SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - You're paddling your canoe on the lake of life.
One day your spouse jumps out of the canoe, causing the boat to flip over and your entire family is treading water. It takes some time, but your family gets back in the canoe and starts paddling again.
Before you know it, your spouse swims back over to the canoe and tries to get back in, dumping everyone back into the water.
This is what happens when a Soldier deploys. Shortly after a family learns to adjust with their loved one gone, the Soldier comes home and everyone is forced to re-adapt to changes in the home, sometimes flipping over the canoe.
The Illinois National Guard has taken a proactive approach by reaching out to families and helping them deal with the adjustments that occur when their Soldier returns from a deployment.
The family academy is here to ensure both the family members and the Soldier know what benefits and programs are available.
Illinois National Guard Family Academies were started in 2008 to provide an opportunity for families to meet experts to answer their questions and give them the tools and insight to ease the challenges of reintegration.
Reintegration is a process servicemembers endure as they transition from Soldier back to citizen following mobilization.
Maj. Tammy Duckworth, the former director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, recently told a crowd here at a family academy that assistance is available, but the National Guard cannot help if they do not know there is a problem.
"The Soldier is stubborn. They wouldn't be Soldiers if they weren't stubborn," said Duckworth. "They won't believe they need help. You're the witness to see that he is withdrawn or that she is not as funny as she used to be."
Duckworth was recently nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Although she is now working in Washington D.C., Duckworth is still a member of the Illinois Army National Guard and continues to be a voice to stress the importance of helping veterans after they return from deployment.
Wendy Ford is dealing with the affects of deployment and attended a recent family academy to learn what to expect when her husband returns.
She said the academies offer families information, but they also provide an outlet for families to talk to others in the same situation.
"They're going through the same thing," she said. "You have similar stories and can make a connection to others. It's nice to know you are not alone."
Wendy's husband, Delbert, deployed to Afghanistan last fall with the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He left behind two boys, ages 7 and 13. Wendy said the deployment has given her a better appreciation for single parents and her heart aches knowing what her husband is missing.
"I can hold my sons at night. My husband can't," Wendy said. "I just want to bottle them up and send them overseas, so Delbert can see them."
While Soldiers receive reintegration training upon returning from deployment, families need to receive similar information prior to the servicemember returning home.
"It's the last day of school when they come back, and they don't do a lot of teaching on the last day," said 2nd Lt. Justin Anweiler of Lincoln, reintegration coordinator for the Illinois National Guard.
The intent of the academy is to ensure families receive information and know what resources are available to them while their Soldier is deployed and help the family prepare for the servicemember's return.
"This is one way the Illinois National Guard is trying to help families of our deployed men and women who are sometimes fighting their own battles at home while their Soldier is fighting a war overseas," Anweiler said.