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Maj. Jeff Hall — pictured here with his family — learned firsthand the value of having a resource to help him rejoin his family after a deployment.

Helping Military Families Cope With Change
Posted: 6/9/2010

(NAPSA)—There’s good news for our nation’s service members and military families that are transitioning home. Resources to support recovery and reintegration exist to help our nation’s warriors and their families cope with the injuries, stress and psychological health concerns that can be experienced during the deployment cycle.

When servicemen and servicewomen return home, it’s important to remember that the transition from deployment to base or civilian life can impact not only service members but also their entire families — spouses, children, parents, siblings and other loved ones.

The person who left is often not the same person who will come back, and the same is true for service members’ families. Feeling anxiety about changing relationships in a family can be a natural reaction to deployment.

Fortunately, military families don’t have to experience this kind of stress on their own. Resources like the Real Warriors Campaign (www.realwarriors.net) offer support for those on the battlefield and the home front. The campaign, sponsored by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), promotes the processes of building resilience, facilitating recovery and supporting reintegration for returning service members, veterans and their families.

The program offers practical articles and advice, including tips for spouses of returning service members and useful information for those who are dealing with deployment, as well as additional resources available through partners such as the National Military Family Association.

Real Warriors Campaign volunteers Maj. Jeff Hall and his wife, Sheri, experienced the challenges of reintegration firsthand when Hall returned from his second deployment to Iraq. “I could tell when he walked in the door of the hangar, he wasn’t the same man,” Sheri said. “He would say things, and his eyes would become black, and that wasn’t Jeff at all.”

With the support of his commanding officer and his family, Hall and his wife attended a treatment program at the Deployment Heal th Cl ini cal Center, where they interacted with service members experiencing similar psychological health concerns.

“I thought getting mental health help would be the end of my career. It wasn’t. I’m a better soldier today because I know that resources are available, and they work,” Hall said.

If you or a loved one is experiencing a psychological health concern, there are resources available, and they work.

To learn more, visit the Real Warriors Campaign Web site at www.realwarriors.net.

Navy League Sacramento Council Sponsord Award Program at US Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento

On Friday, June 27th 2008 Command Master Chief John Lawrence was given a fitting military farewell from the men and woman of Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento after 30 years of honorable service. His career included service aboard Coast Guard cutters, and all manner of Coast Guard aircraft. His last duty assignment, Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, John served as the Command Master Chief, and air station maintenance supervisor. If was John's responsibility to look after the morale and welfare of the Air Stations enlisted personal as well to ensure operational readiness of the four Lockheed C-130J Hercules aircraft. Master Chief John Lawrence was honored with a Certificate of Appreciation from John Meyers, Vice President, Military Affairs, Navy League Sacramento Council, for his outstanding honorable service to US Coast Guard. For more information call Joe Fraccola, Public Affairs Officer at 916-638-8720.

Students Make Valentines to Warm Veterans' Hearts
By Joseph H. Fraccola, Veteran

In 1999 as a local area veteran's advocate and WWII veteran, I organized a patriotic community project to honor our nation's veterans at the Sacramento VA Medical Center. I worked with Ellen Burns Gemma, former Principal of St. John the Evangelist Catholic School in Carmichael, to organize a project for elementary students to make Valentine Day Cards and present them to patients at the medical center. Now in its 10th Anniversary the project has been extremely successful with veteran patients, family members, staff and the students.

When I stepped into the eight-grade classroom at St. John the Evangelist Catholic School and called out a greeting, students stopped work on a special Valentine's Day project to greet me in return, "Good Morning Mr. Fraccola and God Bless You." However the interruption was only a temporary one. They continued working on unique valentine cards with complimentary inscriptions,

The project is an annual tradition at the Carmichael parochial school. For years now, students at the school have handcrafted valentines that are delivered to hospitalized veterans.

I got the idea from Ann Landers column over a decade ago in which the advice columnist called upon readers to send a valentine for the National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans week. She wrote that on any given day, there are approximately 50,000 veterans hospitalized in the Veterans Affairs' Medical Centers nationwide. We can never repay these valiant vets for the sacrifices they have made, but we can do something to cheer them up and let them know that they have not been forgotten," Landers wrote. Upon reading Landers' column, I bought 10 boxes of valentines and distributed them to the kindergarten through eight-grade students at St. John the Evangelist Catholic School to sign and combine them their own valentines.

That year, over 500 cards from the students were given to veterans of World War I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War who were hospitalized at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Martinez and the Veterans Home of California in Yountville in Napa Valley. I also delivered cards to veterans at the Sutter Oaks Nursing Center Arden, a nursing home, which contracted with the Veterans Administration to care for the ambulatory veterans.

While visiting the school, I asked the eight-grade teacher and Vice Principal, Tosha Tillotson, whether students understood whom they were making the valentine cards for and why. "We talked about it before we started making the cards --- said Tillotson whose husband and grandfather served in the military. Two of her students have older brothers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The handmade, handwritten cards not only include messages of kindness and love, but often thanked the veterans for serving their country and protecting their rights as American. Each grade level used different materials to make their cards, resulting in a variety of colorful creations for Valentine's Day.

For ten years the students at St. John the Evangelist School have enjoyed making cards for the veterans for Valentine's Day and Veterans' Day. School Principal, Nancy Conroy said as a teacher she had the opportunity to accompany the students several times as they distributed the cards to the veterans. She saw first hand the joy on the patients' faces when they received the cards and she saw the joy in the faces of the students as they brought a bit of happiness to the veterans who gave so much for our freedom. As Principal she sees the mission of their school "to have a Christian response to others in action as the students visit the VA Hospital clinic, as well as a manifestation of their philosophy, to emphasize apostolic services which can be carried out in the community".

On Tuesday, February 12th, Sacramento VA Medical Center Chief, Volunteer Service, Juanita De Luna, hosted a Valentine Day visit by twelve elementary students from St. John the Evangelist Catholic School, Vice Principal Tosha Tillotson, staff, parents, and me. Students visited with veteran outpatients and inpatients and presented over 300 handmade Valentine Day cards. Veterans who received the cards included those who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I consider Valentines for Veterans project a patriotic community effort that is educational for the children who participate and it enlightens young people as to what transpired in the past and to remember the unfortunate."

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