HEIDELBERG, Germany (Sep 24, 2009) - Following fresh on the heels of IMCOM-Europe Army Community Service's inaugural training conference, which gathered Family Readiness Support Assistants in Mannheim Sept 21-23, unit commanders and families of deploying Soldiers now can look forward to better integrated Family Readiness Team support as important changes become effective Oct. 1.

Among other things, the Mannheim conference focused on providing the nuts-and-bolts job skills that FRSAs need to be effective - a first critical step in concerted ongoing effort to improve Family Readiness support across the board in Europe.

"We wanted IMCOM to get people together to start to set the tone of teamwork and cooperation and encourage folks to work together to improve the family readiness team training for Europe," explains Jane Helfrich, director of IMCOM-Europe Army Community Service.

"We know what's required to be a FRSA, but what is it that THEY really need, and how we can improve upon that," she said of the conference's underlying rationale.

According to officials, timing couldn't be better, and the will and resources to improve the Family Readiness system has never been stronger.

"Interest at very senior levels of the Army in terms of what's working and what's not is very high right now, and we just haven't kept up or applied the same flexibility to the way we deploy warriors to the way that we implement and administer family readiness at the ground/garrison level," asserts Katherine Ledbetter, Mobilization and Deployment Division Chief of Family Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.

"The way that we deploy Soldiers to the battlefield in terms of task organization has completely changed the way families interface with units to get information as to what the status of their Soldier is," she remarked, pointing to the need to develop strong teams as the center of gravity to effective family Readiness support.

"We can't be successful alone, and if you don't know what your piece of the pie is and how it interfaces with the other key players in the family readiness system, then you are doing a disservice to the Soldiers and Families that are relying on us for service," she noted, speaking about the objectives of the conference.

But come Oct. 1, with the culmination of nearly five years of work, Family Readiness Support Assistant positions that are currently stationed with deployable units in Europe will no longer be temporary positions, but gain permanent status. Ironically, this major milestone originated as a simple plea for help from an Army spouse in 2004.

"At that time a very experienced Family Readiness Group leader stood up and said - "we need help" - because the Army asks Family Readiness volunteers to do so much," says Helfrich. "That evolved into an Army Family Action Plan issue suggesting that there be paid positions to assist commanders with family readiness, and really led us to where we are today."

While temporary FRSA positions have been around since their creation in the 2003-2004 timeframe, there was little standardization, the positions themselves were temporary, and meant only for units that were actually deploying. An order signed by the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army that went into effect in 2007 not only expanded the number of FRSA positions, but also gave them to battalions that were not deploying. But those positions were still temporary, which posed challenges.

"If you're somebody who is trying to enter the workforce, you are probably looking for something permanent," adds Helfrich. "With permanent status for FRSAs we are able to afford someone a great opportunity to be part of that family readiness team without having to worry about having to leave because the position is going away in six months," she added.

The emergence of the Army Family Covenant resulted in FRSA positions attaining permanent status they will enjoy as of October, increasing the pool of candidates for these jobs, enabling FRSAs the opportunity to grow professionally, and allowing commanders and the Army to benefit from decreased FRSA turnover and mission effectiveness, according to officials.

"The biggest challenge has always been the high turnover rate among FRG leaders and FRSAs," remarks Sonya Brown-Lathan, Family Readiness Support Assistant Program manager for U.S Army Europe, "but the good news is the conversion of these positions to permanent status, the use of standardized job descriptions, and the fact that FRSAs will finally have the mandatory training conducted by ACS that they have long been asking for that will continue to improve the quality and consistency of service to commanders and families."

Family Readiness Support Assistants who attended training admitted the need for such training, in addition to expressing appreciation.

"My husband's unit is unique, because they have someone deployed every day of the year," says Lori Starnes, FRSA from Hohenfels. "So it is especially challenging because every six months I'm rotating new families in and out and going to new companies, and it's hard to keep up with that."

"This has been fabulous, and the way they have broken down into groups with Family Readiness Group leaders, Mobilization/Deployment folks, and FRSAs has allowed us to confer with each other, talk and share ideas," continues Starnes. "It's great to learn exactly what I need to be doing, about difficult issues like fundraising, how to reach out to our community support network, and work with FRG leaders, rear detachment commanders and ACS to pull us all together as a team."

And according to officials, this was a reassuring sign that they achieved their objective, and are on a path to continuous improvement.

"The takeaway is that it has to be an integrated team, you've got commanders, ACS, Family Readiness volunteers and paid FRSAs, and everybody's got a very important piece of the pie, but they have to work together, they have to know what each other does, they've got to know how to get it done, they've got to know what their resources are, and our volunteers and FRSAs need to know they can go to ACS, and ACS needs to know we've got to provide them good information," says Helfrich.

"The steady progress we're making in Family Readiness is a real symbol of the Army's real commitment to Families, and this is another great example of the Covenant making something happen at the community level that can really be seen and felt."