Yellow Ribbon comes to Memphis Published Dec. 1, 2010 By Capt. Patrick Simmons Public Affairs DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- Recently-returned and soon-to-be-deployed Airmen and their families donned their "blue suede shoes" to attend the Yellow Ribbon conference on Nov. 20-21 in Memphis, Tenn. The Yellow Ribbon event, held just minutes from the musically-famous Beale Street and Elvis Presley's Graceland, provided service members and families a fun-filled weekend together gathering valuable information on veteran benefits, techniques for deployment stress relief and communicating with loved ones. Approximately 180 people, including 20 airmen and 30 family members from Dobbins Air Reserve Base took part in the weekend event, according to Capt. Travis Shepard, the 94th Airlift Wing Yellow Ribbon representative. Yellow Ribbon was designed to benefit National Guard and Reserve members and provide their families help during all phases of operational deployment. "Yellow Ribbon is about combat effectiveness," said Maj. Gen. James T. Rubeor, 22nd Air Force commander. "Our soldiers, Airmen, sailors, and Marines are more effective knowing that family is taken care of and leadership cares about their families." General Rubeor and his wife were among several senior leaders from Dobbins Air Reserve Base who were in Memphis participating in the event, and also included Col. Steven R. Clayton, 94th Airlift Wing Operations Group commander. Col. Clayton and his wife attended the Yellow Ribbon couple's communication workshop, and both had very positive things to say about the session. "[Deploying Airmen] have a lot of stress to deal with, and hearing different perspectives of how to deal with stress was very valuable," said Clayton. Senior Airman Andrew Alexandersen, a C-130 loadmaster with the 700th Airlift Squadron at Dobbins ARB, Ga., and his wife attended Yellow Ribbon after he recently returned from a 60-day deployment to Ali Al Saleem Air Base, Kuwait. "There were several things we learned over the weekend that would have been nice to know about before deployment, such as understanding how to keep Tricare updated and how and when to re-instate Tricare Reserve Select once a deployment is over," said Airman Aleandersen. "All the speakers were incredibly and really clear in covering all the information you need to know [before and after deployment]," said Mrs. Alexandersen. Attendees from other bases included Senior Airman Isaac Cathey and his wife from Keesler AFB, Miss., where Cathey is a drilling reservist with the 403rd Maintenance Squadron. The Cathey's were taking advantage of the weekend to prepare for an upcoming deployment to Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan, and also had only positive things to say about the event. Being able to interact over the weekend with people who have gone through a similar experience has been great, said Airman Cathey. "Normally, you go through a season in life not know what is coming. Because of Yellow Ribbon, we have a book in hand to flip pages and provide guidance on how to deal with being separated," said Mrs. Cathey. "If you think about the demands of the servicemember and the sacrifices of the families, the kind of networking, information transfer, and building that happens at Yellow Ribbon is invaluable," concluded General Rubeor.
