Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. explains future Army family programs at an Association of the U.S. Army family forum in D.C., Oct. 5, 2009. DoD photo by Elaine Wilson
By Elaine Wilson, AFPS
Elaine.Wilson@dma.mil
Oct. 7, 2009
I wrote yesterday about my experiences at the Association of the U.S. Army’s family forum Oct. 5. The session was packed with so much information for Army families that I decided to spend a few more days writing about it. Today, I’d like to share a top Army leader’s vision for the way ahead for Army families.
The audience warmly welcomed Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey to the forum. His remarks were punctuated by audience feedback, both approval and otherwise. The audience was a lively bunch that included Army spouses, family readiness group leaders, military leaders and soldiers.
Casey began by acknowledging the impact of a heavy operations tempo on soldiers and their families, particularly in relation to the time spent home between deployments.
“We have been at one year out, one year back, plus or minus, for five years in the active force; one to about three and a half for the Guard and Reserve,” Casey said.
“If you had asked me five years ago would we be able to continue that, I would have said no,” he continued. “But we have and, during that period, we have turned the course in Iraq and are beginning to turn the course in Afghanistan.”
Casey noted that the Army is now finished with 15-month deployments, an announcement that was met by thunderous applause and cheers.
“I think some of you also see that as a result of that … units getting more than 12 months, 15 months, sometimes 18 to 24 months off,” he said.
The goal, Casey said, is to achieve a one year out, two years back for the active force and one year out and four years back for the Guard and Reserve.
“Our objective is to continue to move the active army toward a one year out and two years back by [2011], over the next two years,” he said. “And to get there, we’re not going to give up on that goal.”
Turning to quality of life, Casey said the Army is over halfway done with its Base Realignment and Closure activities. He said $65 million is slated to go into Army installations over about a five-year period, representing “a huge improvement in our quality of life across the Army.”
Secretary Robert M. Gates has directed the Army to move its money for family programs into the base budget, “which means it doesn’t go away when the war ends,” Casey explained.
Casey said he’s pinning high hopes on a program called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which is designed to build resilience and enhance the performance of soldiers, family members and Army civilians.
The Army also is working on training master resilience trainers, Casey said. “Our goal is to have one of those resilience trainers in every battalion by this time next year,” he said. “It’s about raising mental fitness, and the attention we pay mental fitness to the same level as physical fitness. It’s that important.”
The audience cheered when Casey announced that 25 states have signed a compact that signifies an agreement to transfer students’ credits.
Nearly 100 child development facilities will be constructed on Army posts in the next five or six years, Casey said.
Casey then asked the audience to respond to several family-related topics. He received groans from the audience when he brought of the topic of accessibility to quality health care.
“Obviously we have some work to do on that,” he said.
He received louder applause when he mentioned the topics of family education and employment, particularly when he brought up the new G.I. Bill transferability.
His speech was followed by a short question-and-answer session. Questions varied in topic from promotion challenges to concern about prevention of suicide among family members.
On the latter topic, Casey said he’s working on solutions and hopes the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness can help people recognize that many problems, while difficult, are temporary.
For Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, people first complete an online survey that takes about 15 minutes. The survey assesses a person’s strengths and weaknesses and then connects them to appropriate self-help modules, Casey said.
The survey is available now for soldiers, and will be online for family members by the end of the year and civilians by the spring. The self-help modules will be ready by next month.
Overall, “What I’ve taken away from this,” he said of the audience’s feedback at the forum, “is it’s a jagged line but it’s going up.”
Come back soon for more on the AUSA family forum.
I bookmarked this site. Thanks heaps for this!… if anyone else has anything, it would be much appreciated.
I stumbled across this blog. Its good to see people blogging about important issues and not just time-wasting nonsense.
Keep up the good work.