In the weeks prior to September 11, 2001, the day terrorism struck our nation’s homeland, deployment numbers for the North Carolina Army National Guard and Air National Guard ranged between 200–400 soldiers and airmen. By early 2005, 9,000 of 12,000 North Carolina citizen-soldiers and airmen were deployed to fight the War on Terrorism.

Deployment means service members are sent on a tour of duty, unaccompanied by family. With unprecedented and rapid escalation of citizen-soldier deployment, there’s new meaning to Elvis Presley’s hit “Blue Christmas” for thousands of North Carolina Guard families this holiday season.

I'll have a blue Christmas without you;
I'll be so blue just thinking about you.
Decorations of red
On a green Christmas tree
Won't mean a thing
If you're not here with me.

Captain Murray Opens Daylong Training Event

Helping family members who are left behind chase the “blues” away all year long, not just during the holidays, is part of the North Carolina National Guard Family Readiness Program’s purpose. The program plays a key role in successful missions at home and abroad, as research shows that healthy families keep soldiers alive on the battlefield. “Families are the heart of the Guard. Families serve too,” says Captain Sherrell Murray, Director of NC National Guard Family Readiness program.

Under Captain Murray’s leadership, this top priority, rapid-growth program provides a network of eight Family Assistance Centers (FACs) located strategically across the state and staffed by full-time, paid representatives. Designed to augment volunteer services provided at the unit level in 96 armories throughout North Carolina’s 100 counties, the FAC centers serve as a hub for essential services through the deployment cycle. Services include crisis management, legal and financial referral and assistance, problem solving, and deployment and reunion information. In addition, a full-time youth coordinator focuses on meeting the needs of Guard children statewide.

A Shift from Support to Readiness

Spec Hedgepeth with Captain Murray in Program Office

Guard members can be called up for state missions by the order of the Governor or for national missions by the order of the President of the United States. In past years, National Guard members may have served 20+ years without being deployed, or at best, were called up for hurricane or flood duty.

In today’s climate, there’s a near certainty deployment will occur. “It’s not a big shock for the soldiers, but it is for the families. The family mindset may have been that guard duty is only a part-time job, a weekend a month and two weeks each year for annual training with minor impact on family life. That’s all changed. We have shifted from family support to family readiness,” says Captain Murray. She says readiness emphasizes the need for families to have personal, financial, legal, and basic household operation matters in a state of readiness for possible deployment.

Captain Murray with Nancy Davis Morganton FAC Rep

A Part-time Job with Benefits

Although Guard duty has changed radically in recent years, a 27-year-old Sherrell Murray was drawn to the Guard because of its part-time job opportunity. She was looking for a way to occupy a summer between finishing up a degree program and starting her position as an elementary school counselor in Caswell and Alamance counties. That’s when she discovered the Guard. Over the next eight years, she developed a passion for both the Guard and counseling.

Captain Murray knew she could marry her two passions when a guidance counselor position opened up in the Guard. It was her portal to becoming a full-time soldier with the National Guard. For the next two years, she worked with soldiers across the state who were trying to go to college.

Unchartered Territory

On September 1, 2001, just 10 days before the tragic events of September 11th, she started her new position as a state family program director. As the sole service provider in this office, Captain Murray was looking forward to using her background in counseling to serve families. When 9/11 hit, the focus of the entire job changed, as deployments escalated and demand for services mushroomed exponentially.

2005 Annual National Guard National Family Conference in Boston; NC Delegates in seated front row: Major General William E. Ingram, Jr., Mrs. Lil Ingram, and CPT Murray along with other NC Delegates in blue golf shirts

It was November, 2001 before an additional staff person was hired. A laughing Captain Murray describes what it was like to handle the workload as deployment rates skyrocketed past 1500 from the pre-911 rate of 200 or less. “We were just two A-personality type people. We weren’t smart enough to know we needed more help. We just found a way to do it.”

