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WASHINGTON – Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) has called for creation of a Deployed Service Personnel/Family Support Center in Connecticut to ensure activated reservists and Guardsmen and their families receive the pay, health care services, veterans benefits, and other services they are entitled to but lack adequate information to access. Citing the “void of communication and support services” activated veterans face when being called up and when they return from duty, Lieberman called upon the commanders of the service’s reserve commands and other key agency personnel to support on-going efforts in Connecticut to create such a center. Lieberman also invited them to attend a community meeting to discuss ways of improving service delivery on October 6 in Rocky Hill.
The Deployed Service Personnel/Family Support Center would provide “a joint clearinghouse for both information and support services” to reservists and Guardsmen and their families, allowing them to better access to basic services such as, pay, identification cards, physicals, health care services, and veteran benefits which they are entitled to.
“We must to do better in supporting the valiant patriots who defend our freedom,” Lieberman said in his letters.
Following is the full text of one such letter Lieberman sent to the Commander of the Air Force Reserve Command. Similar letters were sent to CAPT Thomas Copeman, III, USN, Senate Liaison Principal Deputy; Mr. Lewis Vasquez, Chairman of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve; Mr. Roger Johnson of the Connecticut Veterans Healthcare System; and Ms. Lisa C. Jones, Assistant Director of the U.S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service.
September 13, 2004
Lt. Gen. John A. Bradley, USAFRES
Commander Air Force Reserve Command
1150 Air Force Pentagon, Room 4E160
Washington, DC 20330-1150
Dear General Bradley:
I am writing on behalf of Connecticut’s deployed service personnel and their families.
Having visited our military personnel in the Persian Gulf on several occasions and speaking to their families here at home, I firmly believe that as we regularly call on more of our “Citizen-Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Marines” to deploy in harms way, we need to look for innovative ways to improve support for them and their families.
In many cases, military family basic resources are fragmented and too distant to be effective. What are normally routine questions for their active duty counterparts regarding basic services such as, pay, identification cards, physicals, health care services, veteran benefits and other support, are painfully vexing for our reservists and their families. Rear detachments, while helpful, are not always able to provide the necessary level of support services. Some National Guard & Reservists injured while on active duty are finding it extreme difficulty in obtaining critical information and follow-up care during the transition to their drilling units.
Regional or parent commands are located outside of the state, and many reservists and active duty members belong to units outside of Connecticut. Reserve units often rely on rear detachments, independent volunteers from the local unit, or regional family support coordinators. Additionally, since many units are given “down time” after returning from deployment, there is a void in both communication and support services. While other federal and state resources are available, these services often remain untapped.
We must to do better in supporting the valiant patriots who defend our freedom. Currently, the CT National Guard headed by Major General William A. Cugno has established a central support structure for both Air and Army National Guard and their families throughout the state. Connecticut Commissioner of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Linda Schwartz, has stepped forward to help establish a Deployed Service Personnel/Family Support Center. Such centers would be useful in a providing a joint clearinghouse for both information and support services.
In order to assess and improve the support of our deploying and deployed personnel and their families, I am requesting your attendance at a meeting to be held at the Connecticut Veterans Home, 287 West Street, Rocky Hill, CT on October 6, 2004 at 10:00 a.m.
I greatly appreciate your support on behalf of our nation’s armed service personnel and their families.
Sincerely,
Joseph I. Lieberman
UNITED STATES SENATOR
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