Wednesday, June 8, 2011

I Need Your Help...

Calling all Reserve family members!!  I need your input and your opinion. Please comment below with your thoughts on the challenges unique to being the family member of a Reservist. 

I believe that we are disconnected from each other. That we don't have the same community or access to resources Active Duty families do. I believe that there is a bias from Active Duty families and soldiers toward us and our soldiers. But because of this disconnect, I can't truly speak for anyone else.

In order to better meet the needs of the Reserve community, in order to make posts more on topic, in order to report back to the military family organization at which I work, I need your help.

This is completely open, just comment below. A few ideas/questions to start your thought process:
  • What resources are you missing? Do you wish you had?
  • How well does your FRG serve you?
  • Have you experienced an open bias from Active Duty spouses/soldiers?
  • What challenges do you face that you believe are unique to the Reserve community?
  • What could the Army do to help you?
  • What could a non-profit do to help you?
  • Do you feel that you have the resources to help your children during deployment?
  • What challenges do you face during reintegration that you think are unique?
  • Would you go on post (onto an Army base) to get help?
  • Do you feel comfortable going on post?
The list goes on and on. These are just ideas. Please, please give me your feedback, your honest and open opinion.  I will not personally respond to comments at this time. I WILL delete any comments that I feel are attacking other people who have commented. You may discuss, but I want an open sharing of opinions. No right or wrong here, just your experiences and feelings.  And,  thank you!

1 comment:

  1. - What FRG? With the 2 units I've been exposed to during my relationship with my husband we have not had an official FRG. I ran a quasi-FRG during his last deployment but we were far from legit. Even now, the husband is at the battalion level and the FRG is non-existent.
    -I've definitely heard they "Oh he's just a Reservist" talk from AD wives (see my blog comments for some choice examples); my husband has also openly rcvd comments from AD soldiers
    -I think the biggest obstacle facing Reservist families in the lack of cohesiveness from fellow Reservist families, especially at the unit level. We really need to learn to come together and make the military more of a priority in our lives, not just a one weekend a month obligation.
    -The Army needs to follow up on post deployment support; apparently every returning soldier is suppose to attend Yellow Ribbon retreats; husband has been home for 1 year + and we still haven't been provided the information, even when requested.

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