It’s the New Year! If you’re already despairing about resolutions, keep in mind that making small changes in behavior that fit easily into your lifestyle are good options for family health and weight loss over time. For one month, try choosing three small habits to focus on changing that you can apply to any situation, whether you’re at home, overseas, or travelling. Try setting up email or calendar reminders if that helps you, or put up tangible reminders such as sticky notes around your house. To get you started, here are some ideas:

• Keep unhealthy foods such as potato chips, cookies, etc. out of sight so they are less tempting.
• Put down your fork and knife between bites.
• Portion out “snackable” foods that come in large bags/containers into smaller one-serving containers, so you don’t keep dipping in.
• Choose water over soda.
• Keep fresh fruit on hand to replace fatty, high-calorie snacks.

For more help, Military OneSource has a Health and Wellness Coaching Program that can help you lose weight and improve your overall fitness. Finally, for more information on making healthy food choices for you and your family, visit HPRC’s Family Nutrition section.

November 11^th is Veterans Day. HPRC would like to take this moment to thank each and every one of our Veterans and their family members who have so selflessly served our country. The VA describes Veteran’s Day as “a celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.”

Thank you to our Vets!

Beginning on November 1^st the U.S. Army will bring back the requirement to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test, including weight standards, in order to enroll in professional military education courses. Initially this requirement was waived due to the great demand for soldiers during OIF and OEF. Sgt. Todd McCaffrey states, "Reestablishing the Army physical fitness test and height/weight standards into our professional military education programs reinforces the efforts the Army's senior leaders have been emphasizing on standards based training and education." For information on how to meet these requirements, visit HPRC’s Fighting Weight Strategies, service-specific Physical Fitness Guides, and Policies, Standards, Reports, and Guidelines.

Post-deployment life presents challenges on many fronts, including, or particularly, reestablishing relationships. The relationship between children and the returned parent often takes time to rebuild—possibly several months. This amount of time is normal, and an effort should be made to not take it personally. Rather, build positive family bonding through activities like going to the park or playing games, and allow time for the relationship to redevelop.

The American Psychological Association has officially recognized what animal lovers knew all along: pets are good for one’s mental health. Warfighters need help to reduce stress and support their mental health, and having a pet may provide some helpful companionship. The problem is that Warfighters end up going places their pets can’t go—so what do they do? They either don’t get pets in the first place, or they end up having to find places for their pets while they are deployed—a big source of unwanted stress. Unfortunately, when family or friends can’t help, that place may end up being a shelter. The American Humane Association has advice for military personnel, including making plans for the care of pets and, when all else fails, finding a foster home through organizations such as Dogs on Deployment, Military Pets FOSTER Project, and (specifically for cats) Operation Noble Foster. So don’t stress out about your pet—or about getting one, if you’ve been putting it off. Hooah!

Memorial Day began as “Decoration Day” after the Civil War. In 1882, Decoration Day became widely known as Memorial Day, and after WWII it became a day to remember all our fallen heroes, not just those from the Civil War. In 1967, Congress passed the law making it an official holiday to be celebrated on May 30, subsequently changed to the last Monday of May. We at HPRC extend our greatest appreciation to those who have perished for our nation and offer our sincere sympathy for the families left behind. There are many ways people choose to remember those who gave their life as a supreme sacrifice to our country and its ideals, but most involve outdoor activities with families. HPRC (www.hprconline.org) is dedicated to providing our Warfighters and their families the information they need to build their resilience to prevent injury and illness and carry out their missions as safely and effectively as possible. Our desire is to reduce the level of sacrifice our warriors have to make as they fulfill their future missions for us and for our Nation.

At the U.S. Army Garrison in Kaiserslautern (Germany), the base is trying to find more ways to include families in physical fitness. They are providing classes— called “Binkies and Babes” —that spouses can do with their babies. These classes are great ways for spouses to workout with their young children, socialize with other military families, and get a great individual workout!

Overseas military families can sometimes find it difficult to both exercise and manage child care. This is one way overseas bases are moving towards Total Family Fitness. Renee Champagne, the Fitness Coordinator for the Army bases in Germany (and a military spouse herself), sees how “working out and staying physically fit may help a spouse cope during a deployment… which in turn could provide peace of mind to the military member downrange.”

For more information, see the article and video on Stars and Stripes.

The Department of Defense (DoD) Combat Feeding Program (CFP) is responsible for all of the combat rations that feed service members and for the research, development, engineering, integration, and technical support of those rations. Their mission is to ensure that United States Warfighters are the best-fed in the world. It’s important that any new combat ration developed is fueled by the wants and needs of Warfighters themselves; they even field-test new rations to make sure that their requirements are being met. Items that pass their standards are then incorporated into ration menus so that they have a variety of nutritional meals to choose from.

The Meal, Ready to Eat™ (MRE™) is used by all military services to feed Warfighters during operations where food service facilities are not available. MREs are essential to military subsistence; they’re intended to provide a Warfighter’s sole sustenance for up to 21 days of deployment (in accordance with AR 40-25) and are still nutritionally adequate for longer periods if necessary. MREs™ are shelf stable for 36 months at 80˚F.

The Unitized Group Ration – Heat & Serve™ (UGR-H&S™) is designed to feed 50 Warfighters per module and is the first group meal consumed in early deployment, as soon as field kitchens (without refrigeration capability) are available. All components of the ration are pre-cooked and shelf stable for 18 months at 80˚F.

The UGR-A™ is also designed to feed 50 Warfighters per module and consists of high-quality group meals.  The UGR-A™ is the only military operational ration that contains frozen food components. It’s based on a build to-order assembly process that requires refrigerated/ frozen storage and a field kitchen for preparation.

