Military families are breaking under the burden of the war at home. After nine years of war on two fronts, Oregon’s military families with a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan in the household have experienced significant increases – up to 50 percent – in divorce, mental health issues, veteran interpersonal violence and spousal abuse, and post-deployment joblessness of the primary provider. Oregon’s military families are the invisible ranks, struggling, suffering, serving in silence and social isolation. Military families need a seat at the table in Salem and a vehicle that leverages their expertise to identify and develop policies to ease their burdens, which are categorically different from the challenges facing our troops and veterans. Oregon should establish a Military Family Advisory Council.

At the recent hearing before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I made the case for creating such an advisory council, but it was the testimony of Sabena Moriarty, U.S. Marine Corps veteran, National Guard spouse and mother of eight, who told the real story:

“I wish I could sit here before you today, and tell you that having been in my husband’s shoes as a deployed service member, a deployed Marine, made my personal experience with Stephan’s first deployment easier in some way … but I can’t. Being the family member of a deployed service member is far, far more difficult than being the one deployed. …

“I was left to navigate this past deployment without a solid network of friends, no family in the area and minimal support from ever-changing Family Readiness Group representatives, who more often than not came into their positions untrained and unsupported by their own infrastructure.

“My experience here at home was a mixed bag of daily frustrations, utter exhaustion, loneliness, fear, anger, stress and confusion bordering on insanity. … I survived a high-risk pregnancy with gestational diabetes, an unexpected financial crisis that nearly [made] us homeless during the holidays [while my soldier husband was in Iraq].”

Sabena paused, struggling for composure, and then continued as tears rolled down her face:

“[A]s much as I had anticipated it, planned for it, sought out professional help for it and spent many, many sleepless nights trying to fix it, I saw each and every one of my children have extreme behavioral changes related directly to the deployment of their father, ranging from just plain acting badly and acting out, to two suicide scares by one of my children. I can honestly say, without doubt, that this was the most difficult year of my life.”

As the spouse of a National Guard two-time Iraq war veteran who is currently attached to an active-duty battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, I can honestly say that this has been the most difficult decade of my life. When we are a nation at war, I understand that there will be sacrifice. But when that sacrifice is being made exclusively and repeatedly by less than 1 percent of the population, perhaps it’s more accurate to say that we are a military at war.

The military family is the first line of support for our troops, and the primary unpaid caregivers of our veterans. Mission readiness, morale, military recruitment and retention, and veteran reintegration are all directly affected by the military family. Oregon has a proud history of supporting our troops and our veterans. After nine years of war, it’s time to stand up for military families, too.

A fully funded program for spouse tuition assistance, tuition vouchers for military children, subsidized child care for families waiting for military child care and minimum standards for special needs programs are just a few of the recommendations on a military spouses’ wish list that emerged from a recent summit on Capitol Hill.

Some 63 spouses came from all over the country to attend the April 23 summit, at the invitation of members of Congress, in an effort to glean information about how to improve the lives of military families.

The event was hosted by the congressional Military Family Caucus. Since congressional caucuses have no taxpayer funding, the spouses paid their own expenses.

One member of Congress came to hear their issues: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., cochair of the caucus. No other lawmakers were there, she said, because votes originally scheduled for that Friday were canceled, so many members had already left town.

“It’s clear American military families have needs that are not being met. But with your contributions here today, we’re better identifying what those needs are,” and developing an action plan, Rodgers told the group. “All of you traveled here at your own expense, and I promise you your money will be well-spent.”

The spouses were chosen from about 500 applicants, said Aimee Henneke, who is military legislative assistant for Rodgers. In addition, senior officers’ spouses attended, including Deborah Mullen, wife of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They were interspersed among the groups, but spouses generally used only their first names.

Staff members are compiling the ideas and recommendations for members of the caucus.

Among the spouses’ recommendations:

Children’s education

• Create or expand charter schools and Defense Department schools on installations.
• Create tuition vouchers for military families.

Child care

• Ask defense officials to provide Congress with reports on child care, such as the number of child care centers, types of care available and the number of children on waiting lists.
• Provide taxpayer dollars to subsidize off-post child care for families on military child care waiting lists.
• Consider restructuring child care costs by geographic areas, much like housing allowance rates.

