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Walking into the Soldier and Family Assistance Center, building 220 — across the street and down the road from Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital — is like walking into a comfortably appointed home. Enter the front double doors and a visitor is at once surrounded by comforts associated not with a military post, but with home. A fireplace, surrounded by a stone mantle, crackles away so long as the weather isn't too hot, and above that, a flat screen television of considerable size is turned on and tuned in to whatever channel the visitor prefers. This time it's the news. Beside and in front of the fireplace/television area is a plethora of couches and Adirondack-style chairs, low to the ground and comfortable for lounging. During the holiday season, a beautifully decorated tree stands beside the fireplace. Wrapped gifts fill visitors with visions of sugarplums, or at least the memories of them.
To the right of this welcoming "living room" is a fully stocked kitchen, intensifying the feeling that the visitor has just walked into a home. The kitchen is usually stocked with snacks of all kinds: Chex mix, Twinkies, chips and more. The refrigerator is filled with sodas and water. Just beside the kitchen is a popcorn machine for the visitor who has a hankering for freshly popped corn.
Down a hallway, behind a front desk where you must check in to use certain services, is a hallway down which there are doors. Through one door is a sitting room, where a soldier might read quietly; through another, is a game room, a room used often, in which soldiers can play video games to their hearts' delights.
Around the building is a children's playroom; the floor is covered with toys, interlocking walking blocks that are soft and slightly bouncy, perfect for little ones at play.
Clarence Harmonson, director of SFAC since it opened in Oct. 2008, is an assuming man: Dressed in a dark pin-striped suit and stylish tie, he's not a man anyone would miss when visiting the facility. Extremely jovial, but a man who means business, Harmonson, a retired command sergeant major at Fort Polk, knows the ins and outs - intimately - of soldierhood, and he's not afraid to dispense hard advice when it's needed.
"Though I'm here primarily as an informal counselor, I like to think of the people who come here as my family," he said. "But if someone gets out of line, I remind them that I served 30 years and retired a command sergeant major. I've seen most of it before and can tell them what they need to hear."
But that isn't what Harmonson enjoys doing best while at SFAC.
"I love it that we provide a safe haven that promotes healing and provides a family of services dedicated to the needs of warriors in transition and their families."
A warrior in transition is "a medical hold-over, active-duty medical extension, medical hold, and any other active-duty soldier who requires a medical evaluation board or has complex medical needs requiring six months or more of treatment or rehabilitation," according to the Army's official website.
In other words, SFAC services soldiers who have been wounded, whether in or out of combat (including training) or who suffer from a disability.
Pfc. Reeshemah Lewis, who was wounded while training, arrived at Fort Polk Dec. 16. Part of the warrior in transition program is making sure a healing soldier can be near to family, in order to recover sooner.
"I felt so lucky to be able to recover here. Being close to family has made all the difference," she said.
"We just find that, when they're near their loved ones, they get that extra attention that allows them to feel good, and therefore to get better," Harmonson said.
Lewis feels that way, too, and she is free in lauding the praises of SFAC's director, who, she says, "makes the soldiers his primary priority.
"As soon as I got here, everyone here wanted to make sure I got everything I needed, from medical attention to family time. Mr. Harmonson himself made sure I had his cell number, just in case I needed anything after hours."
Sure enough, Lewis suffered a personal emergency one night, and dialed Harmonson.
"He was there for me," she said. "He came, though he didn't have to. I'm really impressed with how friendly he and everything at SFAC is."
Lewis is right; Harmonson makes sure his clients have as much contact with him as possible. He even distributes his personal cell phone number to the wounded warriors he calls his family.
"Every soldier gets my personal cell number. That's very important to me, that they know they have someone to call, even late at night. They can always get hold of SFAC staff, and that makes a difference. It shows just how much we really care."
"Wounded soldiers don't realize how well they can be taken care of here," Lewis added.
Harmonson thinks of SFAC as his "baby," especially since he has been at the helm since it opened more than four years ago. And he's very aware that his job extends beyond the normal 9 a.m.-5 p.m. set.