The UGR-B™ is used primarily by the Marine Corps to provide high-quality group rations that don’t require refrigeration and are quick and easy to prepare.

The UGR-Express™ (UGR-E™) is designed to provide a complete, hot meal for 18 Warfighters in remote locations where group field feeding wouldn’t be possible otherwise. It’s a compact, self-contained, self-heating module that doesn’t require cooks or a field kitchen for preparation. With the simple pull of a tab, the food is heated in 30-45 minutes and is served in trays to Warfighters like a cook-prepared meal.

The First Strike Ration® (FSR™) is a compact, eat-on-the-move assault ration intended to be consumed during initial assault by forward-deployed Warfighters. The FSR™ is shelf stable for 24 months at 80˚F and provides a new capability in that it is 50% lighter, smaller, and easier to prepare when compared to the MRE™.

The Meal, Cold Weather™ (MCW™) and Food Packet, Long Range Patrol™ (LRP™), which contain freeze-dehydrated entrees, are designed to meet the nutritional and operational needs for extreme cold environments, special operations, and long-range reconnaissance missions. They are shelf stable for 36 months at 80˚F.

The Modular Operational Ration Enhancement™ (MORE™) is an enhancement pack designed to augment operational rations with additional calories and nutrients when Warfighters are operating in extreme environments such as high altitude in cold or hot weather.

For more information on any of the above, please call (508)-233-4670 or visit the Army’s Natick Soldier Research website.

Caring for elderly parents, even in the best of situations, can be difficult for anyone. But it can be even more of a challenge for military service members. Trying to make long-term care and emergency decisions for elderly parents while simultaneously carrying a great deal of responsibility at work can cause a lot of worry. Military service members are also often deployed overseas, far away from their aging parents, which makes it more difficult to monitor their parents’ well-being. As parents age, they may need assistance with daily activities such as home maintenance, personal hygiene, and meals. And if a medical emergency occurs without a contingency plan in place, it adds to the burden of guilt and anxiety over what could happen in the service member’s absence.

A service member’s worry increases as the age of his parents increases, according to a study of senior-ranking male officers aged 40-49, especially if the parents have had any prior illnesses. The uneasiness of a service member decreased if he had other siblings and a solid parent-care plan in place.

Here are some preemptive steps that a service member can take to make sure his or her parents are well cared for, even from a different continent:

• Research what community and government resources are available for information and support services in your parents’ neighborhood.
• Ask siblings, extended family members, neighbors, and friends to help with your parent-care responsibilities.
• Schedule regular phone calls or Skype chats for updates on your parents’ health.
• Develop a care plan together with your parents before a medical emergency occurs.

With so many people counting on you, it is important to be organized, mentally solid, and in control of every situation no matter what happens. Strategic planning and communication can make all the difference in caring for your elderly parents from afar and help you maintain performance while dealing with additional stress loads. For more information on caregiver support and eldercare, please visit the National Resource Directory and the Armed Forces Crossroads.

When my own husband returned from deployment, I was thrilled but anxious as I stood on the airstrip waiting for his helicopter to arrive. I thought about all of the birthdays, holidays, and special events he had missed during his time away. I wondered what it would be like to share a home with him again after I had become so independent.

This is an experience felt at some point by most military families, and it has a name: “boundary ambiguity.” Boundary ambiguity can affect military families in two ways: ambiguous absence (during deployment) and ambiguous presence (post-deployment).

When one member of the family is deployed, the rest of the family knows that their service member is absent physically but senses psychologically that he or she is present. The family continues to focus on its service member by seeking information about his or her location and well-being. When deployment information turns out to be uncertain, feelings of hopelessness, confusion, and at times resentment may increase among family members.

As with most families, flexibility is important for military family success and happiness. When the service member leaves for deployment, the usual roles and responsibilities he or she once filled now have to be filled by the other family members. This can cause additional uncertainty because, although they still consider their loved one is a viable family member, the other spouse must take over decision-making responsibilities that affect the family unit. The spouse at home can also feel a loss of emotional support, which heightens the stress load he or she is carrying.

Additionally, once the service member has returned from deployment, the rest of the family knows that he or she is physically present yet still perceives psychologically that he or she is absent.

The reunion, although joyful, may bring about the added and unanticipated stresses of trying to get back to the family’s pre-deployment lives or adjust to new roles. Role confusion may increase if the family is not comfortable communicating with each other regarding each person's roles, responsibilities, and needs. And at the same time, the returned service member may feel disconnected and may not know how to re-engage without interfering with the family’s new roles.

Researchers of military reserve families in wartime interviewed 16 reservists and 18 family members (spouse, significant other, or parent) upon the reservists’ return from deployment, and they found that all family members experienced boundary ambiguity. Family members sought to cope with these feelings during deployment by:

• Continuing to seek additional information from the media, even though too much information sometimes caused additional stress; and
• Attending a military-sponsored Family Support Group (FSG) for family members of reservists, which provided emotional support.

When reunited after deployment, family members and reservists adjusted over time. Once the reservist went back to civilian employment, the family’s routines became “normalized” and roles were established. In addition, open communication about issues such as reestablishing previous tasks or assigning new ones helped to stabilize the family unit.

Once home, my husband wanted to resume certain family roles immediately, while I was hesitant to give up my new capabilities so quickly. Fortunately, after reestablishing open discussions over the next several weeks, we began to speak honestly about our preferences. Once we opened up clear lines of communication and listened to each other, our stress levels diminished. We made some compromises and were able to establish an even better household environment than we had pre-deployment.

So be flexible, take advantage of available counseling and support resources, and be patient with your spouse when reestablishing your family roles. After all, there aren’t many things more important than the happiness of your family.