Deployment effects

• Standardize and mandate family readiness programs, with paid professionals.
• Mandate financial counseling for service members.

Health care

• Instead of three Tricare regional contractors, consider just one, so that when families transfer they don’t have to enroll in a new region.
• Provide more money for reimbursement of Tricare providers, to alleviate problems with physicians dropping Tricare.
• Convert to fully electronic records for continuity of care.

Special needs

• Mandate minimum standards for the service branches’ policies, programs and procedures for military families with special needs.
• Require health coverage of evidence-based behavioral health treatments for autism spectrum disorders.
• Require Medicaid portability, creating a federal exception for military families. The federal program is administered by the states, so families go from the bottom of one waiting list for Medicaid benefits to the bottom of another waiting list when they move from state to state.

Spouse education and employment

• Fully fund and staff the My Career Advancement Accounts tuition assistance program for all military spouses.
• Allow spouses access to online military education courses and training.
• Fast-track security clearances for spouses.

Mental health

• Create an awareness campaign about military mental health issues in the civilian as well as military communities to help alleviate the stigma.
• Remove mental health services from the umbrella of family readiness organizations.

Army wife Jennifer Taylor, from Fort Bragg, N.C., said, “It’s refreshing that what I see as problems, others see, too. Hopefully something will be done.”

Marine wife Laura Smith, from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., said she realizes some of the spouses’ hoped-for specifics won’t come to fruition for another five to 10 years. “But to be able to participate in this was very much worth it.”

Army wife Stacy Bannerman said she used up all her frequent flier miles flying from Oregon and spent an additional $600 to attend the summit.

“I’ll know if it’s worth my trip in six months,” she said. “That’s enough time for this caucus to begin to digest all of this, and take action.”

Medford, Oregon – Stacy Bannerman, founder and director of The Sanctuary for Veterans & Families, a 501c3 project, and author of the book, When the War Came Home, (Continuum Publishing, 2006) is speaking this Sunday, May 2nd, 2010  9:30-10:45 a.m., Room M-108, East Shore Unitarian Church, 12700 SE 32nd Street, Bellevue, WA.

Bannerman is just back from Washington, D.C., where she was one of 50 military spouses world-wide invited to the first-ever Military Spouse Summit, hosted by the Congressional Military Family Caucus.  Bannerman has provided testimony to nine different US Congressional Committees and state legislative committees.  She spearheaded the passage of the Oregon State Military Family Leave Act, and secured sponsorship of the federal Military Family Leave Act of 2009.  On May 26th, Stacy is delivering a proposal for what could be this nation’s first Military Family Advisory Council to the Oregon House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees.  After nearly nine years of war, America’s troops and their families have been stretched and stressed to the breaking point. Come hear Bannerman, a nationally-recognized expert on the human costs of war in military families and veterans, talk about the immense psychological toll of the wars, see a slideshow from past events for women veterans and military kids, learn how society’s apathy shapes the experience of today’s military families, and what more must be done to help our veterans and families who are struggling with the battles that begin when the war comes home.

Medford, Oregon – Stacy Bannerman, founder and director of The Sanctuary for Veterans & Families, a 501c3 project, and author of the book, When the War Came Home, is one of 50 military spouses world-wide who have been invited to participate in the nation’s first Military Spouse Summit.  Hosted by the Congressional Military Family Caucus, a 60-member assembly co-chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Wa., and Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr., D-Ga., the Caucus was created to look out for the interests of military families, including issues such as spouse employment and aid for families with special-needs children.  Bannerman is the wife of an Army National Guard soldier and two-time Iraq war veteran Iraq.  She will be joining Mrs. Sheila Casey, wife of General George Casey, Army Chief of Staff, and other military wives representing all branches of the Armed Services, to discuss the issues facing military families as the result of the ongoing wars, and strategies for improving programs, policies, and services supporting military families.  Bannerman spearheaded the successful passage of the Oregon State Military Family Leave Act, secured sponsorship of the federal Military Family Leave Act of 2009, and will be delivering a proposal to create the country’s first Military Family Advisory Council in Salem next month.  The Sanctuary for Veterans & Families recently held Camp Howdy for children of deployed National Guard soldiers, and is planning a Sanctuary Weekend for Women Veterans in July.

