There are certain events in a person's life that when they occur, leave an indelible imprint on their life. For some it was the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for others it was the assassination of President Kennedy. The event for me were the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. On September 11, 2001, I was a young attorney practicing out of Flint, Michigan. In fact I had only been practicing law for a little more then two years at the time of the attacks. My practice focused on Criminal Law, Family Law as well as a few other areas. On that fateful day I was representing a client in family court. As I recall, I was sitting in Judge Farrah's court room (one of the family court judges) in Flint, Michigan when all of a sudden one of my colleagues, attorney Jay Clothier, ran into the court room and stated that a plane flew into one of the twin towers in New York City. Little did Jay and I realize the gravity of the situation. I left Judge Farrah's court room and went back to my office. Downstairs from my office was the headquarters of the Genesee County Bar Association. From there I watched both towers fall as well as millions of other Americans on the morning television show Good Morning America.
I remember remarking to Angie Lewis (my administrative assistant at the time) that I might be deployed soon because of the attacks and to start making plans in case I was in fact deployed. My deployment did come, however, not for some 5 years latter.
The sequence of events on September 11, 2001 changed America forever. On that day, The United States of America lost its innocence. The land of the free was no longer as free as it once was. Open and free travel no longer seemed as open and free following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Subsequently, America soon found itself at war with Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of service members needed to adequately fight the war was tremendous. The number of service members on active duty were not enough to engage in effective combat. As such, the burden to pick up the slack fell upon the Reserve and National Guard forces of our military. Not in recent memory has there been a greater number of service members deployed conus or oconus. From a military development standpoint, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan provoked the number of deployments to grow substantially. Since September 11, 2001, over 1.7 million service members have been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Operation Enduring Freedom’s military focus is on securing the nation of Afghanistan, while as its name suggest, Operation Iraqi Freedom is concerned with securing the nation of Iraq. In addition to the service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of service members were deployed to Kuwait and Qatar in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Moreover, tens of thousands service members were deployed in support of contingency operations around the world.
So what happens when you receive your "orders" to go? Generally speaking your Unit, if you are deploying as a unit, will receive unit orders informing the Command that their unit will be deployed. If on the other hand you are an individual deployer as I was, you could receive your initial order via a phone call followed by orders requesting that you report for active duty. The amount of notice given to a service member ranges anywhere from several months in advance to only several days prior to the date ordered to active duty. I received my orders only three weeks before my scheduled day to report for duty.
There have been millions of Americans deployed to war zones around the world since this great country was founded over 230 years ago, however, recently it appears that many soldiers are deploying in greater frequency then ever before. In addition, some of those deployed are on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even 5th deployment. In many cases, the deployment is involuntary and not knowing all of the information that will make the deployment less stressful creates a tremendous burden not only for the deploying service member but the family of that service member as well.
Deployment is much like a roller coaster ride at an amusement park. You first have the uncertainty of the entire event much like what you feel as you enter the gate to a roller coaster that you have never ridden before. You are unsure if you will make it. You may even attempt to get out of it at the very last minute. The roller coaster makes its climb and just as you begin the process of family planning and the actual deployment, you become anxious and nervous. After you’ve made it to the top of the roller coaster, you brace yourself for your quick decent, and at this point you realize there is no turning back. This is a similar feeling to what you may experience upon reaching your mobilization site but you brace yourself anyway and prepare for the many highs and lows this ride will offer.
In my new book, I will attempt to share some insights for service members and their families as to of what to expect during the time of deployment and the best way to minimize many difficulties sure to occur... How to take care of business at home before taken care of business overseas.
