‘A lot of stress on a soldier'

It has been two months since Florida National Guard soldiers with the 1st Squadron, 153rd Cavalry Regiment said goodbye to their families and friends as they embarked on a year-long deployment to Kuwait and Iraq.

The 153rd was part of what the Florida National Guard called its largest single-unit deployment since World War II, with almost 2,500 soldiers from the National Guard’s 53rd Infantry Combat Brigade Team deploying to Iraq and Kuwait.

In addition to the physical separation those soldiers and families will endure throughout 2010, they might also have to deal with economic stresses either brought on by the deployment or through existing financial challenges they faced prior to their departure, including unemployment.

Carol Atwell, a National Guard Area 1 family assistance specialist based in Panama City, said the National Guard offers programs before, during and after deployment to help its soldiers and their families.

The state and local economy has seen unemployment rates rocket to record levels in 2009 and early 2010, with Bay County registering a 11.9 percent jobless rate in January, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Atwell said there were some area Guard soldiers who were unemployed when they were activated in 2009 for the large-scale deployment, although she stressed the majority had jobs.

Other soldiers have come back from deployments in recent years and found their employers have shut their doors or severely downsized their workforce, due to economic reasons, she said.

The struggle to pay bills before their activation often carries over during the soldiers’ deployment, something that affects them and their families while they are overseas serving their country, Atwell said.

“It puts a lot of stress on a soldier,” Atwell said.

Included in the National Guard’s programs to help soldiers and families are the Yellow Ribbon Program, which offers information on available Department of Defense services through one- and two-day events, and the Florida BRAIVE Fund.

The Florida BRAIVE Fund, established in 2008, provides financial help to state Army and Air National Guard members and their families, according to the Florida National Guard’s Web site. The fund assists with mortgages and rent, automobile repairs, counseling services, finances, home maintenance, disability equipment purchase, home renovation and reintegration expenses.

Debra Cox, executive director of the St. Augustine-based Florida National Guard Foundation, said her agency serves as the fund’s authorized agent.

Cox said 115 soldiers from the 53rd Infantry Brigade had applied for BRAIVE-related financial assistance prior to their deployment, a number she called surprisingly small given the size of the brigade that deployed to Kuwait and Iraq.

She said many soldiers were reluctant to ask for help, even those facing difficult financial circumstances.

“You’d be surprised, the pride factor comes in,” Cox said.

She said her foundation had given out $105,000 from the fund to applying soldiers, with many using the funds to catch up on mortgage or car payments.

“With those funds, we have seen so many different scenarios,” Cox said.

Cox said there are some National Guard soldiers who make more in their civilian jobs than they do with the Guard, which causes a strain when they are activated for a lengthy deployment.

Gina Gainey’s husband, Chad, was one of the area National Guard soldiers that deployed this year.

He also went to Iraq in 2003 with the Guard, she said.

Gainey, a Chipley resident, works as a supervisor for CSX Transportation and is a master sergeant in the Guard, Gina Gainey said.

Deploying soldiers from the unit trained for the 2010 mission at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, where Gainey served as a trainer, his wife said.

She said her husband’s second Florida National Guard deployment had gone much smoother than the first one, especially since he was given a year to prepare for it.

Gainey’s activation for his first deployment came the day after Christmas, as the couple was building a new home.

In contrast to his current deployment, Gainey’s first activation and deployment happened in a much more com-pressed timeframe, with no ceremony for the soldiers and less communication between the Guard and the sol-diers’ families, Gina Gainey said.

“The first time was very rough because he wasn’t prepared,” she said.

Gainey said CSX “has been wonderful” to her husband in terms of how it has worked with him in regards to his National Guard service.

She said everything about her husband’s current deployment has been much more organized, but Gainey cau-tioned there always are situations military spouses have to deal with while their husbands or wives are deployed, whether it’s a leaky roof, septic tank repair, or unforeseen issues.

“Any military spouse will tell you that,” Gainey said.

The deploying Guard members flew from Tyndall to Fort Hood, Texas, for additional pre-deployment training before leaving for missions in Kuwait and Iraq.

According to a National Guard release, the deploying soldiers will perform various security missions in Iraq and Kuwait, including convoy security for coalition forces entering and departing Iraq.

Some of the deployed Guardsmen’s employers have had to temporarily fill positions vacated by area soldiers, as they wait for them to return to their civilian jobs.

“It’s difficult for an employer to lose a valuable employee for a year,” Atwell said.

The area Atwell serves includes Bay, Gulf, Jackson, Holmes, Walton and Washington counties.

She said most employers affected by National Guard deployments go above and beyond in accommodating their employees.

There are federal and state laws that offer employment protections for Guard and Reserve soldiers.

According to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) is intended to ensure that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other “uniformed services:” (1) are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers be-cause of their service; (2) are promptly re-employed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and (3) are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present or future military service.

Gulf Coast Workforce Board Executive Director Kim Bodine said the deployed National Guardsmen who departed in January worked for a variety of local companies.

She said she has heard Smurfit-Stone, Trane and Oceaneering are among the companies that had Guard per-sonnel deploying.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ruth Corley said there were two BCSO employees deployed in January with the Florida National Guard.

Corley said the BCSO gives its deployed employees 17 calendar days of pay, per Florida Statutes Chapter 115, and planned to reinstate the two deployed Guardsmen to their positions upon their return.

“We make sure that job is waiting for them when they come back,” Corley said.

There have been times in the past when the BCSO has hired personnel to temporarily fill in while some of its employees were deployed on National Guard duty, Corley said.

Bay County Public Information Officer Valerie Lovett said there was one county employee, an animal control officer, among the deployed Guard group.

She said the county had temporarily hired someone to fill the officer’s job until he returns, when he will be rein-stated to his position.

Bodine said the Workforce Center would be ready to help area Guard personnel when they return in waves from their overseas military commitment.