Diary supports ADF families
Volume 11, No. 38, March 8, 2006

Diary check: Sgt Glenn Bourke looks through the new diary with Lt Caroline Harrop.Photo by Phil Barling.

A NEW ADF Operational Deployment Diary has been produced to provide a greater level of support to deploying members and their families.

LSF Commander Brig Mick Kehoe launched the diary at the Randwick Barracks Conference Centre on February 23.
The first copies were issued to members undertaking the DFSU Force Preparation for Op Azure.

“The deployment diary is a wonderful initiative, with great potential. Its usefulness is only limited by your willingness to use it,” Brig Kehoe said.

The Operational Deployment Diary is a DHS and 1 Psych Unit initiative, funded by the Defence Peoples Committee. It aims to provide information, management strategies and resources to deploying members and their families, assisting them to effectively readjust to operational service, separation, stress and the return home of members.

The diary will be given to all members during Force Preparation Courses conducted by DFSU. It will allow members to record notes, contacts, thoughts or any information pertinent to their operational experience.

Additionally, the Deployment Guide section provides members and their families with information regarding the various psychological phases of deployments and the effects these phases might have. It covers tips specifically for single members, for members with partners and for those with children, as well as highlighting issues of note potentially experienced by all.

Included in this section is helpful information and further resources for deployed members’ families, assisting people to manage difficult situations as they arise.

Capt Laura Sinclair, the Snr Project Officer responsible for the redevelopment of the Deployment Guide, said the diary’s key benefit was that it “assists members and their loved ones in adjusting to the deployment experience and provides them with support, resources and realistic expectations”.

The diary will soon include a Homecoming Guide that will cover reintegration issues and useful information to assist members and their loved ones.