EUCOM Quality of Life Conference starts
I was at EUCOM for about two months when I heard of a section within EUCOM called Quality of Life (QoL). Now I have to admit, when I first heard of the QoL section, I had no idea what they did let alone what their mission at EUCOM was. In my many years of being in the Army, I have never heard of a section within a command whose main function was improving the quality of life for its military and family members.
Obviously, I had a few questions…what do they do and more importantly, what happens at these conferences? Quite frankly, what is Quality of Life?
After attending various meetings on the preparation for this conference, I still didn’t get it…until I was given the Quality of Life report from 2009. Then I gained an understanding of the importance of this section and the importance of its yearly conference.
On Monday, March 8th, the U.S. European Command will kick off their annual Quality of Life (QoL) Conference. It will concentrate on developing new ideas and solutions to improve the quality of life for EUCOM’s military and family members.
Some of the issues that came out of last year’s conference dealt with access to behavioral/mental health counselors, mental/health care for wounded warriors, teens at risk, behavior awareness and prevention, remote location for OB/GYN travel for family members of uniformed members assigned overseas and cost of living allowances. These are only a few issues that the QoL team is continuously working on to find solutions.
One issue discussed last year brought to light the need to deal with the stigma in dealing with mental health care. No matter how you slice it, everyone knows there is a stigma associated with seeing a mental health specialist. From this issue the Behavioral Health Care Bill of Rights was born, which was a major accomplishment.
This document was developed to help combat that “mental health” stigma and it addresses various other issues associated with seeking mental health care. Admiral James Stavridis, the European Command Commander, and each service component commanders showed their support by signing the document.
Bringing together representatives from each component, various government agencies, and family members, to include teenagers…yes teenagers, is what makes this conference unique. Through their collaboration, what they call a “Top 10” was developed and revealed on the last day of the conference. The Top 10 are the major theater wide QoL issues that they came up with simply by rolling up their sleeves, sitting down and getting to it. I am very interested to see what the top 10 will be for this year.
Well, I am leaving today to get set up for the conference. I, as well as others, will be blogging throughout the conference. Make sure you check out the QoL conference web page on the EUCOM website to get the most up to date information and the latest blog entries.
Army CPT Elizabeth M. Griffith
U.S. European Command Public Affairs
Comments: 3
Great to hear that this conference is again a main focus for the European Command. Working with families and service members this is a fantastic venue for everyday folks that work and live in our communities to voice their concerns. Seeing the issues from last year getting worked insures us that this conference again will focus on our needs as members of EUCOM. Keep the Blog going. We are all anxious to hear how the conference is going.
We are already getting RFIs from the conference, however a lot of people around my garrison are vexed that we did not get an invite to attend. I know the attendees represent a cross section of the total EUCOM population, but it seems that there was not even a slice from my AORs population in attendence. Can you provide insight on who was required/invited to attend? Thanks
Captain Spence, thank you for your thoughtful question. Let's see if I can provide some insight into the delegate selection process. Here goes. During the planning stages for the Quality of Life Conference, European Command's Quality of Life Branch extended the opportunity for each of the service component commanders, through their assigned action officers, to nominate a specified number of delegates based on each service's population throughout the theater. Delegates were requested to represent accompanied, unaccompanied and spouse groups in pay grades E4-7, 02-4, and DOD civilians in grades GS7-12. They was also a special emphasis on ensuring delegates embodied the entirety of the European Command enterprise. In total, 52 delegates were chosen by service action officers from main bases, remote locations, deployed groups and the reserve component. If you identify your area of influence, we could connect you with a delegate in proximity or the component action officer who can then provide you real time feedback not only on the process, but also on the conference way ahead. We need all the involvement we can get and your influence is important. Thanks again for your interest and we hope to hear from you again soon. Anthony