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GOSPORT November25, 2009


Homefront in Focus: Lessons from Fort Hood


By Beth Wilson
Military Spouse Contributor

 The military community was
rocked recently as we watched
events unfold at Fort Hood.
 Perhaps, like me, you sat
glued to the reports, stunned that
this happened on a military
installation by a member of the
armed forces.
 Our hearts are grieved as we
share in the pain of our sister
branch.
 While the investigation con-
tinues "lessons learned" are
already emerging.
 Two lessons immediately
jump out to me; emergency pre-
paredness and connecting with
your ombudsman.
 Pvt. Joseph Foster, a gunshot
victim of the attack, spoke of his
experience on a recent news
report.
 "We're a community; we are
like a giant family. When any-
thing like this happens we come
together tighter than ever. We are
stronger because of it.
 "The FRG and Care Team


have been great. The FRG leader
called my wife and said, 'We're
getting everyone rounded up.
We're going to get you to a safe
spot, now.' They called faster
than I could get a call out to my
wife. That was great."
 Do you have an emergency
plan for you and your family?
Let me pose a few scenarios for
you to consider.
 If you were at the commissary
when the base is locked down
with your children at school or
day care, who would pick them
up, who would meet them at the
bus?
 Perhaps news breaks that there
is an incident at your base or in
your deployed service member's
command. Do you know what to
do? How will you verify your
service member's safety?
 What if an earthquake, fire,
hurricane or other disaster strikes
while you are away from your
service member or children? Do
you have a plan to communicate
and reconnect?
 Too farfetched to consider?
Let me be more practical.


Navy Legal: Make sure to


 Beth Wilson
 What if you have an emer-
 gency illness or are in a car acci-
 dent while your service member
 is deployed? Who do you have in
 place to quickly care for your
 children?
 Every American citizen needs
 an emergency plan, but it is
 imperative for military families
 to have that plan in place.
 Visit https://www. cnic.navy.
 mil/ CNIC_HQ Site/Operation
 Prepare/index.htm for resources
 and information to develop your
 emergency plan.

review family


 Check your information for
accuracy on NFAAS (Navy
Family Accountability and
Assessment System) at
www.navyfamily.navy.mil. Take
time to familiarize yourself with
the purpose and support on this
site.
 The structure of the Navy is
such that our ombudsman is the
crisis management resource for
families.
 In the event of a natural disas-
ter, national or command emer-
gency your ombudsman is the
one who will have official infor-
mation, resource, instruction and
support for you.
 Your ombudsman is trained
and prepared to serve the com-
mand and command families.
 All commands, deploying or
non-deploying, have an appoint-
ed ombudsman.
 I recently met a Navy wife
who is halfway through a
deployment but has not heard
from her ombudsman.
 The main challenge of every
ombudsman is connecting with
spouses.


 Your ombudsman does not, let
me repeat that; your ombudsman
does not receive your informa-
tion.
 While they are authorized to
have certain information about
your Sailor (name, rank etc.), due
to privacy issues they are not
provided information about your.
 Do not assume they do not
care about you or are not doing
their job. Help them do their job
by contacting them.
 You can find your ombuds-
man's contact information (e-
mail, cell phone, Web page) from
your Sailor, the local Fleet and
Family Support Center and your
command Web site.
 Let the tragic events at Fort
Hood spur us to ensure we are
ready to face what the future
holds with an emergency plan
that will see us through success-
fully.
 To our extended military fam-
ily at Fort Hood, know that you
are in our prayers, in our
thoughts, in our hearts.
 We pray for your healing in
body and spirit. God bless you.


care plan before deployment


By Lt. Jeffrey Harper
JAGC, USN

 Petty Officer Jones, a single parent
with custody of his two children, is
preparing to deploy.
 He intends for his parents to care for
his children while he's gone and has
completed a family care plan to that
effect, as well as power of attorney
allowing his parents to care for the chil-
dren in his absence.
 Shortly after being boots-on-ground
in Afghanistan, the ex-Mrs. Jones
arrives at his parents' house and takes
the children.
 Petty Officer Smith, a non-custodial


single parent of a precocious toddler, is
preparing to deploy. She intends for her
parents to visit her son in her absence,
on the same schedule as the visitation
she is allowed. She arrives in Djibouti.
 Christmas rolls around and her par-
ents show up at Mr. Smith's apartment
to pick up the tot for the visitation Petty
Officer Smith is due that year. Mr.
Smith refuses to allow the children to go
with the grandparents.
 In both cases, the service members'
desires were frustrated. So what went
wrong? Petty Officers Jones and Smith
did not ensure the court handling their
child custody arrangements took into
account their military status.


 They were not aware of or did not
heed NAVADMIN 204/07 of Aug. 13,
2007, paragraph 2.D and OPNAVINST
1740.4C of 7 May 2007, paragraph 4.c.
 As a result, the court orders govern-
ing the custody and visitation rights of
the children were at odds with the fami-
ly care plan and the court orders will
always prevail.
 How could Petty Officers Jones and
Smith avoided this situation?
 Per paragraph 4 of OPNAVINST
1740.4C, "single, domestically separat-
ed and divorced service members with
minor children will contact a legal assis-
tance office for advice and assistance in
evaluating the effectiveness of their pro-


posed family care plan and complying
with any legal formalities necessary to
prevent unwanted challenges to custody
and support arrangements."
 Be proactive with your needs and
ensure that there is a court order setting
out what will happen when you are
deployed and cannot visit your children
or cannot have custody.
 If the court order is already in place
and these issues have not been
addressed, you are taking a risk that you
will find yourself in the situations
described above. Proactively seek to get
the court order modified to address the
unique issues that go with your military
lifestyle.


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