Medford, Oregon – As a way of supporting southern Oregon’s military kids, The Sanctuary for Veterans & Families, a 501.c.3 non profit project, and Freedom Horses, LLC, are teaming up to offer recreational weekends of fun in a safe, wholesome environment where youth day campers meet other military kids for friendship, adventure, and inspiration. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, inpatient and outpatient mental health visits among military children have increased 50 percent. Children of combat veterans have higher rates of social, emotional, and academic problems than civilian youth.  A recent study by Army War College researcher Leonard Wong on the effects of multiple deployments on military adolescents revealed that increased activity by children reduced the level of stress.  National Guard children struggle even more than military kids living on post, because they do not have the peer support or recreational/experiential activities available to active duty youth.  Based on Certified Horsemanship Association instruction, and using natural horsemanship skills, youth ages 8 to 18, beginner through intermediate, will love Camp Howdy for Military Kids. This fun day camp is located at the Flying L Ranch, 776 West Valley View, Ashland, Oregon.

Scholarships are available for children of deployed troops, and we are raising funds to offer this program at no cost to local military kids.  Munchies Restaurant and Bakery in Ashland is providing a free lunch for the moms while their children are at camp.  Call Stacy Bannerman at 253-217-2153 to register or make a tax-deductible donation.

A House subcommittee is considering legislation that would give two weeks of unpaid leave to the spouses, children and parents of any service member who is deployed or ordered to active duty in support of a contingency operation.

Sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the bill calls for a major expansion of Family and Medical Leave Act benefits that grant up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave for families of deployed or seriously injured service members.

Smith said the bill, HR 3247, gives time off to people not covered by the FMLA, which is limited to people who have worked for their current employer for 12 months or longer, worked more than 1,250 hours in the past year and whose employer has 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.

“As a significant number of military spouses work for small businesses, work part-time to balance work and family needs, or have less than one year with a company due to recent moves or reassignments, many are not eligible for protected leave under current law,” Smith said Thursday when his bill was being considered by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s economic opportunity panel.

Smith said the bill is modeled after Washington and Oregon state laws that took effect in June 2008.
Those testifying at the hearing had only praise for Smith’s bill, but that may be because only veterans service organizations and supporters of pending bills provided testimony. No one representing the businesses that would have to grant time off under Smith’s bill was on hand to offer their views.

Employer concerns

Although businesses are unlikely to openly oppose the idea of helping military families, congressional aides said one concern is that employers might become more reluctant to hire military family members and more likely to let them go if times are tough.

That kind of opposition would not prevent the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee from approving Smith’s bill, but it might prevent the House of Representatives from being able to pass the bill without lengthy debate, which usually does not happen on veterans bills.

Stacy Bannerman, the wife of an Army National Guard sergeant first class, said the bill “would offer protection so that we are able to spend much-needed time with our loved ones immediately prior to, during and after deployment, without fear of losing our jobs or being forced to choose between work and family.”

“When the soldier goes to war, so does the family,” Bannerman said. “When the veteran comes home, family support is the single most critical factor in successful reintegration.”

Tim Embree of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said the bill would allow an employer to provide paid or unpaid time off for the two weeks of military leave, and employers would be penalized for not granting the leave.

“This bill will give family members of service members on leave the opportunity to spend time with the service member instead of working during that limited time,” Embree said. “It will also provide a cushion for family members to handle all of the unexpected tasks, errands and responsibilities that surface during a deployment.”

Justin Brown, testifying on behalf of Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the bill also provides legal guarantees that a family member taking military leave will receive the same benefits, positions and seniority when they return. The bill, he said, “affords to service members and their families precious quality time, which is imperative to their well-being and morale.”

Medford resident Stacy Bannerman, who helped push a military family medical leave act through the state Legislature and prompted the introduction of a similar act in Congress, now has her sights set on creating a landmark military family advisory council in Oregon.

