Photo By Capt. Vira Miller | Staff Sgt. Alicia King giving remarks at her promotion ceremony on October 1, 2021...... read more read more
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FORT SILL, Oklahoma (May 9, 2022) — Being a drill sergeant in the Army can be a hard but rewarding experience. Community usually can see just one part of it – when the newest soldiers graduate Basic Combat Training (BCT), standing tall and proud in the formation behind their drill sergeant at the graduation ceremony. All the struggles, tears and sweat are left behind. After graduation Soldiers will continue their Army journey at Advanced Individual Training (AIT) while drill sergeants will receive a new class and go on.
However, life consists not only of work – everyone in the formation has different roles outside the office. One of the roles is to be a parent and many of the cadre and drill sergeants of 1st Battalion, 19th Field Artillery have children and some are single parents. As such, they must balance the demands of work and family.
Three Soldiers discussed their experiences within the battalion as single parents.
According to the 2020 Demographics Profile of the Military Community, 5% of the Army population is made up of single parents. Per Army regulation, all dual military families and single parents must provide their respective command with a Family Care Plan that demonstrates a soldier can provide care for their children while conducting military duties. In the event parents are unable to fulfill the obligations of the FCP, they face potential involuntary separation. Given the inherent demand of military service and family life, single parents must anticipate future planning throughout their Army careers.
“FCP is more for leadership than for parents,” said Staff Sgt. Alicia King. “Basically, if you don’t follow the rules – there are repercussions, however, if your leadership is involved and understanding – FCP will not be a problem for you.”
King said she believes that FCP will never work if soldiers do not know how to advocate for themselves. She says that as she is getting older and attains higher rank – she is more open to talk to command about what she needs. It is important to let junior personnel know that they should do the same, to voice their concerns if something does not work for them.
“My Family Care plan would not work out if my brother did not come to live with me, said Sgt. Dequan Friday. “However, I have very good and understanding leadership – I can say it gives me some advantage. Also, I am not a drill sergeant, so my schedule is easier.”
The struggles to switch from work duties to parenting can be a very real problem for some single parents.
“You have to make time between being tired after work and an energized kid who wants to play,” said Friday. “You have to make yourself available for your child.”
“Majority of the time when I’m away from work, I focus on my son and what he wants to do — all the small stuff that we can do together," Staff Sgt. Keambra Tetlack said.
Child care is another question.
Outside the Army, the cost of child care often necessitates giving up a career to become a stay-at-home parent. In the case of single parenting, this is impossible and service members must instead rely on child care services and other available options
While there are child care options available on Fort Sill, the NCOs feel it may be cost prohibitive and may not meet their specific needs.
“Child care is prorated by rank, but still takes a heavy toll on my budget.” said Friday.
Very few installations offer 24/7 child care. Consequently, leadership alleviates the burden through leveraging the manning of non-parent Soldiers: they let single parents come later or leave earlier and amend duty rosters allowing them to pull duty on certain days. This, in its turn, could possibly cause a friction within the team, but not in the 1-19th.
“During the day I am not just working — I make it count, put in effort and accomplish something,” said Tetlack. “I do not want anyone to pick up my slack.”
“Maybe at the beginning it can be a little different – people just want to know what you are about,” King added. “…but when they see that you make an effort – it is all good.”
One way the Army supports single parents is through its “People First” strategy.
The strategy was adopted in October 2019 by the Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy. Since then, people are the Army’s No. 1 priority however it takes actual leaders at each level to make it workable.
Within the battalion, leaders go above and beyond to take care of the Soldiers and especially single parents, they all agreed. Engaged leadership means that service members can readily say, “they have my back, I still feel like I’m a part of the team and I will leave the service only if I want to, but not because of the FCP.”
| Date Taken: | 05.09.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2022 12:43 |
| Story ID: | 420272 |
| Location: | FORT SILL, OK, US |
| Web Views: | 144 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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