Nearly 70,000 children have at least one parent in the U. S. National Guard or Reserve (Our Military Kids, 2007). These children are in civilian schools, very possibly in buildings where you work! Some could be experiencing their parent's first deployment and feeling very alone and scared.
Military deployments have become more frequent for service members in the Guard and Reserves and are having a significant impact on the functioning of the service member's family and on their reintegration into civilian life. There are approximately 456,000 National Guard soldiers and 400,000 reserve soldiers. There are 205 National Guard posts across America with North Dakota being the only …