Duke Field war returnees enjoy newly enhanced homecoming event

  • Published
  • By Dan Neely
  • 919th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. --  Thirty of Duke Field's recent war returnees and their family members saw firsthand here Saturday and Sunday how much the U.S. military has improved the way it cares for its own.

Under the Department of Defense's new Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, the 919th Special Operations Wing reservists and their families were among the servicemembers invited to spend a weekend at a beachfront hotel while soaking up a wealth of post-deployment information and resources that were provided to help ease their transition back to "normal" life.

Under the event's theme "Getting Back in the Groove," attendees received more than a dozen comprehensive briefings covering a wide array of support programs - financial management, psychological health, legal services, education, veterans' benefits, stress and anger management, marriage counseling, Airmen and family readiness, spiritual maintenance and others. After briefing sessions, they enjoyed an occasional opportunity to take a dip in the pool or the nearby Gulf of Mexico waters.

Leah Randall, spouse of Staff Sgt. Eric Randall, 919th SOW chapel assistant, said she most enjoyed "information on the benefits and financial (information), and the babysitters taking such good care of the kids for us. I learned things for a friend who has a deployed husband, and for my dad who's a vet."

Ms. Randall added, "It was a nice, relaxing time together. We had a good time bonding and playing as a family."

For Master Sgt. Karen Combs, 919th SOW Equal Opportunity superintendent, "the speakers for VA benefits were extremely informative, because I did not know this information as a reservist." Asked if she would be eager to attend the 60-day milestone event, she responded, "Yes, because reintegration - getting back into the swing of things - takes six months, according to the literature I read."

Under a congressional directive included in the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act, Reserve and National Guard units must provide their members and families with enhanced deployment support and reintegration programs. The YRRP was created to ease the stresses of military service, especially focused on deployments and long separations that go hand-in-hand with such worldwide commitments.

Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command's Office of Deployment Cycle Support manages the program for Air Force reservists, while Yellow Ribbon DCS officials at individual wings execute their own programs at the local level.

The YRRP mandates that deployment support and reintegration programs be provided in all three phases of the overall deployment cycle: pre-deployment, deployment and post deployment.

During pre-deployment, support activities focus on providing education about benefits and ensuring the readiness of members, their unit, their families, employers and affected community entities for the rigors of combat deployment and family separation. The deployment phase continues to focus on the challenges of the separation period and ensures family members are aware of their entitlements throughout the experience.

The busiest YRRP phase occurs during post-deployment events programmed to occur at the 30-, 60- and 90-day milestones after Airmen have returned home. At each milestone, they and their families are placed on travel orders, which typically cover lodging, meals, transportation and other official business costs.

While the first event took place at Pensacola Beach's more upscale Hilton Hotel, the hotelier, in a gesture of support for the military, greatly reduced its peak season rates to meet the government's much lower, locally adjusted per diem rate cap, according to Master Sgt. Michael Morgan, who heads the 919th SOW's Yellow Ribbon program and emceed the first event.

Colonel Jon Weeks, 919th SOW commander, officially kicked off his unit's first event with opening comments that included special praise and a round of applause for the spouses of his returning warfighters.

"This is a great day for the 919th with our first Yellow Ribbon event," he remarked. "I know our servicemembers are overseas doing their work in the (area of responsibility), but this YRRP is really a long-overdue opportunity to say thank you for allowing us to borrow your husbands or wives to continue doing what we're doing in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else for the overseas contingency operations."

Capping off his comments, Colonel Weeks added, "I wanted to thank everyone here, help our families reconnect and let you know what type of benefits are available to help you."

Two more similar events are slated for July 18-19 and September 19-20 in the Pensacola area. A combined event for Duke Field reservists, along with Tyndall, Patrick and Homestead Air Force Bases, is scheduled for Aug. 15-16 at Walt Disney World in Orlando.