"My job is to take care of soldiers' financial needs, make sure they have jobs, observe their qualifications.
"The long and short of it is, I'd do for these soldiers what I'd do for family," he said. "It's my responsibility, not just my job, to help them. I want this to be a safe haven, a second home where they can relax. If they stress, it only takes them longer to heal."
Harmonson not only counsels the soldiers, he acts as a middleman; "if a soldier needs a chaplain, I find a chaplain, he said."
"I also help them with their education, help them handle the GI Montgomery Bill, help them figure out how to take courses, attend tech
schools, all things that will give them a firm grounding once they are out of the Army," Harmonson said. "I also help them with human resources: Dealing with military stuff, with benefits and awards assignments."
"A lot of soldiers get depressed, especially if they're wounded and don't have the capabilities they once did. Now they have a place to come to where they can speak freely. They can say what they need to. And when I counsel them, I ask them their goals and make sure they're successful, whether they want to stay in the Army or not. This requires trust, and builds trust. If you don't trust you aren't going to confide, so when they place their trust in me, it means the world."
Warriors in transition aren't at SFAC for only a short time. Those who stay in the area, said Harmonson, "are clients for life."
"As long as they need us, we're here for them," he said. "And not only me, but the entire staff at SFAC, including Robin Michel and Ken Bailes. We couldn't do what we do without them."
The entire SFAC staff is passionate about the role they play, says Harmonson. Service is not impersonal. Instead, said Harmonson, "Our clients become like family. They are family."
Harmonson stressed that SFAC is not only for warriors in transition, but for their families as well.
"We have movie nights for families, with popcorn, snacks and pizza. It's just a place where a family can unwind and not worry about where their children are. It's a peaceful place - with free wireless Internet — where anyone can have a good time," he said.
"Those kinds and their families are my adopted children. I want parents to feel good about letting their kids loose. There's a caring there, between them and us. I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Walking into the Soldier and Family Assistance Center, building 220 — across the street and down the road from Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital — is like walking into a comfortably appointed home. Enter the front double doors and a visitor is at once surrounded by comforts associated not with a military post, but with home. A fireplace, surrounded by a stone mantle, crackles away so long as the weather isn't too hot, and above that, a flat screen television of considerable size is turned on and tuned in to whatever channel the visitor prefers. This time it's the news. Beside and in front of the fireplace/television area is a plethora of couches and Adirondack-style chairs, low to the ground and comfortable for lounging. During the holiday season, a beautifully decorated tree stands beside the fireplace. Wrapped gifts fill visitors with visions of sugarplums, or at least the memories of them.
To the right of this welcoming "living room" is a fully stocked kitchen, intensifying the feeling that the visitor has just walked into a home. The kitchen is usually stocked with snacks of all kinds: Chex mix, Twinkies, chips and more. The refrigerator is filled with sodas and water. Just beside the kitchen is a popcorn machine for the visitor who has a hankering for freshly popped corn.
Down a hallway, behind a front desk where you must check in to use certain services, is a hallway down which there are doors. Through one door is a sitting room, where a soldier might read quietly; through another, is a game room, a room used often, in which soldiers can play video games to their hearts' delights.
Around the building is a children's playroom; the floor is covered with toys, interlocking walking blocks that are soft and slightly bouncy, perfect for little ones at play.
Clarence Harmonson, director of SFAC since it opened in Oct. 2008, is an assuming man: Dressed in a dark pin-striped suit and stylish tie, he's not a man anyone would miss when visiting the facility. Extremely jovial, but a man who means business, Harmonson, a retired command sergeant major at Fort Polk, knows the ins and outs - intimately - of soldierhood, and he's not afraid to dispense hard advice when it's needed.
"Though I'm here primarily as an informal counselor, I like to think of the people who come here as my family," he said. "But if someone gets out of line, I remind them that I served 30 years and retired a command sergeant major. I've seen most of it before and can tell them what they need to hear."
