The Department of Defense said it is moving forward with a program to help National Guardsmen and reservists move back into civilian life despite senators from Maryland and Minnesota who say the department isn’t doing enough.
“We established the new Office for Reintegration Programs, which will … provide comprehensive support for all National Guard and Reserve members and their families,” said Eileen Lainez, spokeswoman for the Defense Department.
But Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., want more of a commitment from the Defense Department, calling on President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to cut through bureaucracy to make the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program available in all 50 states.
“While there is strong interest in many other states to fully establish reintegration programs, many have not been able to due to lack of guidance or assurances that adequate funds will be provided,” the senators wrote in a letter to Gates.
The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program is designed to help reduce stress, mental illness and burdens faced by Guardsmen when they return from a combat zone like Iraq. It focuses on mandatory counseling sessions every 30, 60 and 90 days following a return from deployment.
The program was federally mandated in 2007, but until this past summer, the government did not fund the program or support it, officials said.
So far, 15 states, including Maryland, have implemented the program.
“We fought to fund this program despite a complete lack of support from President Bush, but now we are learning that having funds in the federal checkbook are not enough,” said Sen. Mikulski in a e-mailed statement, who was instrumental in getting $65 million the program in this year’s defense spending package.
In response to Mikulski’s letter, Lainez said that on July 22, DOD officials were instructed to provide reintegration programs “for all personnel activated and separated from their families for least 90 days.”
She also said funding is expected to continue for the Yellow Ribbon program.
The Yellow Ribbon program was started in 2005 by the Minnesota National Guard, whose officials told The Examiner last month they saw a decline in suicides and stress-related symptoms in their Guardsmen after the program started.
In Maryland, Guard officials said the program was “extremely successful” in helping its soldiers and airmen return from the largest activation of the Maryland Guard since World War II.
“We have seen results,” said Lt. Col. Charles Kohler, spokesman for the Maryland Guard. “We have been successful because the support we’ve received, and hope to continue to do so.”
