Photo By Michael Meyer | The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Event in Denver, Colo., provided information to...... read more read more
Subscribe
DENVER, Colo.- Military families met in Denver, Colo. to share experiences and learn more about the resources available to assist them when their loved one returns. The event that has brought them all together, known as a Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, is available to provide Reserve soldiers and their families with sufficient information, services, referrals, and proactive outreach opportunities throughout the entire deployment cycle.
The goal of the program is to prepare soldiers and their families for mobilizations, sustain them during the mobilization, and assist them with reintegrating the Soldiers with their families, communities and employers upon redeployment.
More than 550 families from 30 states were in attendance this past January, representing several commands, including the 79th Sustainment Support Command, the 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, and the 4th ESC. The majority of the participants currently have a deployed family member.
Jena Villines is currently raising her 2-year old son and attending nursing school while her husband Sgt. Joe Villines is deployed to Kuwait with the 364th ESC. “I think my son is too young to understand why his Daddy isn’t here, and he can’t really verbalize what he’s thinking yet,” Jena said. “This event has provided me some really useful information about how to talk to my child about deployments, and they even provided some multi-media DVDs that I think put it in terms he will understand, if not now, then when he is a little older.”
Villines, like many returning soldiers and family members, is concerned about finding employment when she graduates with her nursing degree. She found the scholarship and career information offered at the Yellow Ribbon Event to be very useful.
Mark Simonson represents the Employer Partnership for the Armed Forces supporting Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. This partnership facilitates the transition that comes with a leave of absence from the civilian workplace to serve the nation.
“We help soldiers and family members from Vietnam era until now, find jobs. We have over 2700 companies that have partnered with us, and probably over 750,000 jobs listed on our website,” Simonson explained. Lining the walls beside Simonson were booths for universities, trade colleges, and recruiters from various career fields as diverse as trucking companies, Information Technology, project management, and human resources.
“We have everything from positions that range from entry-level positions in service and sales to high-level executives,” said Simonson. “If one of our soldiers or family members applies for one of those jobs, then I will contact the employer so they can find them quicker. There is human contact with every resume, we do everything we can to establish one-on-one communication.”
Simonson encourages soldiers to get registered on the site www.employerpartnership.org and says he has 750,000 jobs available, and only 30,000 soldiers and family members registered today, but he explains that due to the volume of applications that his teams must sort through, it might take some time to respond to your resume. In addition, they post information about job fairs and events and work with Service members to refine their applications for employment, resume writing, and interviewing skills.
“There are so many resources for military families, that I don't know how we would even learn about it if there wasn't something like this to teach us,” said Joey Bolton, a newlywed with an infant. “I just don’t know a lot of these acronyms, programs, and benefits. I think I’ve really learned a lot this weekend. I think the Army makes every effort to prepare families for the emotional stages of deployment.”
“There is a lot of sharing going on here today,” said Joey’s mother, Sue Bolton. “There is really a lot of sharing going on here today. In the classrooms many families are sharing information and websites, and contributing to the presentations. It has been a very interactive experience.”
For these families, the next yellow ribbon events they will attend will be after their loved ones have returned from deployment. The Army also offers the assistance of Military Family Life Consultant’s by telephone, email, or personal visits.
Through the MFLC Program, licensed clinical providers assist Service Members and their families with issues they may face through the cycle of deployment - from leaving their loved ones and possibly living and working in harm's way to reintegrating with their community and family. The MFLC program provides support for a range of issues including: relationships, crisis intervention, stress management, grief, occupational and other individual and family issues. Visit www.mhngs.com for more information. Upcoming Yellow Ribbon Events for 2012 are listed below.
| Date Taken: | 01.22.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.29.2012 12:16 |
| Story ID: | 84496 |
| Location: | DENVER, COLO., CO, US |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Families share experiences at a yellow ribbon event, by Michael Meyer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT