Briefing Presented at the Symposium on Army Spouses 18 June 2002

1. Briefing Presented atthe Symposium on Army Spouses18 June 2002 What We’ve Learned About Army Spouses, Junior Spouses And Army Family Programs Through the AFTB Program Assessment

2. Structure of Briefing • Overview of AFTB Program Assessment • What we’ve learned about Army Spouses • What we’ve learned about Junior Spouses • What we’ve learned about Army Family Programs • Conclusion.

3. Overview of AFTB Program Assessment • Army Family Team Building (AFTB) is a standardized, Army-wide, readiness training program with the following goals: • Foster personal and family preparedness and empower family members to better manage their lives within the Army culture • Promote more efficient use of community resources and help soldiers and families deal with challenges of military life.

4. Overview of AFTB Program Assessment(cont.) • The ongoing assessment of the AFTB program has the following objectives: • Examine and assess implementation strategies • Identify program outcomes and impacts • Determine best practices • Offer recommendations for program improvement.

5. Overview of AFTB Program Assessment(cont.) • The AFTB program assessment provided a forum to gather information about Army spouses world-wide and the challenges they face adapting to Army life: • 16 Army installations visited, including Active and National Guard • TRADOC, FORSCOM, USAREUR, EUSA MACOMs represented. • Assessment utilizes two sources of information: • Focus groups • Community surveys.

6. What we have learned about Army Spouses “My mom, a lifelong Army spouse, asked me, ‘Don’t you just sort of learn that by living it?’ But she never knew how much my dad made, or where that money went... Wives don’t have to be in the dark.”

7. What we have learned about Army Spouses (cont.) • Army spouses face many challenges, including: • Inadequate, remote housing • Lack of available, affordable child care • Lack of reliable transportation • Hardships associated with frequent TDYs and deployments • Hardships associated with balancing full-time employment and Army family life • OCONUS assignments including physical isolation, foreign cultures, and inconsistent sponsorship support.

8. What we have learned about Junior Spouses “I wish that when I started out as an Army spouse I had had AFTB. I was so lost. My husband was deployed twice before I took the program. I look at what I have learned… and I know how much I could have used it then. If he’s deployed again, I’ll know how to cope and be a leader for others.”

9. What we have learned about Junior Spouses (cont.) • Junior spouses are hit hard by challenges as they are often: • Away from home for the first time • Newly married • New parents with young children • Unskilled or under-skilled in the work force. • Junior soldiers are frequently unreliable conduits of information. Many lack the time or inclination to pass information along, and some deliberately keep their spouses uninformed.

10. What we have learned about Junior Spouses (cont.) • Junior spouses often don’t expect their spouses to stay in the Army: • They see less need to help their service member’s career • They are not interested in learning about the military • They need to see “What’s in it for me?” • Junior spouses often view the Army and Army programs with suspicion, and may be unaware of or have misconceptions about programs like AFTB: • Misunderstanding of the mission of the program • Perception of the programs as not for them, and as an “officers’ wives’ thing.”

11. What we have learned aboutArmy Family Programs • When spouses participate in Army family programs like AFTB, significant positive changes are effected in their lives: • Increased familiarity with the Army • Greater sense of belonging • More realistic expectations of Army life • Improved ability to access resources • Increased self-sufficiency • New friendships and a stronger support system.

12. What we have learned aboutArmy Family Programs (cont.) • Junior spouses are most in need of services offered by AFTB and similar Army family programs, yet are the hardest to reach via standard marketing avenues. “We’re reaching out, but they’re not reaching back.”

13. What we have learned aboutArmy Family Programs (cont.) • AFTB program assessment has yielded guidance on how to better reach junior spouses: • Immediate rather than delayed outreach • Target new spouses right away, before isolation or resentment set in • Active rather than passive marketing • Include personal, one-on-one marketing—take them by the hand • Demonstrative rather than didactic advertising • Show them, don’t tell them—demonstrate to spouses what’s in it for them • Direct rather than indirect information distribution • Provide information directly to spouses—don’t rely on service members • Coordinated rather than segmented support services and programs.

14. Conclusion • The AFTB program assessment has provided a forum in which information about Army spouses in general, and junior spouses in particular, has been collected. • Issues and challenges faced by Army spouses have been identified through the AFTB program assessment • The assessment has yielded guidance on how to address problems and challenges faced by Army spouses, including how to better reach and serve junior spouses.