Deep Cuts to Civilian Support Staff for Families of Deployed Marines Raise Concerns

For the families of U.S. service members deployed overseas during conflicts, life can be very stressful, both financially and emotionally. More than 80% of military families report elevated stress from the Iran war, with 43% reporting an extreme level  of stress, according to a recent survey by advocacy group Blue Star Families. 

To make sure that those families are supported, informed and referred to the right resources for financial planning, counseling and other issues, the U.S. military has staffers available. In the Marine Corps, that role is played by a team of deployment readiness coordinators. 

Now, some current and former Pentagon staffers have raised concerns about the Marines’ decision to cut the ranks of that civilian workforce. Under the justification of “refocusing resources toward warfighting,” the Corps is reducing the number of civilian deployment readiness coordinators — who walk families through deployments, crises, financial instability and mental health emergencies — from 151 in fiscal year 2025 to 77 in fiscal year 2026 and 19 by fiscal year 2029, according to a July 2025 memo from the Corps’ deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs that was obtained by Capital & Main. Their roles will be picked up by active-duty service members who already have other responsibilities, raising concerns that they do not have enough time to adequately focus on military families.

Maj. Jacoby Getty, a spokesperson for the Marines, told Capital & Main that the switch from a civilian model to using uniformed service members instead was due to “fiscal constraints and evolving operational requirements.”

More than 50,000 U.S. troops had been deployed to the Mideast by March following the escalation of the Iran war. More than 4,500 of them are Marines. As of late May, at least 400 service members have been wounded and 13 killed in action during the conflict. 

The drawdown in the number of deployment readiness coordinators from 2025 to 2029 represents an 87% reduction in the workforce responsible for supporting Marine Corps families, according to Sonette “Sony” Harrison-Avalos, who was a readiness and deployment support professional on staff for the Navy and Marines for 20 years until being laid off in October. 

Despite the launch of the war in February and the pre-war deployment of troops to the Mideast since the fall, the Marines did not change the pace of cutbacks to the civilian support staff, Harrison-Avalos told Capital & Main.

“They did not backtrack it. They did not change it. They still did cuts. They’re still doing cuts.”

That claim was echoed by a current volunteer supporting military families, who’s been in that role for more than two decades and has a son in the Marines currently deployed overseas. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to the media.

The volunteer said that the drawdown plan hasn’t changed or been delayed despite the start of the war, adding that she can’t imagine “the Marines would have done the changes if they foresaw what was going to happen in our current geopolitical environment.” 

She said that the first cuts began in September 2025. “If they had known we’d be at war now, they would have found the money to at least keep the current levels and push the [drawdown] plan off a year.”

‘We are panicking’

The impact of the drawdown has been tough on the families of those deployed, said the wife of a Marine currently deployed in the Middle East.

“I’ve never seen it this tense with the spouses,” she said, requesting anonymity for fear of retribution. “We are panicking,”

The spouse said that her husband has been deployed seven times in the last decade and a half but she feels this moment is different due to the lack of support being offered to military families. During previous deployments, she depended on deployment readiness coordinators for support and formed close bonds with some of them that lasted for years. 

“They made an impact and I’ve kept in touch with them,” noting that they get families ready for deployment, help get their wills in order and provide support in case of emergencies.

Since her deployment readiness coordinator was let go in October, she said she hasn’t heard once from their replacement, a uniformed readiness coordinator. “I couldn’t even tell you who he is. I have no idea who he is.”

She added: “We were already getting ready for deployment [with the laid-off coordinator] and then it was like radio silence.” 

She said that it’s been extremely stressful for younger military families experiencing their first deployment at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, where she is based. 

“They’re terrified right now.” She noted that when coordinators are working closely with families, “It builds morale because then you don’t have a husband who’s worried about a spouse.” 

Maj. Getty insisted that “this transition is not a reduction in support for our families. The [Personal and Family Readiness Program] remains a vital and critical resource, particularly given the war’s launch in February and the pre-war deployment of troops.

“While Deployment Readiness Coordinators which comprise the civilian staffing structure will be fully divested by fiscal year 2030, the program’s functions are shifting to Uniformed Readiness Coordinators. URCs already support this program as a collateral duty and are assuming primary responsibility as the central point of contact,” Getty said.

“By placing this responsibility back within the unit, we are reinforcing leadership engagement and ensuring that support remains responsive, personal, and mission focused,” he said.

The current deployment readiness coordinator said that the strain of war is already impacting military families and their loved ones who have been deployed. “They’re requesting more support from counseling services, they’re requesting classes dealing with how to cope with stress management.”

The drawdown prompted Harrison-Avalos to write an unpublished op-ed that she shared with Capital & Main. “This is not a minor adjustment — it is a structural dismantling… and these positions are not being replaced.” Instead, the Corps plans to use active-duty service members to run the program, but more as a collateral duty to their main role, she noted.

“The justification offered is that we are in a ‘reset period,’ prioritizing warfighting capability,” Harrison-Avalos said. “But that framing collapses under even the most basic scrutiny. We are not in peacetime. Our service members remain forward deployed. Operational tempo remains high. Global instability is not hypothetical; it is active, evolving and demanding.

“And yet, at the very moment when strain on military families is sustained and cumulative, we are removing the infrastructure designed to support them.”

The volunteer whose son is deployed overseas noted that the active-duty military who have taken on the support roles in addition to their regular duties tell her that they feel overloaded. “They’re drowning. It’s too much for them.” She added, “If it was their only job, they could absolutely do it. But give that role to a pilot? Oh my God, when is the pilot gonna have time?”

Asked about those concerns, Maj. Getty said: “As operational demands and deployment patterns continue to evolve, the Marine Corps is reassessing the current model to ensure it provides the right level of family readiness support across the force.”

Back in 2008, Harrison-Avalos was hired as one of the first civilians in the job, embedded in a deployable infantry battalion of up to 1,400 people — helping them prepare to deploy and supporting their families. 

Her former unit at Camp Pendleton has deployed to the Mideast, and “right now there is no one because the person who is the uniform readiness coordinator is also deployed. So who does the family call? There is no one.”

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