{"id":408583,"date":"2025-04-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=408583"},"modified":"2025-04-11T07:45:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:45:52","slug":"senior-national-guard-spouse-champions-family-readiness-during-indo-pacific-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=408583","title":{"rendered":"Senior National Guard spouse champions family readiness during Indo-Pacific tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Shannon Nordhaus, spouse of Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited National Guard units in the Indo-Pacific region March 29 through April 5, engaged with Guard spouses, and reviewed family care programs that support service members and their families.
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\n Shannon Nordhaus, spouse of Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited National Guard units in the Indo-Pacific region March 29 through April 5, engaged with Guard spouses, and reviewed family care programs that support service members and their families.
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\n Shannon Nordhaus, spouse of Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited National Guard units in the Indo-Pacific region March 29 through April 5, engaged with Guard spouses, and reviewed family care programs that support service members and their families.
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\n Shannon Nordhaus, spouse of Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited National Guard units in the Indo-Pacific region March 29 through April 5, engaged with Guard spouses, and reviewed family care programs that support service members and their families.
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ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam \u2014 Shannon Nordhaus, spouse of Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited National Guard units in the Indo-Pacific region March 29 through April 5, engaged with Guard spouses, and reviewed family care programs that support service members and their families.<\/p>\n

As the senior National Guard Bureau spouse which represents nearly 430,000 Soldiers, Airmen and their families\u2014Shannon toured units in Guam and Hawaii, where she saw firsthand the family programs and resources available to those stationed thousands of miles from the U.S. mainland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strength of our military starts at home,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cSo, we can all agree that a strong family means a focused, mission-ready service member, which in turn strengthens the force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Joyce Williams, superintendent of the National Guard Bureau\u2019s Service Member and Family Programs directorate, accompanied Shannon on the trip to help facilitate ongoing communication, involvement and support between National Guard families and National Guard.<\/p>\n

The directorate provides guidance to family initiatives across the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on the islands provides a unique perspective on how people adapt and thrive with limited resources,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring to see the creativity and collaboration that emerge when a community pulls together every possible asset to make things work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of their distance from the mainland, forging strong, supportive relationships is especially important for service members in territories like Guam and states like Hawaii.<\/p>\n

While visiting Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Shannon met with spouses and care coordinators who refer to themselves as the \u201cCare Squad.\u201d Representatives from the Care Squad shared family-centered insights gleaned from Typhoon Mawar, the most severe storm to strike the island in nearly two years, and explained how it prompted them to establish a resilient family emergency preparedness group.<\/p>\n

\u201cTyphoon Mawar was a wake-up call for Guam,\u201d said Emilyn Santos, Guam National Guard Airman and Family Program manager. \u201cWe saw firsthand how natural disasters can disrupt lives. Having this group established and ready provides peace of mind for spouses and their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

One innovative approach in Guam involved distributing a flyer with a scannable code, providing a convenient, one-stop resource where service members could easily find the support and information they needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team in Guam is incredibly creative,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cTheir Sexual Assault Response Coordinator designed a QR code that connects users to everything from veterans\u2019 services to sexual assault resources. I thought it was a wonderfully unique approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

During portions of the itinerary, Nordhaus joined his wife in celebrating the Month of the Military Child by reading with children and discussing the shared experiences of military families.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s heard the phrase, \u2018It takes a village to raise a child,\u2019 and that\u2019s especially true for military families,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cI consider our military children to be unsung heroes. They adapt, persevere and remind us that resilience can start at any age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon has spent over 35 years as a military spouse and grew up in a military household; her father served in the Air Force. She shared personal stories about how these programs have helped her family thrive under the demands of military life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be transparent: my family has benefited from the military\u2019s mental health services wherever we\u2019ve lived,\u201d she said. \u201cWith five kids, you can imagine the challenges. We\u2019ve even done counseling over the phone when a move uprooted us at Christmas. My husband is a huge advocate for directors of psychological health, and we\u2019re so fortunate to have those resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of branch, Guard families stationed across the Pacific collaborate to host food pantries, partner with local USOs, and maintain constant communication and mutual support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Hawaii, they have a joint pantry that offers food, children’s toys, military clothing items and it is open to every service member and their family, regardless of rank,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities like these, could teach us a thing or two about being gracious and kind. They take the time to thoughtfully consider any changes, and everything they do shows genuine care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon said she hopes to continue visiting National Guard units across the force, ensuring families have the resources they need to effectively support their service members.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing directly from program managers, spouses and leaders has given me deeper insight into how these efforts operate,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cWe must continue advocating for improvements and outreach for our National Guard families and the support they need throughout military life.<\/p>\n

As my husband often says, \u2018We are Stronger Together, Stronger Tomorrow.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nationalguard.mil<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/USNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Shannon Nordhaus, spouse of Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited National Guard units in the Indo-Pacific region March 29 through April 5, engaged with Guard spouses, and reviewed family care programs that support service members and their families. (Photo Credit: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408585,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=408583"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408590,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408583\/revisions\/408590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/408585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=408583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=408583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=408583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}