Posted By HR Partnership on September 5, 2009

Recent studies have confirmed that the demands of waging two wars have magnified the stresses impacting military members and that those stresses often carry over to their home lives and have an effect on their families.

On Friday, August 21, the Hampton Roads call-in talk show Hearsay with Cathy Lewis with guest host Barbara Hamm Lee tackled the issues that abound for Military spouses. Important to our region, why? Active Duty Military accounts for nearly 9% of the Hampton Roads population; total DoD population is nearly 17%.

Barbara talked with military spouses about the joys and challenges they face as a result of their loved one’s service, from employment challenges, including new Federal hiring preferences for spouses, to GI Bill benefits, and from caring for children during deployments to coping with frequent moves – and doing it all with a sense of humor and panache.

Guests included:

• Sarah Smiley, syndicated columnist and author of the memoir Going Overboard: The Misadventures of a Military Wife, and a collection of essays titled I’m Just Saying…;
• Vivian Greentree, Director of Membership and co-founder of Blue Star Families; and
• Margie Russell and Greta Gary from Naval Station Norfolk’s Fleet and Family Support Center.

Download the MP3 or listen to it on your computer.

Hampton Roads Military Facts (courtesy of USJFCOM):

The Hampton Roads area is home to one of the nation’s largest concentrations of military personnel, with approximately 110,000 active duty military personnel. The total DoD population, including active duty, reserve, retirees and family members totals approximately 300,000 in an area with a total population of 1.8 million.

Major military units and headquarters include NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), U.S. Fleet Forces Command, the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command, and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Military hardware in the area includes 70 ships, 12 submarines, 400 Navy aircraft, 80 Air Force aircraft, and a variety of Navy Special Forces and support units. Major military installations in the area include Naval Station Norfolk (the world’s largest naval base), Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Naval Air Station Oceana (including Dam Neck Annex), Langley Air Force Base, Fort Story, Fort Monroe, Fort Eustis, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.

The area’s close ties to the nation’s history and the military spans nearly 400 years, beginning with Capt. Christopher Newport landing at Cape Henry (the site is on present-day Fort Story) on April 26, 1607. Newport and Capt. John Smith sailed up the James River and formed the first permanent English colony in the New World at Jamestown.

Categories: Military Bastion
Tags: Military Bastion