Deployment Resources

You've got questions — and probably a long list of them. GSACEP has gathered resources from the U.S. Military and other trusted sources to help you prepare for your deployment orders.

• Military OneSource: Pre-Deployment Planning Hub
  This hub covers creating or updating essential legal documents, organizing finances, creating a family care plan, and designing a contingency plan, with access to military and family life counselors by phone at 800-342-9647.
  
  
• Military Deployment Center
  Here you’ll find aDeployment Overview and sections for Pre-Deployment, During Deployment, Homecoming and Reintegration, and news headlines. If you’re looking for a way to tick things off, check out the Pre-Deployment Checklist.
  
  
• Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) 
  For an EM physician in the Reserve or National Guard deploying from a private group, health system, or academic department, this resource protects your job while you’re deployed. ESGR informs and educates service members and civilian employers about their rights and responsibilities under USERRA, and offers trained Ombudsmen, available throughout all 50 states and territories, who can mediate disputes with civilian employers through neutral, impartial mediation, at no cost. Call 877-995-5247. Find more contact details here.   

• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) 
  The SCRA protects deploying service members by capping interest rates at 6% for eligible debts incurred before entering active duty, shielding against eviction, foreclosure, or vehicle repossession, and allowing for early termination of housing and auto leases without penalty. You can also delay civil proceedings such as lawsuits or divorce hearings.
  
  Physicians with mortgages, student loans, or practice debt should notify financial institutions before departing. This resource also explains the Savings Deposit Program, which offers a guaranteed 10% annual return on up to $10,000 for those serving in designated combat zones. For additional info, visit First Command.

• Army Pre-Deployment Preparation Checklist 
  This DoD checklist covers financial preparation including establishing a 3–6 month emergency fund, the DoD Savings Deposit Program, the Thrift Savings Plan combat zone contribution limits, and the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion. It also addresses the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and rights around debt and interest rate reduction.
  
  Army-specific but broadly applicable. Particularly useful for physicians who haven't deployed recently and need a structured financial run-through.
  
  

• DoD Pre-Deployment Financial Checklist (DFAS)
  The Defense Finance and Accounting Service manages military pay, including deployment-specific entitlements — hostile fire pay, imminent danger pay, family separation allowance, and combat zone tax exclusions. The DFAS website is the authoritative source for verifying what pay changes take effect upon deployment and when. While it is not the most user-friendly navigation.

• Military OneSource: Military Deployment Checklists
  These digital tools cover each phase of deployment with checklists addressing family care plans, home maintenance, finances, child care, managing stress, staying connected, and reintegration — acknowledging that no two deployments are the same.

• Talkspace Pre-Deployment Checklist
  This civilian-facing checklist covers documentation essentials — military orders, passport, visas, and medical records — along with financial planning and family communication logistics, updated through early 2025. Written for a general military audience rather than physicians specifically, and not DoD-official. Well-organized and a useful supplement for family members helping with planning. 
  
  

• Seasoned Spouse Pre-Deployment Checklist
  This resource is written for the spouse or family members who are not deploying. It covers practical household logistics, including basic home maintenance. Not directed at the physician at all, but genuinely useful to share with a spouse or partner, especially for families managing a home without prior deployment experience. A newsletter subscription is also available
  
  

•  U.S. Army Packing List
  This article provided by a U.S. Army veteran is a general deployment packing list. It covers the basic essentials and provides some guidance on how to fit everything in.

• DRES App - Deployment Readiness Education for Service Women
  Available on Apple App Store and Google Play. The DRES app is a one-stop shop for service women before, during, and after deployment, covering women's health, contraception, what is normal versus not, sexual health, LGBTQA information, mental health resources, deployment packing lists, how to stay connected with family during deployment, and references on service policies on topics like sexual assault and social media. This is the single most comprehensive women-specific deployment resource that exists and it's free, mobile, and works anywhere.

• Maintaining Women's Health During Deployment, Tips for the Female Soldier
  This article contains information for women’s health while deployed.
  
  

• Military OneSource: Deployment Readiness Education for Service Women (DRES) App
  This progressive app from the Defense Health Agency provides a one-stop resource for information before, during and after deployment, covering mental and physical health resources, women's health information, contraception and family planning, tips for staying connected during deployment, a deployment packing list, and TRICARE navigation. 
  
  

• VA Women Veterans Health Care — Military Sexual Trauma
  This resource matters both during and after deployment. The VA provides an MST Coordinator at every VA health care system, free MST-related mental health and medical care at every VA medical center, free MST-related counseling at Vet Centers, and residential programs for more intensive treatment — with eligibility not requiring a prior report or any documentation that an incident occurred. About 1 in 3 women veterans tell their VA health care provider they experienced sexual harassment or assault while in the military.
  
  

• DoD Centers for Public and Women's Health
  This DoD hub covers reproductive health, prenatal and pregnancy care, contraception, physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum, and links to the 2025 TRICARE Childbirth and Breastfeeding Support updates — framing all of it in terms of readiness health. Particularly useful for women who need to understand how pregnancy during or immediately before deployment affects their status and options.
  

• DoD Safe Helpline
  Call or text: 877-995-5247 (works worldwide via DSN). This essential DoD Safe Helpline is the sole secure, confidential, and anonymous crisis support service specially designed for members of the Department of Defense community affected by sexual assault. Services are available 24/7 worldwide and include one-on-one online chat, peer group support through Safe HelpRoom, a self-care app that works without internet, and a "Responders Near Me" feature that connects users to local resources via text — available to active duty, National Guard, Reserve, Coast Guard, and DoD civilians serving outside the United States. Every woman deploying should have this number saved before she leaves.
  
  

• American Security Project — Women in the Military Report (May 2024)
  This 2024 policy report highlights practical field realities for women, including that female soldiers should pack menstrual and hygiene products for up to three months depending on the mission, and that at minimum a private space with drainage — not necessarily running water — should be provided for basic hygiene in the field. This is the kind of frank, practical detail that official government sites tend to leave out.