FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Hundreds of 1st Brigade Combat Team Soldiers and Families gathered Thursday at the Commons for the Warrior Family Joint Readiness Training Center deployment briefing and Readiness Fair.
The event, which allowed Families to attend one of three time slots for the JRTC deployment briefing, provided them an opportunity to meet representatives from their units and update their contact information to help ensure they receive relevant information, especially while their Soldiers are away.
"Some of this is about building a strong team of spouses," said Col. Mark O'Donnell, 1st BCT commander. "This is really an opportunity for us to talk directly to spouses to make them aware of some concerns related to JRTC and to answer their questions specifically about the things that might be on their minds as it relates to their Soldiers being away."
There were several speakers for the presentation, one of whom was the brigade commander's spouse, Lauren O'Donnell, who also serves as one of the brigade's FRG advisers. She openly shared her experiences with the Families and encouraged their participation.
"We've been doing this together for 25 years; so, 25 years, 17 different assignments, all kinds of different units, and I have never been in a place where we had such great FRG leaders and advisers," she said. "So, if you've had a bad experience before or you don't know much about FRG and you haven't yet gotten involved, I would say this is the place to do it."
She was quick to praise the team of 1st BCT volunteers who have been supporting Warrior Brigade Families through a fast-paced year that was full of transition.
"We have an incredible group of competent, caring, smart volunteers in our FRGs," Lauren O'Donnell said. "If you're a spouse, I can promise you they're going to have an answer for you. They're going to know where to send you when you have a problem. They're going to be there to support you.
"If you're a Soldier, these are volunteers that are going to take care of your Family," she added.
The Readiness Fair portion of the event featured booths from several Fort Drum support agencies for Families to collect information and get assistance with areas such as financial readiness, health care, education, safety and counseling services.
"We have a lot of agencies represented here from across Fort Drum. We have almost 20 agencies around the room," Mark O'Donnell said.
The concept of the Readiness Fair included providing Families more than just information; the intent was also that they could take care of important checklist items.
"An important component of this as a part of readiness is being legally prepared," Mark O'Donnell said. "Do you have a power of attorney? Do you have wills? Do you have the right documents for when your Soldier is away? If a spouse and the Soldier are here together, they could go next door to get a power of attorney and it takes all of five minutes."
The Warrior Brigade leadership team was transparent about the impacts that life events combined with the upcoming training might have on their Soldiers and Families. They explained that these impacts affect everyone, even them.
"This is a stressful time of year -- we all know that," Mark O'Donnell said. "Although Christmas is supposed to be about family and spending quality time together, we are busy. Even in my Family, we haven't started shopping for Christmas, we don't see much time to do so and we know that as soon as block leave is over, I'm getting on an airplane and getting shipped out to JRTC."
He concluded the briefing by providing a clear context for the importance and purpose of the event.
"Right now, we're not scheduled to deploy anywhere, but we still have this requirement to be ready, and I want our Soldiers and Families to be ready," O'Donnell said. "The purpose of this event is to focus on readiness."
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