to make sure that every deployed family will have a visit from a "Deployment Buddy" (DB) who will bring the Deployment Survival Kit (DSK) to that family's door. Our expectation is that the DB will make contact with the family on a regualr basis and that the family will be able to call the DB whenever there is a need.
Our DBs will not be couselors but they will know where to direct families in need. This is a tall order but we are confident that there are enough potential DBs out there that we can meet the needs of our region. If you would like to be a DB, let me know. We'll get you set up for training.
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As you may or may not hae heard, the Sturgis National Guard Unit has been called up to active duty. Based on what we have heard this activation will affect approximately 35 troops and they will be mobilized in June. This gives immediate urgency to the development of our Action Plans associated with our Mission.
To prepare for this event we would like to get as many of you together as we can to begin action planning. In a moment of clarity, I realized that what we want to call our "Mentors" is Deployment Buddies. In a war zone soldiers have "Battle Buddies" and they rely on each other for support through the mission. Our DBs can fulfill a similar role hear at home.
Let's get together Monday Night, February 11th at 6:30 at the Armory. Hope to see many of you there.
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