Program develops strong Army spouses

By Marie BerbereaSeptember 11, 2014

Strong spouses
Students in Growing Spouses Army Strong (GSAS) work together to come up with solutions to different hypothetical situations dealing with family readiness groups Sept. 4, 2014 at the Graham Resiliency Training Center at Fort Sill, Okla. GSAS is a four... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT SILL, Okla. Sept. 11, 2014 -- Growing Spouses Army Strong (GSAS) is a program meant to equip those who are along for the Army ride with a better understanding of what they are undertaking.

"For me personally as a spouse to have begun very early on receiving training on military language, customs and courtesies and acronyms; it enables me to have a better communication with my spouse and to understand more about what he's doing and why he's having to do it," said Rusty Milam, a Fort Sill first sergeant's spouse. "It allows me to have more of a knowledge base which enables me to feel empowered and to feel like a part of his career instead of apart from his career."

Originally, GSAS was for officer spouses only, but recently they have asked first sergeant spouses to attend after the Sergeant Major of the Army's wife visited and made the suggestion.

"They maybe have seen a lot of this, but they are a great resource for the captain and lieutenant spouses to give them guidance as well," said Melita Simley, GSAS adviser.

GSAS covers the gamut of what a spouse may encounter, but a good portion of the course deals with how a spouse may find a sense of community with those who are experiencing the military in a similar way -- through the unit's family readiness group.

"We're rebuilding our family readiness group so this was a good time for me to experience this course," said Milam.

Although participation in an FRG is encouraged, GSAS explains it is not required.

"They think they have to be the FRG leader, or co-leader and we bring in Col. (Tracy) Bannister to say no it's the commander's responsibility and depending on what the commander wants is how the FRG is going to look. If you don't participate, your spouse is not going to get in trouble. You're not going to ruin their career because you're not the FRG leader," said Simley.

FRGs were originally created as a means to disseminate information quickly to family members during a time of deployment, but Simley stressed their usefulness during stateside missions as well.

"It's about being able to have someone to talk to. If something happens to you as a spouse, if your spouse deployed then you really might need some help, but even if your spouse is here, things like resources available on postdo you know them? If you don't then you can go to your FRG and they can guide you in the right direction," said Simley.

GSAS also covered topics from Army structure to how to be a part of a care team in the case of a casualty in a unit.

Milam said even though she has been a military spouse of 13 years the portion of GSAS pertaining to social media was eye opening.

The course, Social Media Awareness taught by Lt. Col. Rory Crooks, Strategic Communications commander, and John Dorsey, strategic planner, is meant to give the spouses a better understanding of how much impact social media can have.

"When my husband first went to Iraq our communication was letters and that one phone call a month after he stood in line for hours to talk for five to seven minutes on the phone," said Milam.

She said the next time he deployed they were able to talk over Skype and the phone calls were more frequent.

"Communication has just kept getting easier ... at the same time allowing communication to be more dangerous to our troops and also to the families left behind," said Milam.

The class teaches the spouses about operational security and how it's seldom one piece of information shared online that leads to a violation.

"The person out there that's doing their due diligence is checking any pages that are affiliated with that unit and using bits and pieces of what they get to form the picture," said Dorsey.

He said as technology grows exponentially the spouses need to be aware of things that may unintentionally cause harm like geotagging.

"Understanding that if you have that service turned on on your phone and then you post photos the GPS information is embedded in those photos."

The class also teaches spouses how to properly begin their FRG roles through social media. Dorsey said any public facing medium representing the Army, like a unit FRG page, requires prior approval from the post public affairs office.

"The first thing you need to do, whether you're taking over a Facebook page, or you're launching a new one, is to call 580-442-4500 and talk to PAO and one let them know what you're about to undertake or what you're assuming."

The program wrapped up with a leadership panel which allowed the students to ask post leaders and spouses questions about their experiences. Afterward they held a graduation luncheon at Patriot Club.

GSAS is held four times a year. For more information on the next class, contact unit FRG leaders.