Families of deployed Iowa soldiers have National ‘Guard-ians’ looking out for them
By Ben Kaplan
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DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Nearly 2,000 Iowa families are missing loved ones this holiday season as 1,800 of our National Guard troops are in the middle of a yearlong deployment in the Middle East. But all these families have people looking out for them, so they don’t feel alone.
Kristin Dunwoody is a mother of three whose husband, Maj. Josh Dunwoody, is currently deployed as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. She has spent the last six months without him.
“You know, you’re picking up pieces that your husband or significant other would typically do. Our oldest went off to college and I did that by myself. And that was one of those things that hung over me,” Kristin says.
She has a support system of nearly a dozen other Army wives and a church community that brings her family meals every Wednesday. She says support also comes from the Guard.
“I’ve gotten e-mails, I’ve gotten phone calls, I’ve gotten text messages. Just with all the resources and support that a military family needs, especially during the holidays,” Kristin tells KCCI.
Lt. Col. Ryan Sextro leads a team of 50 across the state, making up the Warrior and Family Services Branch of the Iowa National Guard.
“I think the main difficulty is the unknown. It’s that sense of worry that takes place from the families,” Sextro says.
Through frequent contact with every family of a deployed soldier, they work to help ease that sense of worry by connecting them with a lot of services — from financial and non-medical counseling to access to child and youth programs.
“What we really do is try to preemptively, you know, mitigate issues instead of having something come to us in crisis,” Sextro tells KCCI.
Kristin is thankful for all of it — the check-ins, her fellow Army wives, and the church meals.
“There are over 1,800 Iowa soldiers that are away from their families this holiday,” she says. “And it isn’t easy. There’s a hole. There’s a big gap.”
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