When servicemembers are deployed, they want to know that their families are safe and taken care of. In order to focus on their mission and the job at hand, servicemembers need to know that the home front fires are burning strongly, that there is someone there to take care of their families while they are gone.

Soldiers and airmen with the Washington National Guard and Reserve can rest easy while deployed, knowing their families are in good hands with family assistance coordinators at the Washington National Guard J9 Directorate Joint Service Support Center on Camp Murray.  Along with transition assistance, employment services, suicide and sexual assault prevention, and psychological health services, the J9 also offers a Family Programs division.

Family Programs "is primarily an information and referral resource," according to its Web site (http://familyprograms.washingtonguard.org), with the goals of supporting servicemember and family effectiveness, training families to be self-reliant, and coordinating programs and services before, during and after deployment. Family Programs includes family assistance, family readiness and youth programs.

About 70 percent of Guard and Reserve soldiers and airmen live an hour or more away from a military installation. To ensure that these service members and their families get the help they need close to home, family assistance coordinators - located in 12 regions throughout the state - are plugged in to resources in the service members' local areas.  FACs serve as a base for family assistance operations in their region and assist families with a variety of issues, including education and communication; resource and referral; family activities and involvement; youth programs; and a family readiness network.  FACs also provide family members with information about federal and state resources and work in conjunction with military units and commanders to provide necessary support, according to the Web site.  "We've reached out to families and servicemembers," said Denise Whitten, a FAC at Camp Murray. "We're here for them. They're like family to us."

For more information about the J9 Family Programs, visit http://familyprograms.washingtonguard.org or www.jointservicessupport.org or call (800) 364-7492.