Photo By Master Sgt. Stanley Maszczak | Retired Army Reserve Col. Larrie Noble addresses the 396th Combat Support Hospital...... read more read more
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Larrie Noble is not your typical volunteer. Retiring now at 73 years old, she is leaving her unpaid position as an Army Reserve Family Readiness Group (FRG) leader after 15 years of faithful volunteer service. Those 15 years followed another 25 years of service as an Army Reserve officer and nurse. On the civilian side, she also worked almost 50 years as a public health nurse in Multnomah County, Oregon.
Soldiers from the 396th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) said they will miss her magnetic personality, her stories and the types of volunteers she attracts to build the unit’s family readiness program.
“Larrie just draws people in,” shared Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Wilson, battalion command sergeant major for the 396th. “It’s amazing how dedicated the FRG is and how much they reach out to people.”
When you walk into the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Vancouver on a Battle Training Assembly (BTA) or “drill” weekend, you will see Larrie sitting behind the snack table with a few other volunteers. They are greeting passersby, talking, and giving away beverages and snacks, for a “suggested donation” much lower than modern prices: 50 cents for a canned drink or pastry, 25 cents for a stick of string cheese, perhaps a couple of quarters for a cup of coffee. Some soldiers give more than the suggested donation, but if they don’t have the cash, they can give as little as they would like.
“The Family Readiness Group function is very little about fundraising,” said Ricqué Robinson, Family Programs coordinator at the 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support). “It’s so much more about building relationships, supporting soldiers and families, and working with the commanders to take care of families.”
When there is some kind of fund raising activity happening, it is typically geared toward a pre-approved, specific goal or event for which they will spend a specific amount of money. However, the snack bar money is currently allocated for the FRG’s approved “Informal Fund.”
“There are specific guidelines the FRG has to follow in terms of fund raising – the amount they’re allowed to keep in their Informal Fund, and where that money comes from, for example,” shared Robinson. “The Informal Fund can only be spent on things voted and agreed upon by the FRG that can benefit every soldier and family in the unit, not just one or a few.”
Despite the presence of a locked cash box and an accounting book, Noble says her primary focus during BTA is not selling coffee and muffins – but rather watching and listening, making sure she is present for the soldiers.
“Sometimes soldiers have hardships - with employment, with health, with family members’ health,” said Noble, “and part of our job is to be there when it happens, to notice when things are different and connect them to resources. We try to support them and their families however we can.”
In years past, Noble went the extra mile by setting up a food pantry for Reserve soldiers experiencing hardships. She also used her network to bring in extra counselors when the unit was affected by the tragedy of suicide. Noble was a strong voice of encouragement to the troops in ensuring they all went through the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, or ASIST, that was set up specifically for the 396th.
Noble insists when she is at BTA, she is “just Larrie — or Ms. Larrie, if that’s what they’re comfortable with.”
“I try not to let it get out too much that I’m a retired colonel,” she said. “I want the soldiers to be able to relax around me and not feel so rigid. People share more with me that way, I think.”
June Stanfield is the Family Readiness Support Assistant (FRSA) for the 2nd Medical Brigade, which covers the 396th. She said building relationships with soldiers and their family members was one of the ways Noble was able to be so effective.
“As the FRG Leader, Larrie was emotionally connected to the CSH, its soldiers, and its families,” said Stanfield. “In our program we try to stress more of connecting soldiers and families to programs and services. Larrie does that ... I see her as the wise, grandmotherly type who advises them all informally on how to balance soldier and family. She has talked the talk and walked the walk.”
Running an effective FRG can be a challenge for its leaders and members, all of whom are volunteers. Civilian volunteers and soldiers shared that some family members — and even some soldiers — don’t always see the value of an active FRG before deployment time.
“The major pitfall of every FRG in my experience has been, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re getting deployed, let’s get the FRG running,’” shared Wilson. “The time to get the FRG running is when you’re home and it’s nice and calm, so you have a solid foundation before it’s time for the Soldiers to deploy.”
Noble spent the last 15 years working to keep that foundation strong after her time commissioned in the Army Reserve, where she mentored some of the soldiers who have since taken leadership of the unit.
“When I was a lieutenant,” shared retired Col. Peter Gould, former 396th commander, “she was my chief nurse. She taught me a ton, and was instrumental in my formation. She’s been that all along the way, and in the years of the stress of being a commander, she made it easy because she just knows how to do that.”
Noble’s sense of post-retirement volunteerism seems to have been contagious. At BTA she is flanked by three other volunteers who were also formerly in uniform at the 396th: Cindy Ping, a retired master sergeant; Ray Spielman, a retired captain who commissioned from the rank of sergeant first class; and Kristine Pitner, who completed her enlistment after serving in the rank of staff sergeant.
“It does my heart good to see all these young people willing to come in here and be soldiers in light of all that’s happening in the world,” shared Spielman. “It’s heartening to know there’s still people willing to do that. And if I can support them in some way, then that’s good for them and good for me.”
Other FRG volunteers and potential volunteers may not be seasoned veterans, or have 50 years of professional public health experience. But Noble and her compatriots say there are just a few things a person needs in order to be successful in volunteering with their local FRG.
“You have to care, and you have to have flexibility, responsibility and commitment — those are probably the biggest things we need in the FRG,” Noble said.
"‘Commitment’ doesn’t mean coming to every battle assembly and staying all weekend," shared Stanfield. “It just means finding out where you fit in and committing to that. I like to have a variety of volunteers with different talents and passions. The diversity that we see in the Army is the same diversity I want to see in the FRG.”
For more information about Army Reserve Family Programs or FRG training, go to http://www.arfp.org/, or talk to your soldier about joining your unit’s Family Readiness Group.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.30.2015 14:50 |
| Story ID: | 164991 |
| Location: | VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 469 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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