It seems like an eternity ago that I was proposing this idea to my publisher Ted Savas of Savas Beatie LLC. Fortunately for the military community, he saw the need for this type of book to be available for family members of deployed personnel.
The idea for Surviving Military Separation came to me after a week of counseling family members of 1st Armored Division stationed at Wiesbaden, Germany. Their service members had just been deployed to Iraq and were scheduled to be away for 365 days or “until mission is complete”. Our offices were flooded with family member dependents looking for something to help them pass the time. And although the military community is family friendly and has professional organizations setting up activities for just this reason, I noticed that no one was breaking the activities down in a structured and manageable time period. Some spouses needed a day-by-day calendar of scheduled events that they could choose from to get through the deployment.
When the idea for Surviving Military Separation struck me, I immediately went to the local bookstore and visited online vendors looking for a similar book. I found none. There is nothing on the current book market that helps the family member of a deployed military personnel by saying, “today is a new day and here is what you are going to do”.
The glorious thing about Surviving Military Separation is that it is an activity guidebook created especially for family members of deployed personnel. The book has 365 days of activities for the family member to attempt. The activities are laid out seven at a time for 52 week sections. The book’s setup allows the reader the ability to break down the deployment into weeks instead of months which gives the family member a chance to take the deployment one step at a time.
I truly believe that this book will help our family members cope with a deployment… any deployment. Whether it is a deployment to support our Global War on Terrorism, a TDY, a trip to a Professional Development school, a new service member leaving for Basic Training or Boot camp, a few months out to sea for our Navy or Coast Guard, or a local training exercise that will take the service member away from the home, Surviving Military Separation will help the time fly until the family can be reunited.
With the wonderful help of Sarah Keeney, Savas Beatie Marketing Director, and that of artist Val Laolagi, who created a fantastic mascot named Serviceman Sam (visit Sam’s page) for our book, this book has become a reality that everyone in the military community can use.
I would ask everyone that has a family member that must endure the hardships of a deployment, to pass along our website for their view. Together, we can combat the potential idleness of a Military Separation.
Warmest regards,
Marc
Showing posts with label spouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spouse. Show all posts
Sunday, May 4, 2008
5 Tips for Surviving Military Separation
I have had the opportunity to speak with and counsel thousands of servicemembers and their families, contractors, and hundreds of Department of Defense civilians about military deployments and separation. Many of these individuals were not prepared for the issues surrounding being separated from their loved ones. Deployments can unfortunately bring on the possibility of combating depression and loneliness. Although not everyone copes the same way, I believe there are hundreds of activities that can help a person thrive during a separation. Therefore, I bring you a sample of these activities as 5 tips everyone should know before a Military Separation.
5. Stay in contact:No matter where you are stationed; close to home or far, far away… staying connected with family and friends can be the difference between surviving a deployment and thriving during a deployment. Set-up an email account and commit to writing one family member or friend a day. Even if you have no news to speak of, writing a letter or email can help you stay focused and may act as a form of journal. Your friends will most likely return the favor and write you back. You can use this as a form of pen pal writing. This will help you stay in the loop with issues and event happenings back home and in touch with people that care about you.
4. Use your Local Family Readiness Groups:Realistically, you may not like everyone in your community or even be able to stomach them all. Not all the spouses in your local Family Readiness Group will even be nice to you or support you in a way that you need. This is one major complaint about local FRG’s; pettiness and gossip. However, the good far outweigh the bad. There are so many spouses that will reach out and assist you in your time of need. Remember, you also have a shoulder to offer for another spouse that is going through a rough patch during a deployment. Use this resource. You will not regret your choice to reach out. You may even make new life-time friends.
3. Take a Class:Visit your local Education center, Community Services, Morale Welfare Recreation center, or athletic gymnasium. Whether you want to learn about ancient Rome, take an aerobics class, learn CPR, or how to update your resume, getting your body and mind in shape will help pass the time while your loved one is deployed. Remember, this will give you a chance to broaden your horizon as well as focusing on something other than your servicemember.
2. Support Your Troops:It’s the small things that we do that sends the loudest messages to the rest of the world. We all have a need to display symbols of what our military community means to us. It gives us a great sense of pride to be able to demonstrate our love for our troops. Examples may be: Wearing a red outfit shows your neighborhood that you support your troops overseas. Tell everyone why you chose to wear red. Spread the word that our troops are deployed around the world. Also, tie yellow ribbons around the trees in your area. Show the world you support your servicemember. Canvas the whole neighborhood. Enlist the help of your friends.
