CHIÈVRES, Belgium -- Everybody can make an impact on their community. This is the idea of the Army Family Action Plan, or AFAP. Through this process, U.S. service members and DOD civilians, retirees and their families have the opportunity to make suggestions on improving Army quality of life and other important issues.
According to Wallace Turner, Army volunteer coordinator, AFAP was designed to give the American military forces an avenue to voice their opinions on quality-of-life concerns on their military communities or installations.
"The process started as a two-to-five day conference where a mix demographic of members were selected to meet together along with subject matter experts to hash out concerns about services and policies that could be improved to make the community better," Turner explained.
Today, issues are solicited from community town halls, drop boxes, online submissions and various local forums.
"A new guidance came out in 2015 allowing AFAP concerns to gather at local forums almost eliminating the need for costly AFAP conferences," Turner said.
Asking questions and making suggestions is important, but having the answer is critical.
"After we gather the issues, we first contact the subject matter experts to get their response. Afterwards, we have two garrison steering committees where the garrison commander approves or disapproves the SMEs' responses," Turner said.
Sometimes, some concerns could not be solved at the local level. In that case, they would be elevated to U.S. Army Installation Management Command headquarters, "where a general officer steering committee, or GOSC, would be the final approval or disapproval," Turner added.
AFAP issues can be submitted year around. People who are interested can submit issues to usarmy.benelux.imcom-europe.mbx.dfmwr-acs@mail.mil or visit the U.S. Army Garrison Benelux Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation website to get more information.
People can also submit their ideas and suggestions to the Army Community Service center (Bldg. 318 on SHAPE) via DSN 366-6833.
Related Links:
U.S. Army Installation Management Command
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