Hoosier Families Endure Deployment

By Rachel Elsts

Nearly 15,000 Hoosier military families are affected by deployment. These families face frequent moves, long parental absence and the threat of a potential death.

The Hansel Family

Jen Hansel fully understands how a deployment affects her family. Her husband Jeff,a soldier, was deployed to Iraq twice.  During his first deployment the couple were expecting their first child. When he left for the second time he left behind his wife and his 2-year-old daughter Cayce.

While he was gone, Hansel had to wear many hats.

“It was hard because I had to be both mommy and daddy to her, and also to Jeff’s brother,” she said ” I had to raise him and her by myself, and work a full time job, and coach. Dinners, pay bills and be the chauffeur.”

It was difficult to maintain regular communication. In Iraq, Jeff was 8 hours ahead of his family. With Hansel’s full time job and other activities they had hard time staying connected.

In between the loneliness and waiting, Hansel found solace when she was able to talk to her husband.

“It was very, very hard,” Hansel said, ” What’s tomorrow going to be like? What’s going to happen next?”

The Sharp Family

Staff Sgt. Paul Sharp was deployed in Iraq for two years. He and his wife, Janalene, have two children. When he was first deployed their daughter Courtney was 10, their son Cameron was 4.

It’s been five years since he came home. But the threat of re-deployment is ever-present for active service members.

Janalene Sharp said Courtney was forced to mature quickly due to her husband’s deployment.Courtney said she dealt with issues her friends weren’t exposed to.

“People don’t understand what you are going through.” Courtney said, “They’re still there, but there is nobody there who really understands.”

While her husband was gone, Sharp learned to take each day as it comes. Otherwise it would be too hard to bear. She said, “We didn’t know what to expect, so everyday was a challenge.”

Hoosier families like the Hansals and the Sharps fully realize the commitment it takes to serve. This commitment not only affects the service member but each family member as well. The normal demands of daily life are heightened.

“I made it through the grace of God.” Janalene Sharp said, “Luckily we had a ton of friends and family support.”

The National Guard provides support with the Family Readiness Group. The group’s goal is to help the family adjust when a soldier is deployed, and to ease the transition when the soldier returns. The group offers various programs for each member of the family,especially the children.

Operation Military Kids partners with the Family Readiness Group to help children before, during and after a deployment. Studies have shown military kids to be at high risk for long-term emotional distress.

One study, conducted by New England Journal of Medicine and American Academy of Pediatrics, showed children of deployed parents to have higher rates of anxiety, depression and behavioral difficulties.

There are ways to counteract the stress of growing up in a military family. Monique Spells, youth program specialist for the National Guard, gives insight based on her own experiences and training.

“Best thing to do is to keep kids busy, to keep them involved in activities and to engage them in conversations with other kids,” Spells said

The group also provides care packages for children with a deployed parent. The packages include:

• stuffed bear
• journal
• lanyard
• backpack

This helps in the short-term. But it serves as a distraction from the struggle that is always present. When the children are old enough and able to understand why their parent was gone, they may become resentful.

Hansal’s daughter was only two when her dad was deployed. Yet, his experiences while overseas will have a lasting affect on her childhood.

“I think just being in a military household will affect her long term,” Hansal said, “There are things that are going to be going on, that she will be old enough to realize that this is all because of Daddy being in Iraq.”

Even with support, military families suffer. “I try not to think about it because it was two years of hell that we had to go through,” Janalene Sharp said.

More on the Sharp family

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Informational Material

U.S. Troops Deployed (click to enlarge) Number of wounded troops in Iraq per state (click to enlarge) U.S. Troops Abroad (click to enlarge)

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