• Families of mobilized citizen-servicemen/women (Reserve and National Guard military), and dependents of active-duty military who decide to move back home during long periods of separation, have limited support in areas outside the perimeter of military installations. For those families living in Roanoke, the nearest Army installation to Roanoke is Fort Lee in Petersburg, VA, a 3+ hour drive.
• At any given moment in southwest Virginia, over a thousand citizen-servicemen/women have been mobilized to serve either overseas or in stateside support roles at a distant military base.
• Citizen-servicemen/women are older and more likely to be married with children than their active-duty peers.
• Once activated, a citizen-serviceman/woman can serve for up to 24 months and s/he is subject to recall after only 12 months.
• Family income is based on the rank and the total family income for many, if not most, citizen-servicemen/women decreases during the mobilization period. For families with children, combining this reduction with additional childcare costs as one spouse departs results in tremendous financial pressure and emotional stress.
• Daily household tasks and home/auto repairs are redistributed to other members of the family. Murphy’s Law normally rules during this transition as things break shortly after the departure of the citizen-serviceman/woman and less-skilled family members struggle to adjust.
• In many cases, emergency situations must be handled by family members without the assistance or presence of the mobilized citizen-serviceman/woman.
• Spouses - both men and women - become sole providers for children and other family members.
• During this period of separation, many families feel isolated as they attempt to cope with their situation on their own. Even those with an existing family or church support network may feel personally isolated as they realize others can’t relate to the emotions they feel in their unique situation.
• Where available, limited military service support systems provided by the member’s unit currently do not work in conjunction with other services to link geographically collocated families together.
• Problems on the home front only serve to distract the serviceman/woman on the war front.
   

We believe it’s time for a change!!!