Taking care of families
Sunday, March 4, 2007 12:08 AM PST
Kristin Gribben Argus Observer
ONTARIO
A local group of National Guard families rely on community support and volunteers drawn from across a large geographic area of Eastern Oregon and Idaho to provide a service that is becoming a high-demand resource.
The program — dubbed the National Guard Family Support Group — in many ways stands apart from other support groups scattered across the nation.
Volunteers for the support group stretch from Boise to Baker City to Cambridge Idaho and everywhere in between.
The support service has also been recognized for the large amount of community support it has garnered.
The Family Support Program began as an initiative from the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C., and is designed to help Guard families with such items as legal advice and emotional support, especially when a citizen-soldier unit is tagged for mobilization and deployment.
The National Guard Bureau requires every Guard unit to have at least one volunteer family support coordinator.
Locally, the Family Support Program has gained added relevance and expanded its role as Eastern Oregon’s Guard unit, the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry (Armor) prepares for mobilization.
Jeannette Mayer, New Plymouth, is the wife of a Guardsman placed on alert with the 3rd Battalion. Mayer is also a volunteer with the local Family Support Group. Mayer said the group could be supporting around 55 local families if the 3rd Battalion is mobilized. The local commander of Ontario’s Guard unit — Alpha Company, 3-116th — Capt. Dominic Kotz said family support groups play a crucial role during peacetime and when citizen-soldier outfits are slated for a deployment. Kotz, La Grande, said he has seen support groups — like the one in Ontario — that are very involved and work effectively, while other support groups exist as a “name on a paper” and nothing else.
Kotz said National Guardsmen draw support from their family and employers. Without the Family Support Group, retention and recruitment rates may not be as high, he said. Besides legal advice and emotional support, Ontario’s Family Support Group provides services like child care, food baskets during Thanksgiving, presents at Christmas, answers to questions about switching to the military’s insurance and benefits packages, as well as routine outings such as picnics. The cost of these services come from funds generated solely by the group.
Vickie Sissel, Ontario, is also a Family Support Group volunteer and wife of Alpha Company’s top sergeant, 1st. Sgt. Les Sissel. With a 18-month-long mobilization looming just over the horizon for Alpha Company, Vickie Sissel said the support group is busy raising funds to support its mission once the final activation order is released.
The government provides no money for the mandated program — and only pays travel expenses for the volunteers to receive on-going training in Portland and Pendleton.
Mayer and Vickie Sissel said they joined the support group as a way to keep them busy while their husbands are gone.
The Ontario support unit has nine volunteers that have signed a contract with Kotz.
The contract outlines their commitment to the program.
Mayer said she thinks the support group plays an important role in the community. The impact of the mobilization will primarily affect families, but also employers and friends in the area.
Snake River Correctional Institute anticipates losing 19 employees as a result of the Guard’s deployment. Other local employers may not lose as many as 19 employees, but the impact felt in the company is commensurate with the size of the staff. Les Sissel said he knows of some businesses that have two employees with one leaving for Iraq. If the job requires highly skilled employees, the position may not be easily replaced — especially in a rural community.
By federal law, employers must hold the positions of National Guardsmen while they are deployed. Recruiting temporary employees can be a difficult task for employers.
Les Sissel helps wives and husbands financially prepare for their spouse to leave.
He said about 25 percent of the families he deals with will suffer a significant reduction in income while the spouse is deployed and receiving military pay. He said he knows of some families that will lose $1,000 a month for the 18 months the spouse is deployed.
Sissel said he has noticed more employer support for employees that expect pay cuts when they are deployed.
Mayer said if one good thing can come from the guard unit’s deployment it is a more unified community.
“It’s a comfort having the community come closer together,” she said.
