ST. PAUL, Minn. - A first for the National Guard achieved by Minnesota will likely be discussed at the National Guard Bureau's Joint Family Program Volunteer Workshop and Youth Symposium in St. Louis, Mo., beginning Monday.
Last month, Minnesota became the first National Guard state to formally sign an official family covenant.
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other elected officials and commanders from all service branches joined LTG H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito, Minnesota's adjutant general, to sign Minnesota's Military Family and Community Covenant on June 16.
"This is the gold standard for how to take care of Soldiers and their families," Blum said. "Minnesota is leading the way for the nation."
"The Minnesota Military Family and Community Covenant recognizes the increasing sacrifices that our servicemembers are making every day," Shellito said, "and lays out specific actions that both military and civilian leadership can do to sustain the assistance programs that work, expand on those that need it, and create an even higher sense of awareness among the great citizens of Minnesota."
Among other goals, the covenant aims to provide better services to assist Citizen-Soldiers and their families, expand services to wounded warriors and to help Soldiers returning from deployments.
Senior leaders worldwide began signing Army family covenants in 2007, pledging $1.4 billion for Soldier and family programs. Minnesota was the first Guard state to get on board.
The Minnesota National Guard has a program called Beyond the Yellow Ribbon for returning combat veterans.
"Returning from combat to civilian life has never been easy," Shellito, a Vietnam combat veteran, said in a June report to Congress about the pilot program. "We ask our National Guard Soldiers and their families to make this transition with little to no training and preparation for the challenges they face. We owe them better in light of the service they've selflessly rendered."
Beyond the Yellow Ribbon provides a smorgasbord of Soldier and family support from before deployment to long after the return home. Elements include mental and spiritual preparation for the transition from citizen to warrior, marriage enrichment workshops, counseling, reintegration training and long-term support through other activities.
The program partners the Minnesota National Guard with community educational, government and medical institutions.
Participants at next week's symposium in St. Louis will discuss such state initiatives and hear from leaders from around the nation.
Among scheduled speakers at the symposium: Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Thomas Hall, assistant secretary of defense for Reserve Affairs; and Lt. Gen. Craig McKinley, the Air National Guard director who on Wednesday was recommended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to be the next chief of the National Guard Bureau and the first to hold the position as a four-star general.
Note: Pfc. Stephanie Cassinos of the Minnesota National Guard and Susan Huseman of Army News Service contributed to this report.