Army Reserve team helps Soldiers, families on different front

FORT JACKSON, S.C. - More than 49,000 Army Reserve Soldiers and their families live in the southeastern portion of the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and ensuring they have a voice is a mission of a small team here.

The strategic outreach coordinator and legislative liaison officer for the 81st Regional Support Command work long hours and numerous weekends each month to build an advocacy for the Army Reserve family.

The tip of the spear to "fight" for Soldiers and their families is the Army Reserve Ambassador.

According to Marty Wells, the 81st RSC strategic outreach coordinator, ambassadors are a vital link to bridge between communities and the citizen warrior families.

Working without pay or related benefits, these volunteers are vested in their communities and build relationships and strive to improve the understanding and knowledge of the Army Reserve with business and social sectors.

"Soldiers need advocates in hometown America who understand the challenges they, and their families, face on a daily basis," Wells said. "The ambassadors' role is to inform and educate their local communities about the Army Reserve Soldier in an effort to expand awareness of the Army Reserve's significant and relevant contributions on a number of different fronts."

Wells said the American public often is not aware of the mission and or the presence of the Army Reserve families in their own communities.

"More often than not, when the term 'part-time Army' is mentioned, the American citizen's first thought is that of the Army National Guard," he said.

From educating next-door neighbors and community leaders, to visiting local congressional staff offices, the Army Reserve Ambassador's tools of the trade are good-old handshakes and promises that commanders will turn their young men and women into positive role models in their communities.

Another advocate of the Army Reserve family is Lt. Col. Thomas Bukaweski, a legislative liaison officer who has spent the past year developing relationships with the 109 congressional staff offices located in the nine southeastern states.

As the commanding general's special staff advisor, Bukaweski is responsible for developing, planning and executing legislative liaison activities to establish a strategic partnership between the 81st RSC and congressional members and staffers within the command's area of responsibility, as well local government and community leaders.

On any given day, the legislative liaison office floor is covered with dozens of color-coded folders, stacks of paperwork that hide his desk and the hum of national news from a nearby television fills the air.

To some, it may seem like an organized chaotic system, but to Bukaweski it's a method that works for him.

In conjunction with the Army Reserve Communications - Government Relations, Bukaweski said the joint effort between the 81st RSC and operational force is to assist commanders to have the resources to develop the best trained, led and equipped citizen warriors.

Bukaweski regularly travels to local congressional offices to educate elected officials about the Army Reserve's mission and the Soldiers that fight war against terror and the families left behind.

"In essence we are building advocacy for the Army Reserve with members of Congress," he said. "We educate and inform about the Army Reserve legislative priorities as well as informing these elected public servants about the our presence and impact within congressional districts."

As Wells and Bukaweski gain the pulse of the American hometown warrior, each hopes he is making a difference in the lives of Reserve families across the region.

"When you get down to the nuts and bolts, it's about ensuring we have the best trained, equipped, and ready Soldiers and cohesive units to meet global requirements across the full spectrum of operations," Bukaweski said.

As national elections results were released recently, changes in the political seats had the 81st RSC team busy developing a plan to engage American's newest leaders.

"Our priorities include introduction engagements with newly elected members of 112th Congress," Bukaweski said. "We must continue partnership efforts with members of Congress on the Senate and House of Representative Armed Services Committee, Appropriations Committee and Veterans' Affairs Committee and Military Construction subcommittee."