In Praise of the Key Volunteer Network

I have been a Key Volunteer for as long as I can remember.  I know that some folks aren't particularly fond of the Network and I can understand why.  With the wrong person volunteering for the wrong reason, it can be a nightmare.  There is a certain personality type that does not suit the goals of a Key Volunteer Network (KVN).  They are better suited running a small country in South America.  I freely admit this.

That said, with the right people volunteering for the right reason, the KVN can be a force of nature.

If you are unsure about wanting to volunteer as KV, I encourage you to just take the training.  It's pretty informative and the trainers are good about making it interesting.  Childcare is paid for too.  You're not committed to volunteering by taking the training.  I retook all the KV training out at Pendleton a couple of years ago. The local resources guide was every Pendleton KV"s deployment buddy.  That guide was a godsend!!!!

I hope that after the training, you choose to volunteer.  Being informed and involved, especially during a deployment, is one of the best ways to stay busy and sane when your spouse is gone.  There's that added bonus of helping other spouses get through a deployment too. 

The responsibilities of a KV are as follows: welcome incoming members and their families, participate in a phone tree as directed, maintain a family readiness roster of information, provide information and referral services to families, provide the CO via the Key Volunteer coordinator(KVC), with information and feedback regarding family readiness issues, offer information and referral assistance to families during crisis or difficulty, and assist the KVC as directed (for example, helping with the newsletter). This is a complicated way of saying that you will be assigned a number of families, usually 8 or so, and you make sure that their contact information is correct and you call or email them with the latest, updated information from the unit.

The most important rule of the KVN is confidentiality.  Protecting the privacy of a family is very important.  We can all understand why.  That said, whenever I had a family with a problem, I knew that I could go to the KVC, the Family Readiness Officer, the Chaplain, or even the trainers at the Family Team Building office.  I could call any of them, and without mentioning a name or anything else that might identify the family involved, I could get good, solid advice and assistance.  You do not go it alone.  Ever. 

I think I have stuck with the KVN for so long because of the people I get to work with.  Funny, smart, compassionate people.  They all end up being part of your friends/support group. 

Our KV meetings were so much fun that we finally had to institute a rule that we would take care of business FIRST and then we'd have snacks and social hour AFTER.  To be clear, the KVN is not a social or a gossip club.  In our situation, we just all really enjoyed getting together but we did make sure to address business first.  My old KV trainers are probably ripping out their hair but I think if you work hard, you get to play hard too. 

If you don't choose to volunteer, that's okay too.  Not everybody wants to and many don't have the time to volunteer.  Do make sure that you know who your Key Volunteer is and have her phone number handy.   If you haven't heard from a Key Volunteer at all, contact the Family Readiness officer for your unit and let them know.

I can't lie and say that there aren't hard times during deployments, there are going to be some hard times.  What's nice is that you don't have to go through hard times alone.  Whether you are a Key Volunteer or a spouse in need, it is all there for you: shoulders to lean on, ears to bend, and helping hands.

Comments

[Robbo]

Can I include this post in our family newsletter this month? We have a company that is activating soon to deploy, and this is pretty motivating.

[Semper Fi Wife]

Robbo, absolutely!!

[Kel]

I am the FRG leader for our unit which i take it is the equivalent of your KVC.. I did the key caller or POC for 2 years before being asked by our Single commander if I would step up and be the FRG leader. I love volunteering to do this. It helps time pass and I love beign able to help antoher spouse when they need it..

[Cassandra]

I have the same feelings about the KVN program. It is like marriage or any other institution - you get out of it what you put into it, and if we want it to work, we have to participate and make sure good people volunteer. Some of my best memories are from KVN and I've seen the way it can bring a command together.

I also think that the KVN helps to educate newer spouses and ones whose husbands tend to keep them isolated from the Corps, and that can't help but be a good thing. I'll never forget taking a call (in Cali) from a mother in Mississippi. She had heard about us via word of mouth and was scared about her son's upcoming deployment. Even though her son wasn't in our command and I couldn't help her formally, because of the KVN training I was able to direct her to the appropriate place to get her concerns addressed and more importantly, I wasn't nonplussed by having an upset parent on the line. Marines should take care of each other. We are family. But we can also help each other to solve our own problems. What I like about KVN is that it enables us to do both things - we help families find ways to cope with problems that arise and they feel stronger and more confident.

[Alison]

Kudos on this!! So many people have a bad opinion about the KVN without even really knowing what we are here for. I have worked hard to dispel the myths about what the KVN does, and we now have a very strong core of KV's here in our unit, and it is because like you said, the right people volunteer. Thanks for putting this out there!! Hopefully some more people will see it and volunteer their time to this very worthy (OK, I'm biased here) cause!!