Resources To Use During A Deployment
Creating A New Support Group When You Move
October 20, 2016Ways For A Milspouse to Destress PCS
October 21, 2016Ease Deployment Stress with these Resources
Deployments and extended TDY trips are inevitably part of military life. It’s hard to hide from these separations for long, so gathering a few tried and true resources to ease the process should be on the family’s to-do list before the departure day arrives. The spouse staying home will need all the support they can get whether it’s military, family or personally related.
These sources of information are great blocks to begin building a collection of go to services. Hopefully, they’ll inspire you to research other options tailored to your family’s needs.
Military Related
A thorough and well-respected treasure trove of anything a milspouse could ask for: family support, education, veteran issues, travel, and much more information is available.
Blue Star is a mainstay in military family advocacy. They devote an entire tab of their site specifically to deployments. Best of all, they have partnered with Headspace to offer a free subscription for the app that’s revolutionizing the way we use meditation. There isn’t anything more important than finding a little peace during trying times.
Family
Part of passing the time of a deployment is finding fun activities to look forward to. Vet Tix partners with donors to provide families with free entertainment opportunities that might be too expensive otherwise. Concerts, sporting events, and Disney tickets have all been offered.
Child care is an especially difficult challenge during deployments. If traditional choices like the CDC or SAC are not available, Child Care Aware works with military families to find qualified caregivers and even assist with finances. Don’t forget about the respite care that deployed families are entitled to. Respite care offerings are branch specific.
Make Life Easy
Utilize delivery services whenever possible. They’ll give hours of your day back. Companies are rapidly jumping on board to compete with Amazon for your dollars. Speaking of Amazon:
Some of their markets deliver groceries in an hour and/or provide one-day shipping. Take advantage of their wine and pantry (dog food, toilet paper, etc.) subscriptions. So easy!
More delivery options:
- Panera Bread
- GrubHub for fast food
- Instacart for groceries
- Giant and Safeway
Watch McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Chipotle, and Walmart. They’re all piloting delivery services now.
There is an abundance of military family resources these days, which is a good thing, but the amount can be overwhelming. Start with a few of the big websites, like Military OneSource and the previously listed, and they’ll provide guidance to find exactly what you’re looking for, it just takes time.
For more military life advice from people who’ve been there, look at our other MilLife blogs.
