Is your spouse a member of the National Guard or Reserves?  Do you have questions about what happens with benefits and deployment pay entitlements when your servicemember returns home from deployment?

If so, the 446th Mission Support Squadron will have the answers to these questions and more at an upcoming post-deployment workshop.

Hosted by the Airman & Family Readiness Center at JBLM-McChord Field, the third annual Yellow Ribbon Post-deployment Workshop is set for April 16 and 17 at the Red Lion Inn in Olympia.

A Congressionally mandated initiative, the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program helps prepare Guard and Reserve servicemembers and their families deal with all aspects of deployment.  Through the program, servicemembers and their families are prepared for deployment, families receive assistance during deployment. There is also assistance provided during the reintegration process when the servicemember returns home.

All 446th AW airmen who have deployed for 90 days or more in support of current operations and their family members who attend the workshop are eligible to have their expenses reimbursed. Guardsmen and reservists who have not been deployed may attend, but they are ineligible for reimbursement.

The workshop is designed to provide servicemembers with information about various issues concerning their benefits, including: entitlements to health care in the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs systems, TRICARE benefits while they are deployed, and upon return dental care programs, referral for counseling services, financial counseling, child and youth services, VA benefits, anger and substance abuse management, safety awareness, domestic violence awareness, marriage enrichment, and single servicemember issues.

Each event held during the deployment cycle will provide specific information on benefits, services, and resources that are available during and after the deployment. Most of the information that is provided at the pre-deployment stage of deployment will be discussed in each of the other phases of the workshop.

For more information about eligibility requirements, hotel accommodations, day care services, and workshop registration, contact Master Sgt. Steven Thomas at (253) 982-5330.

To find out more about the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration program and to find other workshops, visit the Web site at www.jointservicesupport.org.