FORT BENNING, Ga., (Nov. 12, 2014) -- This year's Army Family Action Program Conference wrapped up Oct. 30 with dozens of issues submitted by Soldiers and Family members.
Jane Bresko, AFAP program manager, said 63 delegates and subject matter experts attended the conference at the Benning Club. Delegates were assigned to working groups to review issues, suggestions and concerns submitted for consideration by members of the community.
The Fort Benning AFAP Conference consisted of four work groups that reviewed 46 submitted issues, Bresko said. The groups narrowed these down to nine issues for consideration and presented these to the garrison commander. The garrison commander requested further definition of the issues and expressed his support to champion the issues for resolution.
The top issues considered by the four working groups were medical, dental and employment; force support, benefits, entitlements and housing; Family support, consumer services and education; and teen issues.
Top issues included authorizing parents to use their ID cards to pick up prescriptions for a minor at all military treatment facilities; making acceleration resolution therapy, which is cognitive behavior therapy that replaces negative traumatic images with positive images, available to all Soldiers and Family members Armywide; requiring all installations to mandate bugle calls that can be heard throughout the cantonment areas, establishing a distinguishable leave and earnings statement method that will identify debt and financial changes that differ from other information; providing Army Family Team Building training programs across the Army funded beyond the installation level and developing a standardized online course that enables individuals to obtain the food handlers certification.
According to information provided by the force support working group, financial changes on a LES such as debts on impending pay are undistinguishable from other information. Soldiers are notified about financial changes in the "Entitlements and Remarks" section of their statements, but the information is included with several other items. Soldiers often overlook the notification, which can lead to financial hardship.
Teen issues included incorporating a teen job fair, visual advertising and school publicity, providing free, secure, high-speed Wi-Fi in post teen centers and providing a knowledge and safety class for teens ages 14-16 that authorize their use of Fort Benning gyms without a parent present.
"This is an incredibly important conference, and this program is how we change the Army," said Col. Patrick Donahoe, Manuever Center of Excellence chief of staff. "When you look at the successes the Army Family Action Plan has had over the years, they are manyfold. These are crowd-sourced issues and solutions to what they see as problems and this is the venue for that."
According to the Fort Benning AFAP website, some issues are resolved at the local level, and some will be forwarded to Forces Command or Training and Doctrine Command. Issues not resolved locally or at the TRADOC or FORSCOM level are forwarded to Department of the Army headquarters and will be worked on by the AFAP General Officer Steering Committee until the issue is resolved or determined to be unattainable. Bresko said although some issues can be solved at the local level, they will be submitted beyond Fort Benning for potential Army-wide changes.
"One of great things is when we prioritized them, we made sure they are not just affecting Fort Benning, but the entire Army," Bresko said.
Col. Michail S. Huerter, Fort Benning garrison commander, said he encourages the community to continue to bring issues and ideas to AFAP and senior leadership.
"We have some very good issues and we look forward to the changes," he said. "Anything that you see wrong with the Army or the installation, continue to present those issues. If we don't see them, we may not know about it and can't fix it. I want all of our Soldiers and Families to have the best quality of life."
For more information about AFAP or to submit issues, call 706-545-2794 or visit www.benningmwr.com/army-family-action-plan.
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