POTFF to help Air Commandos, families

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Andrea Posey
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Editor's note: This article is the first in a series intended to introduce and explain the Preservation of the Force and Family, which is a Special Operations Command initiative.

Preservation of the Force and Family is a Special Operations Command initiative focused on helping special operations forces and their families.

Adm. William McRaven, SOCOM commander, said he researched the additional pressures Air Commandos face due to the nature of working in a Special Operations career field. He said he wanted to help alleviate some of these pressures.

As a result, POTFF was born.

One of the many ways POTFF helps Air Commandos and their families is that it adds predictability into deployment cycles, McRaven said.

"The amounts of deployment which special operation career fields are sent on did not leave room for them to make plans," he said. "[Before POTFF], they constantly had to be ready to go or they were going."

POTFF placed limits on how often service members can be away from home due to deployments or training, according to Sue Nelson, 1st Special Operations Wing community support coordinator.

"If you go beyond those limits, you have to get waivers to do so," Nelson said. "You can't just send folks even if they say they want to go, because they have to follow the guidelines that have been put out."

POTFF also focuses on the mental, physical and spiritual aspects of health.

For example, clinical psychologist and licensed clinical social workers have recently been embedded with Special Operations Forces as part of the mental pillar, Nelson said. These providers are available on a walk-in basis for service members and their families.

"We've tried to focus on unit-level issues and providing pre-deployment, post-deployment and mid-deployment workshops that are specific to a unit," she said. "The unit commander and the first sergeant can come together with their [units] key spouse and say, 'When our unit gets back from deployment, I want to have this type of activity.'"

"These activities include courses in mental health, family and readiness, and the chapel," Nelson said.

Several classes such as "No more nightmares," "How to improve your sleep," and "Stress relief" are available.

Although POTFF is a rather new initiative, it is rapidly expanding.

"Over the past 12 months, we've made tremendous progress toward strengthening the force, taking care of families, and maximizing readiness," McRaven said. "The POTFF Initiative is critical to the future of SOCOM and I remain committed to making it as accessible and beneficial as possible [to Air Commandos and their families]."

The next article in this series will focus on POTFF's future initiatives over the next year.