WIESBADEN, Germany – As a veteran, military spouse and parent, Lauren Herrin, understands her job as the Installation Management Command Europe Family Travel Program manager from both sides of the desk.
Herrin has been in her position since November 2022 and previously worked at the Directorate of Human Resources for U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden. Her human resources experience, however, goes back even farther to her seven years on active duty. Herrin joined the Army a month after watching her brother graduate from basic training. Transitioning to civilian life, she has been able to use her HR skills at various installations while moving with her spouse who is still on active duty.
In her current role, Herrin works to ensure family members can be added to orders and travel to overseas assignments with their servicemembers. Along with the losing and gaining installations, the medical command and DoD Education Activity, Herrin ensures family members will have access to appropriate housing, education and medical resources at their gaining installation.
An important piece of the Family Travel and Command Sponsorship process is screening through the Exceptional Family Member Program. EFMP is a mandatory program that assists families who have members with identified special medical and educational needs.
Medical services differ across the continent and military medical facilities may not have the capacity to serve family members. For this reason it’s important to ensure equivalent services for a family member are available at the installation or in the host nation before executing a move. The same is true for educational services, Herrin said.
The best thing families planning a move overseas can do is to make sure their family gets screened correctly, Herrin said. “If you have the services, and you need them, it's for a reason. Coming here, you don't want to hinder your children's growth or your spouse's mental health.”
Herrin said helping families get overseas to enjoy Europe with their servicemembers is the best part of her job. “As a dependent and former military, I know how tough the process can be. I also have a child in EFMP, so I saw the whole process from start to finish,” Herrin said.
“Our goal is to always get family members approved,” Herrin said, “but sometimes we just don’t have the services for them.”
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