The 81st Regional Support Command is headquartered at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, but provides a wide array of support services throughout nine south east states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
To provide such services that range from staff assisted visits for supported operational and functional commands to individualized human resource services, the headquarters staff often brings 81st services to where their customers are. In any given week, 81st personnel can be found in Orlando, Florida supporting the Yellow Ribbon program, in an Army Reserve Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina teaching a suicide prevention class, or in any number of locations supporting the Chaplain Program's Strong Bonds events -- the Wildcat team is everywhere its customers are.
This week the 81st RSC's Retirement Services Office traveled to New Orleans to provide a day-long pre-retirement brief for Soldiers serving in the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard with two years of service remaining. This brief is one of 22 offered by the 81st this year in 16 locations.
"There's so much pertinent information that needs to be put out to retiring Soldiers and family members," said Capt. LaToya Kearns, retirement services officer. "We work very hard to ensure that we travel to locations that are the best fit for our customers. Some Soldiers are located close to installations which is good for them, we fill in for those who don't have that convenience."
The briefings bring together representatives from organizations like Tricare, Hero 2 Hired, Veterans Affairs and Defense Finance and Accounting Service who both brief the attendees and speak one-on-one with Soldiers to answer individual questions. Personnel from the 81st Directorate of Human Resources are also on hand to conduct records reviews and calculate retirement points.
Lt. Col. Doril Sanders, Chief of Internal Review, 412th Engineer Command in Vicksburg, Miss., traveled to this weekend's event because he will be retiring in December of this year. He said the convenience of having different locations and times for this event allows for Soldiers to find an event that meets both their location and scheduling needs.
"This briefing is very helpful and provides user-friendly and updated information on retirement benefits," said Sanders. "I was able to take advantage of this brief because of the wide variety of offered dates, and I'm glad I did because I'm getting information I didn't know -- the latest and greatest on benefits and retirement."
Retirement services is one of several services the 81st RSC offers that provides services convenient in the areas where customers are located. To stay up to date on upcoming retirement service briefing dates and other services, find the 81st RSC on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/81stwildcats.
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