Yellow Ribbon event Phoenix

Today I spent 6 hours with Cecil Ennett, the Community Liaison of Arkansas for Operation Homefront. We set up a table at the State House Convention Center in downtown Little Rock at 7:15 am this morning. This was a pre-deployment event for the Arkansas National Guard 1038th Engineer Company that will be deploying soon in which the following organizations had tables set up that provided information to soldiers and their families about resources they can use during and post-deployment.

Yellow Ribbon

Military Family Life Consultant

Personal Financial Consultant

Transition Assistance Advisor

Military One Source

TRICARE

VA Regional Office

Vet Center

AR National Guard Education Office

Employer Support for Guard and Reserve

Family Assistance Coordinator

Phoenix University

Sexual Assault Response Coordinator

VA Medical Center

Jones International University

Hero 2 Hired

Red Cross

Operation Homefront

It was incredible to see the variety of soldiers that fight for this country. With differences of race, age and personality, they each had their own way about them. My role was to hand out free 1 pound bags of coffee to the individuals, as well as give them information about how Operation Homefront can help them and their families during this time in their career. Having my significant other deployed overseas for 9 months, it would have been wonderful to know of such a great resource to help during those tough times. Answering their many questions was something that I never thought I would find so rewarding. This gave me an opportunity to understand their thoughts and concerns as they embarked on a new journey. Many of the soldiers brought along their children, wives, parents, girlfriends, even grandparents to receive as much information as possible and let them all be more at ease knowing how many organizations are available to help them. It was also astounding to see how many young men had advanced themselves to the rank of E-4 in their very early twenties. The rank of E-5 is a sergeant; and to me, their accomplishments of getting that far that quickly is mind-blowing, showing their determination, perseverance and dedication to their duty. I felt honored to be in the presence of such astounding soldiers. May God bless them and their families during their time away as they fight for our freedoms. To them, and all other service members, do I owe such gratitude.