The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration program was established under the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act . The program's goal is to prepare service members and their families for deployment, sustain the family and service member through deployment and help reintegrate them back into their civilian communities when they return.

Because most civilian soldiers (NG/Reserve) return to their private lives after deployment, it's essential that the soldiers have an opportunity to reconnect with their fellow comrades and families to talk out their experiences. The Yellow Ribbon program has a 30, 60 and 90 day connect point where soldiers and families are guided through dialogues, counseling sessions and also informational sessions on what to expect, how to handle PCS, and other issues that may come up after deployment.

In the Washington Post last week, Matthew Bogdanos, a Marine Corps reservist, shared a wonderful essay on the divide between the civilian and military worlds.  He writes eloquently about how military veterans (and their families) no longer have the sort of shared cultural and generational experiences like the World War II and even Vietnam generations did.  He reminds us:

As the British general Sir William Butler warned a century ago, "A nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards."

Bogdanos goes on to say:

Without greater understanding between the military and civilian worlds or, better, a return to a synthesis of the two, we risk a future without all of us working toward the same ends -- whatever society decides those ends should be. And we risk misusing military force because of misunderstandings about what it can and can't do or, once used, its being prematurely withdrawn because of unrealistic expectations. The solution is an educated citizenry that understands its soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines -- understands that we are you.

Go read it.