Nellis ready to help families of deployed

Jace Radke

Wednesday, March 19, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

Care packages

Residents can help deployed military personnel by donating the following items:

Shampoo, candy bars, cookies, videotaped TV shows and movies, games, gum, dice, nuts, stamps, sewing kits, disposable razors, envelopes, stationery, puzzles, Tylenol and aspirin, blank audiotapes, playing cards, shoe insoles newspaper clippings, magazines, underwear, batteries, travel alarms.

For more information call the Red Cross at 791-3391.

"I think I got my family all squared away, and I hope they take advantage of the programs at Nellis (Air Force Base) for families of deployed soldiers," Angell said Monday before his guard unit, the 777th Engineer Utilities Team, got on a plane in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. "I know I have a job to do and it's nice to know that someone is home to help my family if they need it."

Angell's pregnant wife and two children will be able to call on Nellis' Family Support Center for anything from day care to roadside assistance while he is deployed.

The base offers a web of services and programs for the families of deployed soldiers from the Air Force and the other branches of the military including National Guard and reserve units.

"There are a lot of guard and reserve families out there that may not know that we're here for them," said Sue Robinson, director of the Family Support Center. "That's where some people might be falling through the cracks."

To help

The center is the point of contact for families that have questions on how to get in contact with their deployed family member, how to apply for emergency military loans, and how to handle many other issues.

Since the center opened in 1983 there have been more than 46,000 contacts made with families and soldiers, and business has been picking up as a conflict with Iraq looms closer.

"We've been very busy since Sept. 11 (2001), and we've seen a gradual buildup in the number of people coming in," Robinson said. "During Desert Storm we had 75 people in here some nights just looking to talk about what was going on."

The topic of deployment and possible armed conflict always seems to find its way to the forefront of conversations right now, said Chrysanthe Sawyer, wife of Nellis' 99th Air Base Wing commander, Col. Gerald Sawyer.

"You see people and you find that their husband has just left, but there is really a sense of community that the different support groups and the people at Nellis provide," said Sawyer, who works with the officers' spouse club.

Many of the individual units at Nellis organize support groups and check up on the families of deployed soldiers. The Family Support Center can place interested family members in support groups, Robinson said.

The groups allow spouses experiencing similar feelings to talk, and provides a chance for those who have been through past deployments to share their stories.

"You get into a rhythm when you've been through it before," said Cheryll Norris, whose husband, Col. Michael Norris, is vice commander of the 99th Air Base Wing. "There's more adrenaline flowing and you see the C-17s and C-5s coming in and you wonder who's going out next."

Other services that the support center provides include relocation assistance, job skills, job search capabilities and financial counseling.

One of the programs offered through the support center is GIs Helping GIs, a service that dispatches uniformed sergeants to assist families that need a tire change or are having car troubles.

"There are a lot of things that people take for granted that their deployed spouse might do," Robinson said. "It could be something as simple as paying the bills or changing a flat tire, but those are still things that people have to learn and get used to."

Some families have more to adjust to than others. One woman who now volunteers at the support center not only has to adjust to a husband being deployed, but also to being a military wife and living in America for the first time.

Barbara, a native of Poland, met her husband in Iceland and was married three months ago. Since then she has moved to Las Vegas and her husband, who has since been deployed overseas with 66th Rescue Squadron. She asked that her last name not be used because she fears for her safety with her husband away.

"It's a big adjustment to the military structure, but that structure brings all kinds of support," she said. "I'm learning lots of new things and have met many new friends."

Barbara exchanges e-mails with her husband, but says she still worries.

"It's constantly at the back of my mind, so it's nice that I can have friends and things to occupy my time," she said.

Air Force personnel who are deploying are briefed about the services that are available, and are usually most interested in the programs that allow communication with their families.

The "morale call" program allows soldiers to place one 15-minute call a week to home at no charge. Another communication device that can sometimes be used is a videophone, which allows families to talk and see each other.

The videophones have been used in the past for a marriage and to broadcast a child's birthday to his deployed father.

The center can also assist with sending care packages overseas, and has many pamphlets and handouts with information about deployment and available services.

Staff Sgt. Kimberly Lang, a member of the 57th Maintenance Squadron, picked up information about child care and morale call before she was deployed to Japan earlier this month.

"I know that I'll miss my children, but I know I don't have to worry about them while I do the job I signed up to do," Lang said. "It eases my concerns to know that the Air Force has services that can help my children."