The Blue Book

You know the adage about not judging a book by its cover? The 95th Military Police Battalion Spouses’ Record Book is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t. The book is a modest blue ring binder, referred to as the “blue book.”

The motto on the front, “of the troops, for the troops and the families we support,” hints at the wealth of information it contains. However, it falls short of revealing how much time, effort and thought it took to compile the binder and how valuable it can be.

Since September, the 95th MP’s Family Readiness Group hosted the spouses of three deploying units for family pre-deployment processing and handed out 100 binders. The family PDP’s hands-on process with eight stations serves a number of purposes.

“The checklists seem to be especially helpful, and the Spouse Emergency Preference form, which we created from different samples. We were able to make it clear that spouses need to think about and take care of themselves,” said Stephanie Leary, Family Readiness support assistant. “We brought in legal to do powers of attorney for temporary guardianship, next-of-kin information, insurance paperwork, that kind of thing. We also showed them how to access and use AKO accounts for family members, the FRG and the My Pay Web sites.”

There is no substitute for making eye contact.

***image1***“We were able to introduce the families to key staff and we became familiar with our families. It helped us see red flags, alerting us to potential problems. That way we were not blindsided; we could be proactive,” said Christine Bogdan, senior FRG advisor.

“The contact information we have is often the cell phone number for the Soldier who is already deployed. By having the spouses complete the family member questionnaire, we receive the most up-to-date information,” said Ms. Leary.
Mainly, the group said, pre-deployment stress does not need to be exacerbated by last minute legal errands and such. 

“As you roll into deployment, getting your checklists together is the last thing you want to do; it’s not what you are thinking about at the time. You focus on your spouse and family, on quality time,” said Melissa Kreitzer, senior enlisted
advisor.

The “blue book” is a great tool that can provide military families with some peace of mind; not just during times of deployment. Keeping your life’s most critical information in one place prevents you having to go through a number of drawers and filing cabinets, or worse, mountains of paperwork. And it is very flexible.

“The book is the result of five years of after-action reports and lessons learned
during deployments. It started out as a consulting packet that Family Readiness Group leaders at the 272d Military Police Company used,” said Ms. Kreitzer.

“Each unit can make it their own … You can add forever, use it like a community phone book. It’s really a multi-purpose book. Of course, it should always be updated,” said Ms. Kreitzer.

It’s such a valuable resource. I told my kids and my neighbor where I keep it, in case I’m involved in an emergency. I expanded it a bit, included guardianship papers. Ever since my computer crashed when I wanted to pay my bills, I have added copies of account information in the book,” said Cristina Autry, who is the mother of seven children and an FRG volunteer.

“We have noticed that spouses who went through the PDP and have completed the book feel more self-reliant,” said Ms. Kreitzer. “This is especially true for new spouses who were very unfamiliar with a lot of things in the unit and the German community. For instance, some had no idea they could be excused from work to attend the PDP.  It really helped to have the regulation [USAREUR pamphlet 690-360] in the ‘blue book.’”

“The spouses are very appreciative and thankful for this comprehensive resource. They even get contacted by friends and neighbors who take it to other units, just as we were inspired by the book my neighbor, a 44th Signal Battalion spouse, used,” said Ms. Bogdan.

“Actually, it should be mandatory in the Army,” said Ms. Autry.