Conceptualizing and implementing a family service program at a time when deployments are escalating places Captain Murray in uncharted territory. The Family Readiness Program continues to evolve. It has grown from a one person office to eight Family Assistance Centers and a staff of 21 direct reports.

Creating the program from the ground floor has brought tremendous opportunities and challenges to Captain Murray. Defining form and function of center service delivery, establishing duties and responsibility, writing job descriptions, and formulating criteria for center locations has all been guided by her laser beam focus on service and strong commitment to being family friendly. For example, centers are located in areas with the highest concentration of home of record, a military term for where a Guard member’s family resides, rather than where Guard units meet.

Captain Murray is all smiles with 2005 Half Marathon Finisher Medal.

Captain Murray’s commitment to Guard families shows up in her off-duty activities, too. On November 13, 2005, the seventh annual Battleship North Carolina Half Marathon was held in Wilmington. It was co-dedicated to the men and women who serve in the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and to Captain Christopher Cash, a fellow Officer Candidate School (OSC) classmate who was killed in action on June 24, 2004, in Buqubah, Iraq.

The 2005 event was the first time a medal was presented to the half-marathon finishers. When Captain Murray heard about the medal on the evening before, she made a spontaneous decision to change her registration from a 5K runner to half-marathon runner, even though she hadn’t trained for the event. “Chris always said you had to earn the t-shirt by running the race before you could wear it. When I heard about this year’s half-marathon finisher’s medal, I knew I had to earn it before I could wear it.” Her victorious finish was especially sweet as Dawn Cash, widow of Captain Cash, was at the finishing line to greet her.

Senior Leadership Support

FAC Group photo: L-R seated: Alice Dean, Keneitha Delaney, Cecelia Wallace, Nancy Smith, Dottie Massey; L-R standing: CPT Murray, Melissa Thames, Diane Coffill, Angelena Dockery, Nancy Davis, Lil Ingram, Katy Jones, Lana Greer, Rena Wethington, LTC Fail, and SPC Hedgepeth. (Patti Carr and Kathleen Flaherty not present for photo). This is CPT Murray's "Dream Team."

Captain Murray is quick to extol appreciation for senior leadership’s support of the Family Readiness Program team. She says the program’s successes are a team achievement and senior leadership’s support is her greatest asset in this uncharted territory. “Above all, is the commitment of Major General William E. Ingram, Jr., our Adjutant General, and Mrs. Lil Ingram. They are both passionate about family readiness and are committed to our efforts. Mrs. Ingram is intimately involved with family readiness on a daily basis with special concern for things we can do to support our children.”

From Beans and Bullets to Aviation

“Now, more than ever, there are excellent opportunities for women to serve,” says Captain Murray, “and promotion levels are consistent for males and females.” Women can serve in any unit that supports the battlefield. Women are not allowed to serve in direct combat units like Infantry, Armor, or Special Forces units. Support services include finance, personnel, medical, military police, transportation, maintenance, engineers, and aviation. For example, Captain Murray’s Branch is Quartermaster, which military insiders refer to as “beans and bullets” because the branch helps with logistics (e.g., showers in the field, water purification, food, ammunition, and fuel).

The NCNG Family Readiness Program is a “Purple” Program. “Purple” represents Blue for Air, Green for Army, mixed with the colors of the other Military Branches. Purple symbolizes our commitment to serve all military families or service members.

We had one final question for Captain Murray: “Could you be deployed?”

“Yes, I’m a deployable asset,” she said.

For more information about NCNG Family Readiness Program and FAC locations, visit www.nc.ngb.army.mil/family

Contact Captain Murray at:
Office: 1-800-621-4136, ext. 6324
E-mail: Sherrell.Murray@nc.ngb.army.mil

This holiday season, whether you are considering joining the “beans and bullets branch” or not, remember to give thanks for citizen-soldiers deployed to fight the War on Terrorism and the sacrifices of their families. Our freedom continues to be dependent on their unselfish service to our nation.

With wishes for everlasting peace on earth, Happy Holidays to all!