August 04, 2010
So says Mr. Alex Baird, Chief of Family Programs, National Guard Bureau. In a roundtable with military bloggers on Tuesday, Mr. Baird emphasized the many resources available to National Guard families and the continuing effort to provide resources for children of Guard members, in particular.
Mr. Baird discussed the focus in the past has gone from supporting guard members and then evolved to supporting their spouses. Now, he feels finding ways to support the children of National Guard members, who often have to deal with multiple deployments, is at the forefront in importance. “What we do for kids is the wave of the future in coping with deployments,” he said.
Because National Guard families are spread out across the country and not always near large installations, family members and spouses can often feel alone or unsupported. Mr. Baird said the National Guard Bureau website,
www.jointservicesupport.org is a “one stop shop” providing resources within any given state.
And that doesn’t just mean husbands or wives. The resources they provide are for extended family members as well, “For our single guard members, parents really provide the support. We need to stay as connected to them as we do the spouses,” he commented.
Mr. Baird also addressed on the “Yes/No checkbox” issue. Recently Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated they would be eliminating the option of checking yes or no to the pre-deployment question of whether or not family members should receive information about their deployed service member.
Mr. Baird indicated that too often the military member was simply checking “no” by default. Going forward the default will be to contact family members and provide information or updates about their deployed spouses through the chain of command while allowing special requests for those cases in which a deployed member does not want their family contacted.
For more information about support for National Guard families go to
www.ng.mil.