Families adjust to changing Guard role - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Families adjust to changing Guard role

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two wars abroad and growing responsibilities stateside have meant that members of the Tennessee National Guard are no longer “weekend warriors.” And the military families at home have had to adapt, too.

Behind the Guard is an army of family members who organize and join Family Readiness Groups, a kind of support group for anyone who knows what it means to have a loved one serve in the military.

“In the military they have the chain of command and that’s the group that wears the rank,” said Jenny Testerman, of Knoxville, whose husband is a member of the 278th Armored Calvary Regiment. “For the families, it is called the chain of concern.”

Once mostly populated by wives, the family groups are more diverse than ever as the Guard has added younger service members, who often have no military experience. Now the family members include husbands, widows, parents and children — and as the Guard has been called to serve more often, the role of these support groups has expanded.

Testerman oversees family readiness groups for 19 National Guard units in East Tennessee as a regional volunteer coordinator. Her role is to prepare for just about anything: from handling emergencies at home while a soldier is away to finding financial assistance for families during the holidays.

This is a busy time for Testerman now that several of her units have deployed and the largest National Guard unit in Tennessee, the 278th, has been put on alert for a deployment.

The unit has not received specific dates, but guard officials in the state have said the deployment of the unit’s 3,000 troops could start as early as October. The 278th previously served a tour in Iraq in 2004 and 2005.

Testerman said it’s been tough trying to get families ready for what’s to come without knowing dates.

“When we don’t have a black-and-white date in our hand, it’s difficult because a lot of them sit back and it’s not real to them yet,” she said. “Some of them just kind of stick their head in the sand.”

Many people left the Tennessee National Guard after the last deployment and recruiting and reorganization has changed the makeup of the Guard, which was traditionally older married men around a median age of 35 to 40, Testerman said.

“So now we know that approximately 51 percent of this group of service members are single,” she said. “And some of those men and women are younger, so we will be focusing a lot more on parents.”

Due to these changing demographics, the groups need to keep track of family members who may not live together and provide lines of communication. Testerman has set up a Facebook group and many groups will meet monthly, send out newsletters and birthday cards, share childcare or organize a girls or guys night.

And no one is excluded from joining a family readiness group, Testerman said.

“That is something that I have tried to stress to the families: the National Guard now is more like active duty than most of us have ever seen,” she said.

There’s a sense of helplessness for many service members when they leave, Testerman said. The family readiness groups give them peace of mind and allow them to focus on their jobs, she said.

“If a service member feels like their family member is going to be taken care of back at home, they are so much more prepared to go do what they are supposed to do,” she said.

Col. Jeff Holmes, commander of the 278th, said volunteers like Testerman are the true heroes who get overlooked outside of the military.

“But they’re never taken for granted by us,” Holmes said. “We couldn’t deploy without their support.”