But that isn't what Harmonson enjoys doing best while at SFAC.
"I love it that we provide a safe haven that promotes healing and provides a family of services dedicated to the needs of warriors in transition and their families."
A warrior in transition is "a medical hold-over, active-duty medical extension, medical hold, and any other active-duty soldier who requires a medical evaluation board or has complex medical needs requiring six months or more of treatment or rehabilitation," according to the Army's official website.
In other words, SFAC services soldiers who have been wounded, whether in or out of combat (including training) or who suffer from a disability.
Pfc. Reeshemah Lewis, who was wounded while training, arrived at Fort Polk Dec. 16. Part of the warrior in transition program is making sure a healing soldier can be near to family, in order to recover sooner.
"I felt so lucky to be able to recover here. Being close to family has made all the difference," she said.
"We just find that, when they're near their loved ones, they get that extra attention that allows them to feel good, and therefore to get better," Harmonson said.
Lewis feels that way, too, and she is free in lauding the praises of SFAC's director, who, she says, "makes the soldiers his primary priority.
"As soon as I got here, everyone here wanted to make sure I got everything I needed, from medical attention to family time. Mr. Harmonson himself made sure I had his cell number, just in case I needed anything after hours."
Sure enough, Lewis suffered a personal emergency one night, and dialed Harmonson.
"He was there for me," she said. "He came, though he didn't have to. I'm really impressed with how friendly he and everything at SFAC is."
Lewis is right; Harmonson makes sure his clients have as much contact with him as possible. He even distributes his personal cell phone number to the wounded warriors he calls his family.
"Every soldier gets my personal cell number. That's very important to me, that they know they have someone to call, even late at night. They can always get hold of SFAC staff, and that makes a difference. It shows just how much we really care."
"Wounded soldiers don't realize how well they can be taken care of here," Lewis added.
Harmonson thinks of SFAC as his "baby," especially since he has been at the helm since it opened more than four years ago. And he's very aware that his job extends beyond the normal 9 a.m.-5 p.m. set.
"My job is to take care of soldiers' financial needs, make sure they have jobs, observe their qualifications.
"The long and short of it is, I'd do for these soldiers what I'd do for family," he said. "It's my responsibility, not just my job, to help them. I want this to be a safe haven, a second home where they can relax. If they stress, it only takes them longer to heal."
Harmonson not only counsels the soldiers, he acts as a middleman; "if a soldier needs a chaplain, I find a chaplain, he said."
"I also help them with their education, help them handle the GI Montgomery Bill, help them figure out how to take courses, attend tech
schools, all things that will give them a firm grounding once they are out of the Army," Harmonson said. "I also help them with human resources: Dealing with military stuff, with benefits and awards assignments."
"A lot of soldiers get depressed, especially if they're wounded and don't have the capabilities they once did. Now they have a place to come to where they can speak freely. They can say what they need to. And when I counsel them, I ask them their goals and make sure they're successful, whether they want to stay in the Army or not. This requires trust, and builds trust. If you don't trust you aren't going to confide, so when they place their trust in me, it means the world."
Warriors in transition aren't at SFAC for only a short time. Those who stay in the area, said Harmonson, "are clients for life."
"As long as they need us, we're here for them," he said. "And not only me, but the entire staff at SFAC, including Robin Michel and Ken Bailes. We couldn't do what we do without them."
The entire SFAC staff is passionate about the role they play, says Harmonson. Service is not impersonal. Instead, said Harmonson, "Our clients become like family. They are family."
Harmonson stressed that SFAC is not only for warriors in transition, but for their families as well.
"We have movie nights for families, with popcorn, snacks and pizza. It's just a place where a family can unwind and not worry about where their children are. It's a peaceful place - with free wireless Internet — where anyone can have a good time," he said.
"Those kinds and their families are my adopted children. I want parents to feel good about letting their kids loose. There's a caring there, between them and us. I wouldn't trade it for the world."
