Operation G.I. Jane

By Susan Mittleman

Atlanta – As President and CEO of military defense contractor, Coggins International, Jula Jane has heard a lot of stories from single, deployed mothers, struggling to balance service and family, with little or no support.
So in late October, she launched Operation G.I. Jane.

"Operation G.I. Jane's mission is to keep the bond between mother and child strong, before, during and after deployment."

Based in Atlanta, GI Jane is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides services and programs to any single, deployed mothers and their children, who could use a hand.

"You'd be surprised how many end up homeless, or with no money, even while in the military. I had a single mom, soldier, with two little babies, the babies were living at two different friends' houses, she was sleeping on the floor of her Sergeant's floor, because she's homeless. Meanwhile she's in the Guard. But about to have no orders and no income, whatsoever."

Jane employs the help of her 20 associates at Coggins, and partners with other companies, not necessarily for money, but for service.

"When a person comes into our program, whatever that is, that's when the work starts. We start reaching out to everyone to see who we can find to provide some help."

Such as providing calling cards and on-line communication tools, transportation to bring families together, healing therapy for children and moms, necessity kits-filled with whatever the family needs or wants, and career transition help.

"That's one of the most important ones right now with over 30,000 troops coming back from Iraq they're coming back to a job market that's almost non-existent and they'll be exiting the military looking for work."

Jane's passion behind G.I. Jane came partly from the story of one of her employees at Coggins.
In 2005, while Donna Combs was deployed in Iraq, her ex-husband sued for custody of their nine-year old daughter.

"He said I had abandoned my daughter and went to court and that's how he got custody. All you have to do is know how to work the system, I suppose. He filed paperwork, and he didn't tell them I was deployed."

After 22 years of service, Combs left the army and spent everything she had trying to her get daughter back. She lived out of her truck for a while. At a low point, she felt suicidal.

"It made me feel Crazy. I went through a lot of... abandon, not like a good mother, because i'd lost custody - and my daughter had tons of questions also, like why did you leave me.. and ... i didn't leave her."

Combs has still not been able to regain custody of her daughter.
Again, Jula Jane.

"Our court deemed her unfit- because of her military career, being deployed. We're very, very passionate about trying to help any single mother in the future faced with that story, especially if she's deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq or somewhere else, fighting a custody battle while she's fighting for our country...we're going to find an attorney who's going to fight for her. "

And it's not just attorneys. It's everyone from home cooks to therapists, phone companies to resume helpers. No one is too big or too small for Jula Jane to reach out to for help.

"You know, these women come back and they need a little image consulting, or pampering hair salons, spas, who will happily all day long, do whatever is needed. dentists who come to me. I can't tell you how much gratis i have sitting in the wings waiting."

Which in the next few months, GI Jane is likely to employ. For WABE news, I'm Susan Mittleman.

You can learn more about Operation G.I. Jane at http://www.operationgijane.com/