Real Communication An Introduction

When a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti on

January 10, 2010, Jacob Wood and William McNulty didn’t just watch television

in horror. They didn’t just say a prayer or make donations to the Red Cross. Instead,

they made some phone calls and a couple of Facebook posts, and within three days,

they and a small team of fellow veterans were on the ground in Port-au-Prince. As

Marine Corp veterans who had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and who had

volunteered in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, it was clear to Wood and

McNulty that disasters and war zones had a lot in common: limited resources,

collapsed infrastructure, a lack of information or communication, populations in

chaos, and horrific sights and situations that can grind even the most earnest volun-

teer to a halt. It was also clear that the skills they honed during their deployments—

medical triage, decisive leadership, the ability to quickly assess and respond to a

situation, and focus intently on the task at hand—were invaluable, especially during

the first few days after a disaster. The group refers to its role as “bridging the gap”

between disasters and the arrival of conventional aid (Team Rubicon, 2014).

In the years since, Team Rubicon, the veteran’s service/disaster response orga-

nization founded by Wood and McNulty, has provided intense, immediate relief

in the aftermaths of floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other disasters

around the world and around the United States. The organization consists of more

than fourteen thousand members, most of them military veterans, who mobilize

quickly and deploy to disaster-stricken areas and regions on a moment’s notice

(Team Rubicon, 2014). But in the process of providing relief, Wood and McNulty

found yet another gap they needed to bridge. Returning veterans often find it diffi-

cult to adjust to civilian life, a reality that was brought into sharp relief when close

friend and founding member of Team Rubicon, Clay Hunt, took his own life in

March 2012. Once again proving that adaptability and focus are crucial to “bridg-

ing the gap,” Team Rubicon adjusted its mission to include veteran’s services, in-

cluding suicide prevention, career training, and leadership opportunities.

chapter

Communicating

in Groups

9

Understanding

Groups

Complexity of Group

Communication

Understanding

Group Roles

Group Climate

IN THIS CHAPTER

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