Resources

When Johnny/Joanie Comes Marching Home

Extended separation from family by a military spouse can either strengthen or negatively impact marriage and family relationships. Prior to the Persian Gulf War, the armed forces seldom addressed the impact of deployments, combat, and reunions on families.

Chaplain (Colonel) Gary R. Councell, U.S. Army retired, currently serving as associate director/military endorser of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.

Extended separation from family by a military spouse can either strengthen or negatively impact marriage and family relationships. Prior to the Persian Gulf War, the armed forces seldom addressed the impact of deployments, combat, and reunions on families. With the help of concerned chaplains and commanders, families worked out issues associated with military mission requirements. Today, the United States Department of Defense gives increasing attention to this readiness factor. Several books and programs are available about reunions of military personnel with their families. When Johnny/Joanie Comes Marching Home, by Chaplain Les Westling, is a most helpful resource and one worth reading.

Dr. Westling provides invaluable insights for ministering to the emotional, relational, and spiritual needs that separations can cause. He addresses the deeper concerns often masked by surface behavior without attempting to be analytical. Deployments, combat, and extended separations cause changes. Those changes affect relationships and cannot be ignored. Separations also create uncertainty and apprehension. Couples who prepare, communicate, and live responsibly discover their marital and family bonds actually grow stronger. Hope, respect, and trust counteract the negative impacts of separation and change.

Writing from more than a quartercentury of naval deployments and combat experience, Chaplain Westling shares a succinct and practical guide for care-givers who counsel reuniting military families. He does not give a checklist of things to do or avoid. Rather, he alerts counselors to issues often mistakenly attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder or critical incident stress. Given some supportive assistance, Westling believes most military families can work through the challenges of separations and reunions.

The book packs a wealth of professional care concepts in its welldocumented 117 pages. Part two offers detailed pre-reunion seminars for spouses at home and returning groups. A CD complete with illustrations is also included. Pastors and military families alike will find reunions less problematic after reading When Johnny/Joanie Comes Marching Home.

Chaplain (Colonel) Gary R. Councell, U.S. Army retired, currently serving as associate director/military endorser of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.

January 2007

Download PDF
Ministry Cover

More Articles In This Issue

On Spending Time in the Word

Most of us dread being told to do what we know perfectly well we should do, but for which we simply cannot find the heart, the will, and, yes, that dirty word, the discipline-but mainly, I think, the heart, and perhaps the hope that something good really might come of something that for too long seems not to have lived up to all that has been promised for it.

Living in a diverse church: a case study

The composition of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has changed drastically in recent decades.

Cancer and faith

Cancer ranks among the most dreaded of all diseases. In the United States alone, 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed each year, with 8,000 of them being children.

Israel in biblical prophecy

What is the role of Israel in biblical prophecy? The question assumes urgency in view of continuous presentation in some circles that the present-day state of Israel has a definite role defined in prophecy.

Belonging before believing: reaching out to the emerging culture

In college I spent two summers working as a Bible worker for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in central California. I was working in the area south of San Francisco known as the Silicon Valley.

Silent Sermons

For most people, speech becomes a very important component of life. Most of the time, when we as human beings communicate, we do it verbally. The crucial role that spoken and written words play in interpersonal relations should never be underestimated.

View All Issue Contents

Digital delivery

If you're a print subscriber, we'll complement your print copy of Ministry with an electronic version.

Sign up

Recent issues

See All
Advertisement - SermonView - WideSkyscraper (160x600)