Since January 2010, the America Joins Forces with Military Families “White Oak” Retreat has provided a regularly occurring venue for cross-sector, multi-organization solutions that highlight new thinking, develop networks, and update frameworks to best serve America’s military, military family, and veteran communities. This chapter provides a historical overview of the White Oak retreats and describes why it is a unique and essential process critical to successful support of service members, veterans, and their families. These retreats bring together government representatives, leading veterans’ service organizations and military family organizations, and nonprofit organizations. The White Oak process has led to strategic coordination of efforts focused on developing and coordinating critically needed programs and services to veteran and military families. The following chapter details the evolution of the military and veteran support community by examining responses and strategies developed at White Oak, exploring themes based on personal interviews, and discussing lessons learned. Recommendations focus on methods for effectively engaging public, private, and nonprofit actors, ensuring military families are understood as a central and necessary component of future force planning, and continuing efforts to bridge the civilian-military divide in local communities.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Research and Policy Department, Blue Star Families, Encinitas, CA, USA

   Jennifer L. Hurwitz Ph.D., Cristin Orr Shiffer & Hisako Sonethavilay

Corresponding author

Correspondence toJennifer L. Hurwitz Ph.D..

Editors and Affiliations

1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Military Family Research Institute College of Health and Human Sciences Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

   Linda Hughes-Kirchubel

2. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Military Family Research Institute, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

   Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth

3. Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

   David S. Riggs

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