Leslie Holland, USGS program analyst at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, La., wears many hats.  She is a mom, Girl Scout leader, church and community volunteer and military spouse. Most recently she has been an ombudsman for the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve unit of her husband, Boatswain’s Mate Chief Roger Holland. The Coast Guard deployed her husband’s unit, Port Security Unit 308, to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in June 2007. Holland’s work as a family support coordinator for this unit garnered her national recognition from the Department of Defense, which recently honored her in Washington, D.C.

The tireless work of Holland and co-coordinator Pamela Bannon of Mobile, Ala., garnered the 2007 Reserve Affairs Family Readiness Award on behalf of the unit. The two received the award at a recent ceremony in the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon.

Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, hosted the annual award presentation. He honored the top family readiness-support programs from reserve units with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Army National Guard and the Air National Guard.

As volunteer co-ombudsmen, Holland and Bannon reestablished the unit’s ombudsman program to support the dependents of the 54 members who deployed with PSU 308 to Guantanamo Bay.

They also were instrumental in keeping open the lines of communications between families and their loved ones via newsletters, phone calls, and e-mails. “Lending a listening ear, as well as keeping both the families at home and the deployed personnel well informed, kept morale high and enabled all to concentrate on the task at hand,” Holland said.  

When PSU 308 returned, Holland and Bannon organized a welcome-home event in Gulfport, Miss., complete with gift baskets, which the community donated for the “Coasties.” Although this deployment is now over, the co-ombudsmen will continue their work supporting PSU 308 troops and their families.
 
The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs established the award to recognize the top unit in each branch of service that demonstrates outstanding family readiness while maintaining superior mission readiness requirements.