4MCA.com  /  Operation Reach Out: Suicide Prevention App

  1. Welcome Home! 5 Tips for Reintegration

    The day a service member returns home from deployment is one of the happiest and most eagerly anticipated days in the life of any member of a military family. The following months are a wonderful time full of re-connection and re-discovery, but they can also be stressful and challenging.  A...
  2. How Military Families Stay Connected During Deployments

    It can be very difficult when a member of a Military family is deployed. They are too many miles apart and the deployed spouse can feel so distant from their families. Here are some great ideas about how to stay connected during a deployment. 1) Send fun care packages- This...
  3. MotoMail for Marines

    Family and friends of Marines deployed to Afghanistan can send a physical letter to their loved one without leaving the house or paying for postage. MotoMail is a free, private and secure service that allows you to write a message out like an e-mail. Then, in Afghanistan, the letter will...
  4. Relocation, New Friends, and Long Distance Friendships

    A host of recent studies have examined the effect of frequent relocation on children and adolescents.  Military families relocate significantly more often than civilian families, and service members’ kids are not the only ones affected.  Leaving close friends and established support networks, and bidding farewell to friends as they leave for...
  5. Readjusting After a Deployment

    You wait and you wait and you wait for the day your soldier gets home from deployment.  Finally your life can go back to “normal,” finally you won’t have to shoulder all the responsibilities of holding down the home front.  But homecomings aren’t always the fairy tale we build up...
  6. A Christmas Dinner

    A guest post from David J. Karwoski – John was a disabled Vietnam veteran who struggled with debilitating health issues as a result of the war. His daily struggles centered around diabetes, peripheral neuropathy and residual problems from malaria—not to mention the several pounds of metal used to hold his...
  7. Your Spouse Has Depression? Here’s How to Help.

    I have depression. Actually, if you want to be specific, my diagnosis is much longer and more detailed than that. Depression is a lot shorter to say and to type.  Let us not be prisoners of mere words and move forward together. I am lucky to have my spouse.  Not...
  8. Getting Married: 7 Things You Should Know

    Congratulations and welcome to a very exciting time in your life! Marriage and the military offer many challenges. The ups and downs you will experience mimic a rollercoaster ride. However, a sense of humor and patience will take you a long way. Marriage is not for everyone, just as the...