Bannerman, whose husband, Lorin, returned from his second tour of Iraq last year as a member of the Washington Army National Guard, was scheduled to make a proposal late this afternoon to the state Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in Salem to create what she believes may be the first state military family advisory council in the nation.

Made up of military family members, the council would advise the state on issues relating to Oregonians in the military, their families and veterans, she explained.

“With the protracted wars and multiple deployments, military families are struggling with finding day care, health care, dealing with relationship issues, domestic violence and deployment-related financial and mental health problems,” she said. “Military family members are the primary unpaid caretakers of veterans. When a veteran comes home with a physical or psychological injury, the whole family hurts, but help for the family member can be hard to find.

“The council would provide a voice for our military families to assist the state, including the Oregon military (National Guard) and Department of Veterans Affairs, in better serving us and our loved ones,” she added.

Although the council would be new, the idea is not new to Bannerman.

“This is something I have been championing for about three years now,” she said of creating such a council. “This is clearly necessary with the demographics we have today.”

Most people in the military serve multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, she said, adding that most also are married with children.

“These (wars) are not short-term,” she said. “We can no longer pretend that military family support, particularly for the Guard and reserves, is adequate. This war on terror is demanding we begin to acknowledge and formalize support and service for the military families. The council is about acknowledging that we’ve got experts on the ground.”

Military family members are experts by virtue of bearing the burdens of repeat deployments and caring for veterans, she said, noting the council would be modeled after state veterans’ boards.

Bannerman also is the founder of the Sanctuary for Veterans & Families, which provides sanctuary weekends for women veterans. In addition, the facility advocates on behalf of the women who serve at home and in harm’s way.

Bannerman lobbied the Oregon Legislature before its approval in 2009 of a military family leave act which provides up to two weeks of time off for employed military family members during the mobilization of a loved one. The leave, which is unpaid, enables family members to spend time with their loved one in uniform before or at the end of the deployment.

Her efforts also led to the Military Family Leave Act of 2009 being introduced in Congress by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden. Congress, however, did not act on the bill.

Medford, Oregon – On February 23rd, a proposal for what could be this nation’s first state Military Family Advisory Council (MFAC) will be delivered to the Oregon Senate Veterans Affairs Committee at a 3:30 pm hearing in the State Capitol.  Presented by Stacy Bannerman, wife of a two-time Iraq War veteran, the Oregon Military Family Advisory Council is modeled after state veterans’ boards and commissions.  Ms. Bannerman successfully spearheaded the passage of Oregon H.B. 2744, providing two weeks of time off for employed military family members during the mobilization of a loved one, and the introduction of the federal Military Family Leave Act of 2009.
Bannerman’s proposal to establish a state Military Family Advisory Council is believed to be the first time a state legislative body has been petitioned to empanel military family members in an advisory capacity.  According to Stacy Bannerman, “With the protracted wars and multiple deployments, military families are struggling with finding day care, health care, dealing with relationship issues, domestic violence, and deployment-related financial and mental health problems.  Military family members are the primary unpaid caretakers of veterans, and when a veteran comes home with a physical or psychological injury, the whole family hurts, but help for the family member can be hard to find.  The Military Family Advisory Council would provide a voice for our military families to assist the state, including the Oregon military and Department of Veterans Affairs, in better serving us and our loved ones. I salute the Oregon State Senate Veterans Affairs Committee for recognizing the sacrifices and service of Oregon’s military families.”

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Stacy Bannerman is the founder of The Sanctuary for Veterans & Families, which provides Sanctuary Weekends™ for Women Veterans, and advocates on behalf of the women who serve at home and in harm’s way, developing and promoting policies for military family support, and improved prevention, care, and treatment of the invisible wounds of war in our veterans and their families.  To arrange an interview with Stacy Bannerman, please contact her at 253-217-2153 or stacy@stacybannerman.com.

The Army has been closely tracking the uptick in mental health problems of soldiers, and is collaborating with the National Institute of Mental Health on “the largest study ever of suicide and mental health in the military.” (“Study to Seek Clues to Soldier Suicides.” The Washington Post, August 10, 2009) Military family members aren’t included in the study, which was announced in July, the same month that two spouses of multiply-deployed husbands were reported dead of suspected self-inflicted injuries.

