Role of the Family Readiness Group

Back in 1991, hundreds of thousands of soldiers deployed to Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Shield. It was the first major deployment since Vietnam.

Back then, it had been almost 20 years since the wider Army had deployed. Actions in Grenada and Panama involved only Rangers -- not your normal joes -- and people with deployment patches were almost revered.

Since the transition to an "all volunteer army" in the 1970s, the Army had changed -- families were more common. However, garrison life hadn't changed the way families were treated. Because there was no telling how long the coming "Storm" would last, most families packed up and went to the grandparents' house.

The build-up drew tens of thousands of soldiers away from Fort Hood, but also caused the loss of even more family members. With no one to live in houses, properies were sold at below-market values. Killeen was a ghost town.

The Army learned the lesson that in order to keep the economies surrounding military bases from collapsing during a deployment, you had to engage families.

Hence the Family Readiness Group (FRG).

During a deployment, the FRG acts as a "support group of last resort." Spouses who can depend on friends or nearby family members typically don't turn to the FRG, but those with no one else can ask the FRG leader for help.

In a garrison environment, however, there can be little motivation to attend FRG functions. This can lead to a downward spiral of disinterest and uninvolvement. Another challenge is the issue of gossip. A unit's FRG can turn off spouses if there is a lot of negativity -- a common occurrence.

One of the commander's jobs is to engage spouses through the FRG, but this can be hard if there isn't anyone willing to step forward. In that situation, I wonder if the best thing to do is to mail a monthly newsletter to soldiers' homes.

Although the feel of a printed newsletter may be old-fashioned, I think it's the warmest way to engage families. Facebook is cheaper, true, but the cost of a disengaged family can be far greater than printing and postage.