Caroline Scott welcomes home husband, Sgt. Jerry Scott, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, Aug. 20, 2012, at Pope Army Airfield’s Green Ramp, Fort Bragg, N.C. Sgt. Scott’s unit is returning from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod
Spc. Daniel Morrison of the 1204th Aviation Support Battalion greets his family during the unit’s welcome home ceremony at the Florence Freedom Baseball Stadium in Florence, Ky., Aug. 18, 2012. The Florence, Ky., native, and his fellow soldiers of the 1204th deployed last August to the Persian Gulf region in support of Operation New Dawn.
Photo by Sgt. Scott Raymond
Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class Eric Brown greets his mother during the homecoming event for the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Abraham Lincoln deployed as part of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9 to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th, 6th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua T. Rodriguez / Released
By Paul Ross (pictured above, right)
U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Public Affairs
Editor, Navy Medicine Magazine
When my kid brother left for Iraq he was just that — a kid.
He returned home shattered inside. The “dark pit,” as he calls it, was hidden underneath his gruff, infantry-tattooed exterior. No one in our family could have predicted what he would experience or the after-effects that continue to haunt him today.
Many Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Airmen return from deployments with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a family member of a person suffering from PTSD, we must be strong for them in a variety of ways to help them combat the disorder.
I received an up-close and personal look at how it can affect a person, when my younger brother came to live with me after separating from the U.S. Army.
By Barbara Thompson
Director, Office of Family Policy/Children and Youth, Office of the Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy)
Our military children are strong and resilient. From a very young age, they face challenges many other children do not, including frequent moves, school transitions, and tough goodbyes. Through all of this, they demonstrate maturity and wisdom—helping out at home during deployments, doing well in school, and much more. However, the military lifestyle can take its toll on our children’s health and well-being and it’s important that we provide families with the right resources to support their children through difficult times.
Positive mental health is essential to a child’s development and on May 9th, we draw attention to this important issue by recognizing Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) “Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health” initiative, which seeks to increase awareness about the importance of children’s mental health and to stimulate support services. This year, the focus will be on the impact of trauma on children and youth and how we can help our children build resilience to it.
Sesame Workshop’s resources and outreach have done more to help families cope with repeated deployments during a decade of war than anything the military could have done alone, the military’s top officer said here today.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sesame’s “Talk, Listen, Connect: Deployments, Homecomings, Changes” campaign — a kit of DVDs and booklets designed to get families to discuss the unique challenges of military service with young children — sends “a powerful signal and produces a better outcome” than the Defense Department or military services could do on their own.
Dempsey made the comments as part of a Sesame Workshop panel discussion with other military and veteran advocates. ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, who suffered a traumatic brain injury while reporting on the war in Iraq, and his wife, Lee, also an author and journalist, hosted the event at the National Press Club.
“I bet you’ll pay more attention to what Rosita says than what any four-star general says,” Dempsey said, as the green furry monster puppet made an appearance at the lectern next to him.
Click here to read more about the DoD’s partnership with Sesame Workshop.
The hardest farewell: a little boy wipes away tears as he says goodbye to his daddy. His father is getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan.
South Carolina Air National Guardsmen and active duty personnel from the 169th Fighter Wing at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., April 8th, 2012. Personnel are departing from McEntire for an Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. More than a dozen South Carolina Air National Guard F-16 fighter jets and nearly 500 personnel (pilots, maintenance specialists and support staff) will deploy for about four months.
(South Carolina Air National Guard Photo by Staff Sgt. Jorge Intriago, 169th FW Public Affairs)
Tara Fuller kisses her husband, Capt. Charles Fuller, during a homecoming event April 4, 2012, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Eleven F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots from the 421st Fighter Squadron returned to the base after a six month deployment to Kunsan Air Base, South Korea.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Julianne Showalter)
April is the Month of the Military Child. Check out the news feature on Defense.gov to learn more about how the DoD shows its appreciation to military kids.
Maintaining a career and or even just finding meaningful employment when you’re a military spouse is not easy, especially if you’re moving every two, three, or four years. The eMentor program creates a virtual job search network for military spouses faced with moving every few years. Check out this video for more info about the program.