One of the women was a pregnant 40-year-old Army wife in Fayetteville, North Carolina, who called 911 threatening to harm herself. When the police arrived, she was dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. A few weeks earlier, Army officials began investigating “the recent suspected suicide of a 172nd spouse in Schweinfurt, according to Lt. Col. Eric Stetson, 172nd Infantry Brigade rear detachment commander.” (“Some seek mental health checks for spouses of multiple-deployed soldiers.” Stars and Stripes, July 5, 2009) Almost three years ago, another Fort Bragg wife committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, locking herself and her young children in the family car parked in the garage with the engine running. “Her husband, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, had been deployed to Iraq just two months before, just after the birth of the couple’s daughter.” (“War’s Silent Stress: The Family at Home,” The Virginian Pilot, August 9, 2009)

In 2008, Cassy Walton, wife of Houston Army recruiter Nils Aron Andersson, an Iraq War veteran, killed herself a few days after her husband committed suicide.

During her husband’s most recent deployment, Carissa Picard, founder of Military Spouses for Change, wrote:

Here at Fort Hood, Texas … they cannot give me figures on spouse suicides but they … see so many attempted suicides in the Emergency Room that the medical staff have become quite adept at handling them. My theory is that these spouses may have reached the point of needing emergency mental health care and this is the only way to receive it.

Another Army wife said that she was hospitalized upon learning of her husband’s second deployment, due to concern that she might harm herself. Military spouse suicides typically aren’t made public, so the extent of the problem isn’t known. The Army doesn’t track suicides by military family members because most occur “off post or involve [family members of] reservists or guardsmen,” said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver. (Stars and Stripes, July 5, 2009)

There is some evidence indicating that spouses of citizen soldiers struggle more during deployments. Guard troops have served the longest tours in Iraq, and a study assessing the effect of deployment on military spouses revealed “Increased spousal distress and poorer coping … during deployment.” The research also found that “Longer deployment was associated with greater adverse outcomes.” (Centre for Military & Veterans’ Health, 2007) Geographic and social isolation is a major challenge for the Guard spouses who live hundreds of miles from the nearest post, armory or another military family member with a loved one at war.

Unable to attend the monthly volunteer-driven Family Readiness Groups, the only formal or informal support they receive over the course of a year-long deployment may be a single phone call from the Family Readiness Coordinator. So it’s not surprising that “68% of deployed reservists’ spouses reported increased stress [as] spouses of Guard or Reserve members may be less prepared than other active duty spouses to cope with [it].” (2008 Health Care Survey of DOD Beneficiaries)

Among active-duty spouses, a 2008 survey by the American Psychiatric Association found that 40 percent believed their mental health was hurt by their husband’s or wife’s service overseas. Approximately 25 percent reported regular problems with sleeplessness, anxiety and depression.

Earlier studies conducted on wives of deployed troops discovered a spectrum of symptoms and diagnoses, such as: depression, anxiety, insomnia, adjustment disorder, nervousness, headaches, dysphoria and changes in eating habits. (Frankel, Snowden, & Nelson, 1992; Milgram & Bar, 1993; Wood & Scarville, 1995; et. al.) “There’s a lot of research to show that partners and spouses and kids suffer from secondary PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder],” said Tom Berger, a senior analyst for veterans’ benefits and mental health issues for the Vietnam Vets of America.

Investigations into the mental health of wives of retired veterans found that spouses of combat veterans had high levels of distress, poorer physical and psychological health over a lifetime, and greater social isolation than partners of non-combat veterans. A study on caregiver burden among partners of vets with PTSD stated that nearly half of the wives “felt as if they were on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” (Beckham, Lytle, and Feldman, 1996) Research published in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease stated that:

Partners [of combat veterans] endorsed high levels of psychological distress with elevations on clinical scales at or exceeding the 90th percentile. Severe levels of overall psychological distress, depression and suicidal ideation were prevalent among partners…. These findings are compelling since they demonstrate that partners of veterans with combat-related PTSD experience significant levels of emotional distress that warrant clinical attention. (Manguno-Mire, Ph.D., Sautter, Ph.D. et. al., February, 2007)

