Deployments leave families behind to carry on

TIFTON — A recent deployment of the National Guard 48th Brigade and other soldiers to Afghanistan has left a lot of local military families behind to carry on. The family of one soldier, 1st Sgt. Scott Rainwater, wants to remind everyone to keep the military overseas in their memories and not let them slip off the radar.

“I feel like our soldiers have been put on the back burner with all this talk of the economy, but there are soldiers still serving and sacrifices still being made to keep our freedoms. We need to remember the soldiers and their families and remember the fallen,” Jennifer Rainwater said.

This will be the second deployment that the Rainwater family has faced. It has been made more difficult by the arrival of the Rainwater’s third child, Holton, born June 24, two and a half weeks after his father was deployed.

“It’s been tough with him [Scott] missing the delivery and birth,” Rainwater said. “We keep in touch and talk on the phone about once a week and we’ve sent him pictures of the baby on Facebook and chat on the computer. It’s been a good way to keep in touch. That’s the only way he’s seen the baby so far.”

The Rainwaters’ other two children, Hannah, 10, and Miranda, 5, have already been through one deployment with the support of the Family Assistance Center located at the National Guard Armory in Tifton on Highway 41 South near the airport.

“I’ve just had to accept that Scott’s serving his country and doing his duty and make the best of the situation. I’ve got a wonderful support group and the FAC. We made it through the first deployment and we’ll make it through this,” Rainwater said.

The Family Assistance Center offers services and support to soldiers and families of all branches of the armed forces. Deployment services include briefings for pre-deployment and reintegration (return from deployment) by the Yellow Ribbon Program.

These briefings involve the families of deploying soldiers and include information on handling finances during a deployment and preparation paperwork like powers of attorney, military ID protocol and help with finding guardianship for single parents.

Tinie Stringfield, FAC specialist for Atkinson, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Dougherty, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Tift, Turner, Ware and Worth counties, said she keeps in constant contact with the families of the deployed soldiers.

“I send e-mails everyday with any information I get on grants, scholarships and updates on Tricare [military health insurance]. I also do a school supply drive and a Christmas toy drive to benefit children of deployed soldiers and local churches,” Stringfield said.

Through the FAC there is also a Youth Department which does activity camps throughout the year for military children. The FAC provides a military family-life consultant through the Yellow Ribbon Program that helps families with youth discipline, coping, marital issues and anything else that comes from going through a deployment.

Stringfield encourages all military families to contact the nearest FAC for assistance with deployment. Any local businesses interested in providing Military Day Discounts should contact Stringfield at 977-0082.

To contact reporter Chivaun Perez, call 382-4321.

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