June 09, 2005
CHAPEL HILL The U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday (June 7) passed a $408 billion defense funding measure that includes $5 million to expand the Citizen-Soldier Support Program coordinated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The full House plans to endorse the measure next week.If supported by the Senate and signed into law by President George W. Bush as part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s fiscal 2006 budget, the funding will allow collaborators on the program, which operates now in five areas of North Carolina, to expand the program statewide.

It also will allow program directors to begin exporting the model to other states, where military and civilian personnel involved in family support have expressed interest in the program.

Initially funded through a $1.8 million Congressional award for the current fiscal year, the program facilitates practical and emotional support for North Carolina National Guard and Reserve soldiers and their families preparing for, during and after return from deployments.

The program mobilizes community organizations and services to support, strengthen and communicate with National Guard and Reserve soldiers, their families and loved ones, who often lack ready access to support services that are available to full-time military personnel who reside on or near military installations. “North Carolina is one of the most military-friendly states in the country,” said UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser.

“This collaborative initiative gives communities more ways to support our military men and women and their families. It shows that Carolina and our program partners connect with the citizens of this state and their needs.”

UNC-Chapel Hill spearheads the Citizen-Soldier Support Program in partnership with East Carolina, N.C. State, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Greensboro, Virginia Tech and Duke, UNC-TV and Bryn Mawr College. Currently, the program serves communities in and around Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Rocky Mount and Wilmington.

The program was developed by Dr. Allison Rosenberg, associate vice chancellor for research at UNC-Chapel Hill; Dr. Dennis Orthner, a professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work; and retired Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Doug Robertson, director of the UNC Highway Safety Research Center and a research professor of health behavior and health education in UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health. Robertson and Orthner direct the program.

Rep. David Price (D-Chapel Hill), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, is the program’s chief sponsor. The bill enjoyed unanimous support from North Carolina’s 13 members of the U.S. House.

The Senate will take up the question of funding for the program soon, after which a House-Senate conference committee will resolve any differences between the two appropriation bills. The final bill then goes to both bodies for endorsement and on to President Bush for his signature.

In related action, the House Armed Services Committee authorized the Citizen-Soldier Support Program last month after strong advocacy by Armed Services Committee member Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-Lumberton). McIntyre also represents the Fayetteville and Wilmington areas.

The Senate Armed Services Committee also authorized the program, with the leadership and support of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC).

Authorization of Defense Department-funded initiatives guarantees the program legal standing for one year and is renewable. The general feeling is that the need is great and the program is worthy of expansion nationally.

“Doug and I have the same experience wherever we go,” Orthner said, reflecting on the positive feedback he’d received Tuesday at the Army’s national Multi-Component Family Support Network Training meeting in Miami. “People are giving us their business cards, asking us to come and teach them how to start programs like the Citizen-Soldier Support Program in their states.

“They seem to be saying that this is the missing piece. They know how to work with military installations and units, but learning to work with community organizations is relatively new to them. What we’re learning has so much potential for success across the country.

“In Rocky Mount, for example, community leaders say the program has energized local agencies to become more aware of the needs of families of National Guard and Reserve members,” he said. “It has helped these agencies mobilize, so that the families feel they have the community behind them.”

North Carolina’s nearly 21,000 National Guard and Reserve members are dispersed across the state’s 100 counties, as part of 137 units in 92 communities.

“Since the beginning of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, the National Guard and Reserve have been deployed in unprecedented numbers and for extended periods. Citizen soldiers now make up approximately 40 percent of all U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Robertson said.

Deployments of North Carolina’s National Guard and Reserve peaked at nearly 6,000 in January, marking the largest mobilization since World War II. With the return of the National Guard’s 30th Heavy Separate Brigade, the number deployed currently is about 2,700.

“Back home,” Robertson said, “the absence of a Guard or Reserve member for a lengthy period introduces stress for the family, employer and loved ones.”

Equipping communities and families to anticipate and navigate those stresses is a key to the Citizen-Soldier Support Program.

“When you’re in the Army Guard or Reserve, you’re in civilian life and a civilian community, but you’re training to handle everything from hurricanes and fires to combat situations and helping people in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Orthner. “All this is not readily understood by community support systems. Many family members do not always know how to deal with all that being deployed brings.”

People may have to change jobs or child-care arrangements; they may lose job security or worry for that of a deployed spouse. “In some cases, they’re having to deal with less money and less income, plus having to learn how to live under a different set of health care benefits,” Orthner said. Families also worry about whether a spouse is going to come back, and whether he or she will come back injured.

The Citizen-Soldier Support Program provides critical local resources to these families, augments existing defense department programs, and brings together employers, schools, child-care providers, health professionals and the faith community to form a broad network of family support.

Note: Robertson can be reached at (919) 810-8926 or doug_robertson@unc.edu Orthner at (919) 247-4399 or orthner@email.unc.edu and Rosenberg at (919) 672-3442 or allisonrosenberg@unc.edu. News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093

For further information please contact Ramona DuBose by email at ramona_dubose

 

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