Outline of a support guide

COMMUMCATIONS Provide guidelines for letter writing, with acceptable rides to follow; the postal guidelines for packages, the sending of emergency messages particularly important messages and telephone calls; MARS ham radio availability; and the ombudsman’s telephone tree. THE FAMILY CAR The family car is very critical especially during periods of deployment and separation. An automobile needs certain normal maintenance procedures that are designed to prolong its life and significantly decrease breakdowns. Depending on the type and make of car, repairs can be extremely costly, nerve racking, and time-consuming, as well as inconvenient. In your support guide, provide a fill in the blank application form for maintenance information; a maintenance checklist; what can be done in cases of emergency passes, decals, and stickers; what can be done for certain dilemmas such as starting difficulties, flat tires, running out of gas, frozen fuel lines, keys locked in the car, radiator boilover, and frozen door locks. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES As an aid to emotional adjustments due to separation from spouse, parent, and/or children that may lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, provide a list of personal growth opportunities. As family members discover new sources of strength and support in themselves and others, you might include suggestions for making emotional adjustments; taking on added responsibilities; taking good care of oneself; taking good care of children; seeking help when needed; and practicing religious beliefs and convictions during periods of separation. HELPFUL HINTS ON PERSONAL PROTECTION Provide suggestions and guidelines on personal safety family members can use in a variety of circumstances including being at home alone; before departing on a trip, when out of the house alone; accident prevention and personal protection at home; accident prevention and personal protection in the car; accident prevention and personal protection in babysitting situations; personal protection measures if confronted; and general tips for coping with periods of deployment; specific tips for couples with children and those without children; participation in command videotape recordings; and sending snapshots to each other. POSTDEPLOYMENT STRESS The period following the excitement of the end of deployment and the reuniting of the family is one of the major readjustments for the Navy family. It calls for serious reorganization of roles, feelings, and behaviors under which the family has been operating as a separate unit for the past several months. Of critical importance is the normalizing of the husband-wife relationship in terms of home, finance, discipline, and mode of child rearing. Counselors who work with military families say that few couples can resume their marriages after along separation without some problems. Other counselors go even further and say that a separation is always a crisis in marriage. The first 2 months back are normally very critical. Therefore, you should provide in your support guide information about family roles; good communications; new friendship the children and authority; and what to expect during the first week. Separations will never be fun. But neither do they have to be a disaster. The keys to survival are simple: cultivate the right attitude; be supportive of the military member; keep the military member before the children daily, and plan together for the return; retain one’s faith; keep up communications within the family; let the separation make your marriage even better...grow through it; and use the time to make you and your marriage better and stronger. Figure 2-4.—Outline of a support guide—Continued. 2-8