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New program aims to enhance family readiness, build support

  • Published
  • By Captain Bryan Lewis
  • 315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
CHARLESTON AFB, S.C. --  Barbara Bush, wife of former President George H. Bush once said, "Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way."

While Airmen are working hard at their job, the 315th Airlift Wing is seeking to follow the First Lady's advice toward ensuring the success of family and friends as well.

The answer is the Key Spouse Program. Its mission is to ensure the wellbeing of family and friends of reservists who are either deployed or away on temporary duty through information, communication and available resources.

"I am hoping by adding this program to our wing we will have another outlet to reach all our military member's support system individuals and to maintain a healthy communication flow while relieving some stress from the separation," said Janet Chapman, the key spouse mentor and wife of Colonel Steven Chapman, 315 AW commander.

This volunteer-based program is a commander's program, which relies on first sergeants, a Key Spouse Mentor, key spouses and the Airman and Family Readiness Center. The unit commander not only establishes and maintains the program in the unit, but also appoints the key spouse. The first sergeant monitors the program and is the first point of contact as the link between the key spouse and the commander. As the Key Spouse Mentor, Mrs. Chapman is the overall mentor and advocate for the unit key spouses and helps facilitate training and recognition throughout the wing.

Though this is a new tool here, Mrs. Chapman was involved in a similar program before.

"I have had experience with this program while it was under another name, Phoenix Spouse, and I have been a part of the program since," said Mrs. Chapman. "Having a Key Spouse volunteer, a peer, to talk to is another outlet for the family to get the help they need. I've been told by family members they appreciated being able to approach a key spouse volunteer in an unofficial manner for assistance."

Mrs. Chapman also said that many times all that is wanted or needed is for family members to have the opportunity to just talk about what they are going through with someone who can relate and may have had similar experiences they can learn from.

"One aspect of the Key Spouse training is to provide the volunteer with resources available so they can suggest sources to families for additional support when needed," she said.

Fortunately, the active duty here have a key spouse program already. However, reservists have additional obstacles to tackle.

"Our biggest challenge is our people are all over the place," said Lisa Sweatt, director of the Airman and Family Readiness Center here.

For example, as quickly as the earthquake struck in Haiti, Charleston Airmen were readying for missions there. As of the time of this article, 106 humanitarian missions to Haiti originated from Charleston Air Force Base alone.

"So how are we going to reach them?" Ms Sweatt said

The program's answer to that question is by using a support system that relies on involved spouses. This is where the unit's key spouse comes into play. Their roles include networking amongst the unit's families, building support groups, indentifying needs and being a conduit of information for the families involved.

This isn't just for members who live nearby, but for all who may need the resources.

"Many of our members do not live locally," said Mrs. Chapman. "The main duty of a key spouse is to provide information and referral sources as necessary. Many of the resources can be found on base but with our Reserve members more research of the member's local area will need to be done and national support services utilized more."

This includes services like the YMCA's military outreach program and MilitaryOneSource.com.

The program is currently looking for more volunteers. Those interested should talk to their family member's squadron commander.

"It's a great way to meet other individuals involved with the 315th family," said Mrs. Chapman, and that may help those involved encompass the spirit that First Lady Bush has ... "To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there."