Reserve Education Assistance Program (REAP)

Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP) (Chapter 1607 of Title 10 US Code) is a new education Department of Defense program that provides up to 36 months of education assistance to members of the reserve components - Selected Reserves (SELRES) and Individual Ready Reserve (IRR-if MSO has been completed) - who are ordered to active services in response to a war or national emergency (contingency operation) as declared by the President or Congress.

Reunion

The return home from combat can often leave servicemembers feeling out of place with the most important people in their lives - their families.

"In deployment, Soldiers grow accustomed to a new lifestyle and a new 'family' - those buddies that bond together to defend each other," said Maj. Ken Williams, 14th Military Police Brigade chaplain. "This lifestyle change is prolonged and becomes familiar, i.e., the new normal."

The families also change while the Soldier is deployed.

"The family is a system," Williams said. "When one family member is absent, the whole system changes. All members of the family adapt to a new 'normal' way of life."

When the servicemember returns, the family may feel uncomfortable with each other, and the servicemember may withdraw from the family.