Everyone keeps busy while you are away. You can feel a very long way away and separate from the lives of your family and friends.

Some ideas to keep you connected with the people who are important to you might be:

• Send postcards to your mates, your parents, the footy club – just to let them know you are thinking of them
• Ask your family to send you postcards of places they go to, if they go on holiday
• Encourage your spouse / partner to take some ‘fun’ time for themselves – a massage, going to the gym, going fishing
• Buy presents / flowers on-line, and have these delivered in time for birthdays and special dates.

For the spouse / partner at home - if you have children, think of ways to keep your partner involved with the kids, eg:

• Sending school reports so the soldier knows how the kids are progressing
• Regularly sending photos and / or childrens' drawings
• Have something that is special to the soldier when they are absent, available for the children to see and talk about