JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - Editor's note: The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Military and Family Readiness Center offers a variety of services to Department of Defense identification card holders to support the military family in times of need. These services include support during the deployment and mobilization process, support for exceptional family members, resources for sustaining financial and personal health, and transition assistance to post-military life. This first of four installments focusing on supporting the military family throughout the deployment and mobilization process.

The checklist is complete and bags are packed with extra gear and uniforms. It’s time to hug the kids and kiss the spouse; your deployment time has arrived. However, once a service member or unit is selected for deployment, there are a variety of services available to ensure the family staying behind is taken care of and when they are reunited, the experience is made as smooth as possible. The Military and Family Readiness Center mobilization and deployment readiness personnel are the ones who support that need.

The personnel educate service members and families on the stages of the deployment cycle and provide training to help deal with it. Their mission is to develop an adaptable community in which service members and families are prepared for deployment, have access to the support they need throughout its course, and are prepared for the challenges when the service member returns from deployment.

Although the mission goals are the same whether the MFRC is addressing Army or Air Force personnel, the services initially rendered are not.

“The deployments, between the Air Force and Army, are a little different,” said Tech. Sgt. Bradley Kecker, 673d Force Support Squadron military and family readiness noncommissioned officer. “Here at JBER, due to the operational tempo, the Army typically deploys as a mass unit and the Air Force is usually one, or a few, at a time from a unit. Although I have briefed large groups, the smaller, more frequent, deployees is why the MFRC offers a pre-deployment briefing every week.

“It’s mandatory to come to pre-deployment if you are gone for more than 179 days,” said Kecker. “You are not just seeing the MFRC; you are seeing a lot of other organizations too. The briefing was put together by thinking of all the training you will need before you leave. When you come to your briefing, we also let you know that we are here for your family too.’”

Kecker said he only briefs the Airmen, but a separate staff is dedicated to briefing the Soldiers.

Lisa Williams, MFRC work-life specialist family readiness group component, said they do a similar process but it’s accomplished within the Soldier Readiness Program.

“It’s what Soldiers go through to take care of their financial, medical, and other support needs,” she said. “We are also in the program to talk about the services provided by our MFRC.”

Williams said Soldiers go through a two-day training that is done en masse or in smaller groups. Her role is to address the deployment from the spouses’ perspective.

“I am in touch with spouses through the Family Readiness Groups or Key Spouse Program,” said Williams. “During the deployment our center is the point of contact for those readiness groups. Spouses are encouraged to attend Day 1 and Day 2 briefings along with the Soldiers.”

Once the sustained-support options are briefed to the spouses and service member, the Soldier or Airman deploys for the specified length of time and then returns home. This is another integral time when the MFRC Mobilization and Deployment personnel must leap into action.

Kecker said there are a variety of programs which can help a spouse maintain the household while the service member is deployed. He said there is even a program for 16 hours of free child care per month for 30 days prior to deployment and up to 60 days after redeployment.

“I have deployed before and didn’t even know about that,” said Kecker. “My wife was maintaining the yard and driveway while trying to do school and take care of the kids. It was very stressful. Having been through that, we try to help other spouses get the tools to do well during deployments.”

“We also do reintegration,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a shock when you come back from deployment, such as getting back into the routine at home. If you realize a week or two after you return that you are having a hard time, there are avenues to help you and your family.”

Williams agreed that reintegration can be shocking to a family.

“Reintegration for spouses occurs anywhere from two weeks to 30 days before a service member returns,” said Williams. “That is the time frame when usually the spouse is like ‘oh my gosh, my service member is coming home. I need to do this and I need to do that.’ So we talk to the spouse and help them think about what kind of roles were taken on while the member was gone, ask if there has been communication the entire time, have they been doing the finances or has the member been doing it, and so on. Communication is very important.”

Jim Hargis, MFRC work-life specialist and the Army mobilization and deployment program manager, said the conversation about finances is about more than who is paying the bills.

“We go over a budget again,” he said. “While deployed, service members receive X amount of additional dollars and we check to see how well they saved that money or what new toys they bought. We also encourage them to get a credit check to see what happened during the deployment. We have had several of our Soldiers who were compromised by a credit card scheme while deployed, so we encourage them to do a credit check upon return.”

In addition, Williams said they redo the resiliency training spouses got before the deployment and check to see how they held up during the deployment.

“We are basically all just talking and networking,” she said. “They get to share their stories and experiences or say ‘it’s normal for you to feel that way.’ For some of the spouses it’s their first time. Some have been through it five or more times.”

Williams said they allow the spouses to get to know each other and mentor each other about what they went through and changes they might expect from their service member.

Hargis said the MFRC also brings in representatives from Veterans Affairs to talk about post-traumatic stress syndrome.

“Soldiers also do reintegration prior to coming back,” said Hargis. “When they get back here, they finish up the reintegration process to make sure issues that could have happened while deployed: depression, anxiety, and other symptoms are addressed. We all change daily, but when you are gone that long and in that type of environment, then you can totally come back a different individual.”

Kecker agreed.

“It is necessary because of the mission we do,” he said. “Things that happened in Vietnam, or Desert Storm and Desert Shield, didn’t get identified until later. We are seeing the effects in our generation of war, so the military is identifying that and taking care of each other because we are a family. We don’t want people getting off the plane and we just say ‘thanks for what you did; now get back to work’. We should take care of them before they leave, during deployment and when they get back.”

The team at the MFRC feels the possibility of change is exactly why reintegration is a necessary part of the re-deploying process.

“When you deploy, you think nothing changes at home,” said Kecker. “You are there to do the mission. When you come back you want to step off that plane and into your role again. But it doesn’t work that way. Reintegration is very important because we need to let them know it is not going to be the same way it was before. The routine may have changed.”

It’s not always just the major house-running routines and roles that may change, Williams said. A returning service member may have to adjust the relationship with a child.

“When my husband got deployed, my daughter was 12,” said Williams. “When he came back, she was almost 14. It was a huge transition for my husband and my daughter. Luckily we had gone to reintegration classes, and she had friends that she met there, approximately the same age. That made a big difference.”

Williams said the spouse definitely had to adjust to coming home to a teenager.

Hargis said in addition to recognizing the fact that adjustments are made by all during a deployment, it’s hard to understate the need for the family to be involved in the process before and after the deployment.

“The Soldier or Airman will be in the deployment-redeployment process regardless, because service members are going to be told to be there,” he said. “But the family members are the ones we really need to capture so they feel more like ‘this is why I am here … I want to support my spouse … I want to support my nation…I want to support the military.’”

Educating the spouse on deployment and services available is a major factor in taking care of those left to carry on the mission at home, said Kecker.

“If the spouses are happy then the member can concentrate on the mission,” said Kecker. “They don’t have to worry about what is going on at home. We are identifying areas where we can take care of each other because we are a family.”