Surviving Military Separation

Family members know that today, military separation is common and that long deployments are the norm. Coping with everyday problems and hardships by themselves is very difficult, and often leads to loneliness and depression. In his day-to-day counseling of military family members, Marc CB Maxwell, a Department of Defense Guidance Counselor and former Army Airborne Ranger, discovered that many members of his military community were unprepared for these separations. Surviving Military Separation: A 365-Day Activity Guide for the Families of Deployed Personnel is the helping hand they need to get through their family member’s deployment.

Marc’s daily counseling quickly made it clear that his members required something fun, easy to understand, and enjoyable to pass the time. Surviving Military Separation is the first book on the market to provide everyday steps and activities to help guide family members through these particularly trying separations.

Lavishly illustrated with more than 140 pieces of original art by Val Laolagi, Surviving Military Separation is an activity guidebook created especially for family members of deployed personnel. This unique presentation offers 365 days of activities for the entire family. The book’s setup allows readers to break down the lengthy deployment into weeklong chunks, which passes the deployment much more quickly by taking it one fun and creative step at a time.

Surviving Military Separation also includes: A section for journal entries for readers to record their thoughts and feelings for a deployed loved one to read at a later time; a calendar section to help family members remember important dates; stationery to write their deployed personnel; and a world map to assist family members in locating their deployed loved one.

Coming on the heels of the military’s recent announcement of longer deployments, Surviving Military Separation is both timely and long overdue. Every family experiencing a military separation will find this book indispensable.

Marc CB Maxwell is a Department of Defense Guidance Counselor who works daily with deployed personnel and their families. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell College, a Master of Science degree from Texas A&M–Corpus Christi University, and is studying for his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. The former Army Airborne Ranger is the recipient of several awards, including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. An avid sports fan, Marc co-founded the Sports by the Numbers series. The first book, University of Oklahoma Football: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports (Savas Beatie, 2007) was awarded the American Authors Association Golden Quill Award. Marc, his wife Christine, and their daughter Meredith are currently stationed overseas in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Val J. Laolagi (illustrator) graduated from Santa Clara University with degrees in Computer Science and Art. He has been in the High-Tech Industry for fourteen years and has been an artist since a very young age. He lives in El Dorado Hills, California.