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EmergencyAMERICAN RED CROSS If you need to contact a military member for emergency purposes, please call your local Red Cross chapter. Use operator assistance if necessary, or you may also find your local Red Cross chapter telephone number by visiting http://www.redcross.org, and entering your zip code at “Find Your Local Red Cross.” Today’s American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org is keeping pace with the changing military. Featuring the latest in computer and telecommunications technology, the American Red Cross Emergency Service Center delivers around-the-clock emergency communication services to active duty military personnel, and to their families. While serving 1.4 million active duty personnel, the Red Cross Get To Know Us Before You Need Us campaign reaches out to an additional 1.5 million members of the National Guard and the Reserves living in almost every neighborhood in America. American Red Cross Emergency Services are available to all members of the armed services, and to their families. Both active duty and community-based military can count on the Red Cross to provide emergency communications, emergency financial assistance, counseling, veterans assistance and aid in the field where Red Cross workers are deployed to serve with America’s military. The American Red Cross emergency messages provide military personnel and commanders with fast, reliable information helping them make important decisions such as emergency leave for family matters. If you have a family emergency, the Red Cross will ask you for specific information about your deployed Guardsman. Your will need a copy of the Guardsman’s order which will have the individual’s name, rank, unit, social security number and duty location. If you need to report the loss of a family member, you will need to provide the following information to the Red Cross:
If you need to report a severe illness of a family member, you will need to provide the following information to the Red Cross:
If you need to report the birth of a new family member, you will need to provide the following information to the Red Cross:
Even if you do not have all of the above information, contact the Red Cross and they will work with you to get verified information to the military command. ARMY EMERGENCY RELIEF AER, https://www.aerhq.org/, is a private nonprofit organization incorporated in 1942 by the Secretary of War and the Army Chief of Staff. AER’s sole mission is to help soldiers and their dependents. AER is the Army’s own emergency financial assistance organization and is dedicated to “Helping the Army Take Care of Its Own”. AER provides commanders a valuable asset in accomplishing their basic command responsibility for the morale and welfare of soldiers. AER funds are made available to commanders having AER Sections to provide emergency financial assistance to soldiers – active & retired – and their dependents when there is a valid need. AER funds made available to commanders are not limited and are constrained only by the requirement of valid need. For these reasons, the AER assistance program is conducted within the Army structure by major commanders and their installation/organization commanders through AER sections and other related organizations. Army Emergency Relief, https://www.aerhq.org/ is available to soldiers on extended active duty and their dependents; members of the Reserved Components of the Army (Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve) on continuous active duty for more than 30 days and their dependents; soldiers retired from active duty because of longevity or physical disability, or retired upon reaching age 60 (Reserve Components) and their dependents; and widows/widowers and orphans of soldiers who died while on active duty or after they retired. Eligible clients not stationed near an Army installation or Air Force Base may apply for assistance from AER through the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, the Air Force Aid Society, and Coast Guard Mutual Assistance. If you are not stationed near any military installations, you may apply through the American Red Cross. If your local Red Cross staff does not know how to process your application, contact your Unit Services Coordinator for instruction. AIR FORCE AID SOCIETY The Air Force Aid Society (AFAS), https://www.afas.org/, is the official charity of the U.S. Air Force. It promotes the Air Force mission by helping “to relieve distress of Air Force members and their families and assisting them to finance their education”. It is rooted in the original Army Air Corps and the World War II Army Air Forces, whose members wanted to “take care of their own.” Through the years, AFAS has become increasingly effective in helping individuals with personal emergencies– as well as extremely useful when used by commanders to help solve personnel problems in their units. The AFAS, since its creation in 1942 as a non-profit organization, has helped countless members of the Air Force community. Strong support for AFAS programs and objectives is reinforced each year by the substantial personal contributions made by the active force, all of which are used solely for Emergency Assistance. Although AFAS receives no appropriated or non-appropriated funds, close ties are maintained between the Society and Air Force officials. Emergency Assistance for Air National Guard & Air Force Reserve Personnel Air National Guard Active Guard Reserve (AGR) personnel serving under Title 32 USC are eligible for emergency assistance in the categories of emergency travel due to illness (when a doctor is requesting member’s presence) or death of an immediate family member (mother, father, brother, sister) and funeral expenses incidental to the burial of a dependent spouse or child, within limits of the Society’s funeral grant program. Personnel on active duty for training ADT and away from home station will be considered eligible for emergency assistance as if they were Title 32 AGR. Requests for car repairs essential to return to home station will be considered on a case-by-case basis. FAMILY ASSISTANCE CENTERS In the National Guard, the Adjutant General determines the need and location of the Family Assistance Center (FAC) upon either federal or state mobilization. The Recruiting and Retention Managers coordinate with the State Family Program Coordinator (SFPC) to establish and execute FAC operations. In addition to military support staff, family member volunteers and military retirees can volunteer to support the FAC operation during a mobilization. The FAC provides a variety of support to families from discussion groups, to food pantries, to video teleconferencing. During the mobilization, your FAC is your point of contact for help with any type of problem. A telephone call to the FAC’s trained staff and volunteers will either help solve your problem or direct you to the appropriate program or agency. Your FAC can provide information on and referral to essential services, including: Financial Management Assistance; Information, Referral and Follow-up; Identification Cards and DEERS Enrollment; Medical Care; Legal Assistance and Social Services. As units are mobilized and de-mobilized, the number of FACs will change. Check with your State Family Program Coordinator for the Family Assistance Center nearest you. Family Assistance Centers (FAC) are in many different locations in each state. Some states have one FAC while others may have several. Hours of operation vary. Call to make sure the FAC is open before you make a long trip. The FAC is a focal point to coordinate available resources, such as chaplain services, Red Cross, Veterans Administration, and a host of other agencies with direct and indirect interests in assisting and supporting military family. The six essential services that a FAC provides are:
FAC and Army Community Service Centers http://www.goacs.org are located on most active military installations. National Guard members and their families are eligible for many services throughout the year. During periods of extended active duty, deployment and mobilization, members and their families are eligible to use the full range of services. Check with your Family Readiness Center or Army Community Service Center for a full list of programs and services for which you may be eligible. A copy of the FAC Active and Reserve Component Handbook can be found here: https://trol.redstone.army.mil/acslink/opready/fam_asst.pdf. FAMILY READINESS GROUPS Families are the backbone of the National Guard. We deeply believe in the family as an integral part of the National Guard in its 365 years of existence. This website is dedicated to all families. What is a Family Readiness Group (FRG)? During the Revolutionary War, mutual help was quite obvious. Family members functioned as support troops by cooking, mending, nursing, and carrying the wartime equipment in exchange for getting half-rations for each adult and quarter-rations for each child. Family members helping one another was also evident in the frontier West, where the families and soldiers shared the hardships of establishing and maintaining Army communities as isolated posts in the middle of an often-hostile environment. There is a rather touching story of Mrs. Elizabeth (George) Custer, who, after the defeat at Little Big Horn, went from one unit wife to another (each now a widow), offering what comfort she could, even though she had just lost her own husband and, because of the policies then in effect, was no longer eligible for any Army benefits to help her restart her life. Today an FRG is a company or battalion-level organization of Guardsmen, civilians, and family member volunteers who provide mutual social and emotional support, outreach services, and information to their fellow Guard and family members, specifically those who belong to the unit, have a significant relationship with a Guard member in the unit, or the FRG “adopts.” In other words, there is a spirit of inclusion that does not stop with just the spouses of Guard members. FRGs welcome those who have an interest in the unit (employers, retirees, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, and significant others of single Guardsmen), need its services, and/or are willing to help the FRG meet its goals. This collection of individuals who belong to the FRG is the unit “family.” The National Guard recognizes that helping families is its moral obligation and in its best interest. Families that can cope with (and in many instances actually enjoy) Guard life are more likely to contribute to the community, allow their Guard members to do their jobs well, and encourage their Guard members to remain in the Guard. The best help for families comes from peers as they learn how to handle various aspects of Guard life. Hence, the Guard mandates that each unit commander establish and support FRGs. To help FRGs grow and prosper, the Guard provides training and materials. The FRG is not the only resource for helping families. FRGs are part of a larger Guard effort to help families adapt to the challenges of Guard life. The assistance that FRGs provide is the kind of help we all need and try to get every day:
Good information and friends who provide each other needed emotional support and shared labor to meet daily tasks can and should be what FRGs are. These are the very things that Guard families need to cope successfully with all of the phases of Guard life. So if you need information about mobilization and deployment, plumbers, carpentry, automotive, childcare, budgeting and financial planning, bookkeeping, taxes, teenagers, TRICARE, pay issues, elder care, and many other life issues, your Family Readiness Group is a good people and information resource. How is the FRG connected to the unit?
Upon activation and mobilization of a Guard unit, the FRG works with the unit’s Rear Detachment and the unit’s Recruiting and Retention Noncommissioned Officer who has the mobilization mission to operate a Family Assistance Center. STATE FAMILY PROGRAM COORDINATORS Each state is authorized one State Family Program Coordinator (SFPC). You can contact your state’s Family Program Coordinator at:
AIR NATIONAL GUARD WING FAMILY PROGRAM COORDINATORS Each Air Wing is authorized a full-time, dedicated Family Readiness and Support Service Coordinator to develop a Family Readiness and Support Program along with operating and managing a Family Assistance Center (FAC) with a Volunteer Support Team where the members, their families and retirees can obtain family readiness and support services which are comparable to Air Force and Air Force Reserve Centers. You can contact your Wing’s Family Readiness and Support Service Coordinator at:
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