What is The Reintegration Project?

Well, I've started the project...

Before I get into that, a little about me first.  We all have a story that makes us who we are.  Mine started back in 1973 in Decatur, Illinois.  I came from pretty humble beginnings through a series of events that, if things had gone even slightly different, I may not be here to do this today.  My parents were both college students just beginning their lives and didn't know much about building relationships, let alone living life.

My dad went and got a job to support our new family.  My mom finished up school to get her degree.  Little did I know everything they had to go through to start building a life together to raise their new family.  They made it work anyhow.  Dad worked at the local plant where they made tires.  Mom got a job as a social worker for the state helping families get back on their feet.  One of the major things I learned from them was how important it is to help people.

After a number of years, a little brother, a broken home, and a fairly rebellious teenage period, I had finished off a less-than-stellar high school career.  I had spent the greater part of my childhood moving about every year or so, thus not really establishing any roots.  Without many options left, I decided to strike out on my own after graduation and joined the Air Force.  

Throughout my time in the military, I set about doing what I needed to get the job done that was at hand.  It took me quite a few years and a number of moves later to realize what I had gotten myself into.  I was living the sort of transitory life that made it easy to avoid the difficult work it took to really put any significant effort in cultivating and developing lasting relationships.  I came to realize that relationships are the most important part of life and, even though it requires a lot of work, patience, understanding, and forgiveness, those relationships are worth it in the end.

Many people don't understand just how much work it takes folks in military families to build and cultivate relationships, close relationships, through the periods of living together, then apart, then together, then apart, then together again.  That and a mighty strong call from God are why I have started this project.  I want to gather and share the experiences of those who have gone through it and come out the other side scathed, scarred and better because of it.  Throughout the military community there exists a wealth of information on how families reintegrate after periods apart due to training, assignments, deployments, etc.

I would be lying if I said that I do this alone.  Tons of people will contribute to this project in the form of their experiences, collecting, editing, and generally helping me stay on track bringing it all together.  My prayer is that the end product will help at least one person.  I intend to use this blog not just to log my journey, but to also highlight some of the stories collected that illustrate what reintegration is all about.

Here we go!