A growing number of today’s military spouses are married to active-duty veterans, and it’s likely that the psychological distress experienced by wives of combat veterans is compounded by bearing the burden of war at home during multiple deployments, but there are painfully few resources focused on serving this population. Soldiers receive training and courses to prepare them for multiple deployments, but spouses do not. Even when clinical care is available, 66 percent of the military spouses surveyed “worried that looking for assistance for their own issues would harm their loved ones’ chances of promotion.” (American Psychiatric Association, 2008)

The stigma that prevents troops from seeking mental health help also affects military spouses, some of whom believe that a wife who asks for help is weak, and “not cut out to be an Army wife.” Hypervigilant of the fact that it’s their soldier, not themselves, repeatedly putting their boots on the ground and their lives on the line, spouses learn to “suck it up,” and suffer in silence.

In the past year, however, more military wives have begun speaking out, including Sheila Casey, wife of the Army’s top soldier, Gen. George Casey, Army chief of staff. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in June, Mrs. Casey remarked, “Army families are the most brittle part of the force … [They] are sacrificing too much, and we can no longer ask them to just make the best of it.“

By Paul Fattig
Mail Tribune
July 04, 2009 6:00 AM
MEDFORD — Applegate resident Stacy Bannerman, whose husband is serving in Iraq with the National Guard, has won a major battle in her effort to create an unpaid leave for military families.

Citing Bannerman for her unrelenting lobbying for the legislation, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced Friday he would introduce the Military Family Leave Act of 2009 next week, one of several bills he is sponsoring aimed at helping those in military uniform, their families and veterans.

The announcement came the same day as some 3,000 members of the Oregon Army National Guard, including about 150 from Jackson and Josephine counties, completed two months of advanced training at Fort Stewart, Ga. (See related story, Page 1A).

“They are making extraordinary contributions to their country,” Wyden told about two dozen Guard members, spouses and representatives of various veterans groups gathered at the Medford armory. “We are going to do everything we can to back them up with legislation, support and services.”

The Military Family Leave Act of 2009 would give spouses, children and parents of those being deployed up to two weeks of unpaid leave to spend with the soldier before or after the deployment.

Bannerman thanked Wyden and his staff for their work in creating the bill.

“When we are a nation at war and we have so few people sacrificing so much for so many for so long, we’ve absolutely got to support the families,” she said. “I heard story after story from family members and spouses who literally had to make the decision between work or their family when their soldier was going for his second or third tour.

“We wanted something like this that would be user friendly and would support the family.”

Bannerman’s husband, Lorin, is on his second deployment to Iraq with the Washington Army National Guard. When he returns home next month, it will be a year since the couple has been together.

A similar bill was approved by the Oregon Legislature earlier this year, and now awaits the governor’s signature.

Other related bills Wyden plans to introduce include:

The National Guard and Reserve Soft Landing Reintegration Act of 2009, which allows those in uniform returning from war to remain on active duty for up to 90 days, collect pay and access reintegration services. The “soft landing” will ease their readjustment into civilian life, Wyden said, noting they now have just a few days.

The Wounded Warrior Retention Act of 2009 will allow service members who wish to remain on active duty after suffering injuries during service-related duties to do so.

The Service Members Mental Health Care Commission Act of 2009 would form a commission to study and identify the most effective treatments to those experiencing problems as a result of their service.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009 would allow patients to compare the quality of health care provided by VA facilities.

“I think what he has in mind is fabulous,” said Central Point resident Amanda Matlock, whose husband, Pvt. Brandon Matlock, is deploying to Iraq with the local National Guard unit. “He (Wyden) seems to be right on his game.”

The young couple have two girls, ages 1 and 3.

“My only concern is that my husband is taken care of, along with me and my children when he gets home,” she said.

“These bills take care of several of the issues we are concerned about,” said Jan Schutz, wife of Col. Bill Schutz, director of personnel with the local guard unit. Schutz is not in the current deployment but has been deployed several times in recent years.

“This won’t only help the family members but also the soldiers when they come back,” she added. “They can come back and get resources, whether they are medical, emotional or jobs. This is all real positive.”

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.