OSOT Expects Workload to Increase Even as Troops Come Home

One would think that talk of bringing troops home from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan would mean a decreased need for services provided by civilian support organizations.

But that’s not how Deb Rickert, founder of Lisle-based Operation Support Our Troops – America, sees the future. As military missions and budgets shift in a changing political and economic climate, Rickert speculated that work performed by her organization and other private groups will only increase.

“I think our mission will only ratchet up. There’s a lot to do to help the ones who are returning and there are still plenty of troops in harm’s way in other hot zones across the world,” said Rickert, who formed the organization in 2003. “If all the troops came home and there was no longer a need for what we do, I would love that, but I just don’t think that’s going to be the case.”

In the early war years, Rickert, whose two sons are on active military duty, said her organization answered calls for heavy-duty extension cords and other items the troops needed, but were not receiving through supply chains. OSOT did what they could to meet those requests, as well as to bring the comforts of home to uniformed men and women in a hostile zone.

Since the organization’s founding they have sent more than 1,000,000 pounds of care packages at a cost of about $1 per pound.

“With about a million dollars in postage we’re one of the best customers of the Lisle Post Office,” Rickert quipped.

As troops are reassigned or sent to new hot spots around the world, such as the 5,000 recently sent to Africa, Rickert said her volunteers will continue to send care packages to them. But the group is about more than sending care packages.

“We’re not an organization that sits on our hands,” said warehouse manager Deb Wolfe. “You see a need, or identify a void. Then you realize, ‘Wait a minute, we can fix that.’”

Volunteers have found comfort in meeting other families with delployed loved ones. OSOT also hosts activities like the Leap of Faith for families of the fallen. But a growing focus of OSOT’s mission is to provide returning troops with the tools they needs to rejoin civilian society.

Rickert said there is a “gulf of understanding” behind the transition. Many of the troops who return, especially those who saw combat, have some difficulty mentally and emotionally adjusting. Recounting a meeting with a returning combat veteran in his early 20s, Rickert said she simply asked him how he was doing.

“He looked at me kind of wide-eyed for a moment and said ‘no one really asked me that question before,’” she said. “We have to make sure we’re asking these young men and women who’ve given so much for their country how they’re doing.”

In addition to concern over social-emotional well-being, priority is given to connecting vets to employment opportunities. While unemployment in Illinois hovers around the 10 percent mark, for veterans it’s even higher, closer to 12 percent. Rickert said some troops find it difficult to translate military skills into needs of many civilian employers. Also many veterans don’t know how to market themselves or craft effective resumes. Part of OSOT’s mission is to aide the troops in the employment transition, Rickert said. To that end, the organization hosts monthly at Naperville’s .

“We are advocates for the troops – while they’re overseas and when they’re home,” Rickert said.

OSOT also works closely with Hines VA Hospital. The organization raised money to help install a WiFi system and purchase a blanket warming machine at the hospital.

Rickert said it’s important to help troops in and out of service.

“We want the troops to know that America has not forgotten them,” Rickert said.