1. Send Care Packages:Boost your servicemember’s morale with a care package. Cookies, chips, stationery, and magazines brighten up long deployment hours. Go to your local post office to find a list of what you can and can’t send. Your servicemember will appreciate it. There’s nothing like receiving mail during deployment.
Warmest regards,
Marc basic training, book, deployment, family member, military
5. Stay in contact:No matter where you are stationed; close to home or far, far away… staying connected with family and friends can be the difference between surviving a deployment and thriving during a deployment. Set-up an email account and commit to writing one family member or friend a day. Even if you have no news to speak of, writing a letter or email can help you stay focused and may act as a form of journal. Your friends will most likely return the favor and write you back. You can use this as a form of pen pal writing. This will help you stay in the loop with issues and event happenings back home and in touch with people that care about you.
4. Use your Local Family Readiness Groups:Realistically, you may not like everyone in your community or even be able to stomach them all. Not all the spouses in your local Family Readiness Group will even be nice to you or support you in a way that you need. This is one major complaint about local FRG’s; pettiness and gossip. However, the good far outweigh the bad. There are so many spouses that will reach out and assist you in your time of need. Remember, you also have a shoulder to offer for another spouse that is going through a rough patch during a deployment. Use this resource. You will not regret your choice to reach out. You may even make new life-time friends.
3. Take a Class:Visit your local Education center, Community Services, Morale Welfare Recreation center, or athletic gymnasium. Whether you want to learn about ancient Rome, take an aerobics class, learn CPR, or how to update your resume, getting your body and mind in shape will help pass the time while your loved one is deployed. Remember, this will give you a chance to broaden your horizon as well as focusing on something other than your servicemember.
2. Support Your Troops:It’s the small things that we do that sends the loudest messages to the rest of the world. We all have a need to display symbols of what our military community means to us. It gives us a great sense of pride to be able to demonstrate our love for our troops. Examples may be: Wearing a red outfit shows your neighborhood that you support your troops overseas. Tell everyone why you chose to wear red. Spread the word that our troops are deployed around the world. Also, tie yellow ribbons around the trees in your area. Show the world you support your servicemember. Canvas the whole neighborhood. Enlist the help of your friends.
1. Send Care Packages:Boost your servicemember’s morale with a care package. Cookies, chips, stationery, and magazines brighten up long deployment hours. Go to your local post office to find a list of what you can and can’t send. Your servicemember will appreciate it. There’s nothing like receiving mail during deployment.
Warmest regards,
Marc basic training, book, deployment, family member, military
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The Children are our Future!
As a former Army Airborne Ranger and a current Department of Defense employee, I will be the first to say that I don’t know the answer.
Should we stay or should we go??
As spouses, brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws, we hate to see our service members deploy into harm’s way.
What good could come out of all of this? We want our family at home to watch our kid’s recitals, baseball games, and to share in all the excitement of a graduation or the birth of a new family member.
We get tired of seeing the newspapers and television reporters say the same monotonous things over and over. “We are helping build a new life for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq”.
These children we see on the news haven’t done anything wrong. They have been born into circumstances that are beyond their control. I imagine that the children of Iraq would love Disneyland, watching Hannah Montana, or just eating cereal in front of the television on Saturday morning while they take in cartoons.
Our children have opportunities because our service members protect our way of life, because they help bring stability to other regions. Our children can become who they want because our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coasties do what they do. They bring stability to a world that needs it.
The best thing that we can do is focus on what we can control; stability in our own homes. We need to stay active, we need to have a schedule, we need to believe!
Believe in what our service members are doing overseas. Believe in their training. Believe in their brothers and sisters that are standing on the right and left of them when they dig in on the front lines.
Best regards,
Marc CB Maxwell
Should we stay or should we go??
As spouses, brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws, we hate to see our service members deploy into harm’s way.
What good could come out of all of this? We want our family at home to watch our kid’s recitals, baseball games, and to share in all the excitement of a graduation or the birth of a new family member.
We get tired of seeing the newspapers and television reporters say the same monotonous things over and over. “We are helping build a new life for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq”.
These children we see on the news haven’t done anything wrong. They have been born into circumstances that are beyond their control. I imagine that the children of Iraq would love Disneyland, watching Hannah Montana, or just eating cereal in front of the television on Saturday morning while they take in cartoons.
Our children have opportunities because our service members protect our way of life, because they help bring stability to other regions. Our children can become who they want because our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coasties do what they do. They bring stability to a world that needs it.
The best thing that we can do is focus on what we can control; stability in our own homes. We need to stay active, we need to have a schedule, we need to believe!
Believe in what our service members are doing overseas. Believe in their training. Believe in their brothers and sisters that are standing on the right and left of them when they dig in on the front lines.
Best regards,
Marc CB Maxwell
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