Support Program Prepares Members of N.H. National Guard and Families
Mental Health
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Dec. 5, 2009
WASHINGTON – Patrick Sadlemire and Kaileigh Hubbard, who have been dating for two years, have always had communication problems. Little things like calling the landlord to fix a faucet or deciding what they would have for dinner were hard for them to work out, Hubbard said.
“After weeks of bottling my emotions up, something as simple as a bottle cap on the floor would make me verbally throw everything at him but the kitchen sink,” Hubbard, a Concord pre-school teacher, said. “He would become more defensive about all the issues I was bringing up to him at once and would say just about anything to me to make me stop. It was becoming very scary.”
In addition to difficulty communicating, Sadlemire said, he has anger issues and they have financial problems.
Sadlemire, 24, a produce associate at Hannaford Supermarkets in Concord, joined the New Hampshire National Guard four years ago and is among the 140 members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment who are preparing for deployment to Afghanistan early next year.
As a member of the New Hampshire National Guard, Sadlemire was able to get help in working out solutions to the problems the couple was facing. In July Peter Collins was assigned to them as a “care coordinator” by the Full Cycle Deployment Program, a New Hampshire National Guard program that could be copied by other National Guard units across the country.
Started two and half years ago, the program adds pre-deployment planning to the nationwide Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, which provides National Guard and Reserve members and their families with information, services and referrals during and after deployment, according to Col. Rick Greenwood, director of manpower and personnel for the New Hampshire National Guard.
When a service member signs up with the Full Cycle Deployment Program, the member and his or her family are assigned a care coordinator, who develops a lasting relationship with the member and the family, Greenwood said.
A care coordinator, who must have a minimum of a master’s degree in social work or a related field, acts as a case manager who helps service members and their families to figure out what needs and problems might lie ahead and to assess situations across a spectrum of domains. The care coordinator then either offers guidance directly or coordinates with service providers in the civilian community who can present the families with the help they need.
“We provide the individual care and attention to our service members and their families prior to the deployment,” Greenwood said. “The pre-deployment planning is the biggest difference that New Hampshire is doing now.”
The most common problems service members and their families have encountered involve financial, emotional and legal issues, according to Collins, a licensed social worker for 25 years. He’s also helped people deal with relationship issues and the preparation for and anticipation of what children’s reactions might be.
“In pre-deployment planning, we put together a fairly detailed plan that takes the knowledge that we have about service members and families, and some of the problems they’ve experienced in deployment and in reintegration, and we kind of take that step forward, and that can minimize or take away problems from developing later on,” Collins said.
“A lot of the problems that service members face could be mitigated or lessened if intervention was provided before they deploy, if they could anticipate what might come up, and start to put preventive and proactive supports in place,” said Daisy Wojewoda, project director of veterans’ services at Easter Seals New Hampshire, the nonprofit that contracted with the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and the New Hampshire Guard to provide care coordinators.
Approximately 1,400 of the Guard are going to deploy in the next 18 months, according to Greenwood. What differentiates them from regular active-duty Army is that they live a civilian life rather than on a military base and that they and their families don’t get the service and support a military base would provide.
The New Hampshire model was recognized by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who included the Yellow Ribbon Plus amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama at the end of October.
“New Hampshire is leading the nation in developing programs to assist our National Guard, reservists and their families before, during and after deployment,” Shaheen said in a statement. Providing personalized assistance is one of the greatest ways to honor the sacrifice and dedication of the members of the military, she said.
From Sept. 11, 2001 to Sept. 30, 2009, according to the Department of Defense, about 1.4 million regular active-duty personnel of all branches were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about 570,000 National Guard and Reserve troops were mobilized, of which about 28 percent were deployed two or more times. Of the total number of National Guard and Reserve troops, 2,900 list New Hampshire as home.
The Yellow Ribbon Plus amendment seeks to evaluate and improve the nationwide Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, calling on the Pentagon to identify lessons learned from programs that have expanded beyond Yellow Ribbon, including New Hampshire’s Full Cycle Deployment Program.
It’s not certain that the new Yellow Ribbon Program will have the personalized service that the New Hampshire National Guard provides, according to Lt. Col. Les’ Melnyk, a Pentagon spokesman. It will require extensive collaboration among Department of Defense agencies and each state’s National Guard, he said.
“It’s one thing to be able to handle problems as they develop, it’s another to prevent problems from developing,” Collins said. “And if that can happen across the country, that would be a wonderful thing.”
After about five months of weekly meetings with Collins, Sadlemire and Hubbard are more stable financially, and they have been able not to let their fights escalate to the point where they’re yelling, Sadlemire said.
“I have been able to remain calm during tense conversations or situations,” he said.
Hubbard said that Collins has changed their life. “He came into the relationship at our lowest point, picked us up off of the ground, sat us on our butt and said let’s fix this thing,” she said.
Sadlemire left Dec. 8 for six to eight weeks of training in Indiana before going to Afghanistan.
Although still terrified, Hubbard said, she tries to stay positive about Sadlemire’s deployment.
“Like so many other significant others and soldiers, I am ready for it to begin,” she said. “I am thankful that, through my work with Peter, I am more equipped to handle the stresses of deployment.”
“This program offers sanity and stability – two things that go out the window when your soldier leaves,” she added. “To have someone who understands the process is invaluable.”
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