Quality Of Life Conference: Day One

Army Maj. Gen. John Morgan, EUCOM Chief of Staff, and other representatives from various agencies attend the Quality of Life Conference in Garmsich, Germany.

The Quality of Life Conference kicked off bright and early today with a video from the European Command Commander (EUCOM), Adm. James Stravridis. In the video he apologized for not being here but said he was currently in Washington D.C. testifying before congress on our behalf, but he knew everyone there was going to do a great job.

After the video, the Chief of Staff for EUCOM, Army Maj. Gen. John Morgan provided the opening remarks welcoming everyone to the conference…and so it began.

I got a chance to sit in on the opening remarks from several of the guest speakers. Mr. William Carr, Deputy Under Secretary Of Defense Military Personnel Policy, Mr. Thomas Lamont, Assistant Secretary of the Army Manpower & Reserve Affairs, and Ms. Carolyn Stevens, Office of Military Community & Family Police Office of Children & Youth were among the first guest speakers to speak at the conference.

First up was Mr. Carr and he hit on a subject that is near and dear to everyone’s heart overseas….cost of living allowances (COLA). He pretty much summed it up by saying “The number one purpose for COLA is to ensure that your purchasing power is the same as your counterparts stateside, and it’s where it should be”.

Mr. Lamont was up next and what I found interesting about his remarkes was when he said among family members education topped health care and housing. I pulled Mr. Lamont over to the side and asked him about his comment and he said that family members are worried about their children, which is a constant thing, and their education is important to them. Health care, not that it’s not important to family members but unlike education it is an "as you need it" type of thing.

He spoke about the program that allows military members to transfer their G.I. Bill entitlements to their dependents. I personally think this is a great program for several reasons; it addresses their concerns on education and it’s available to reservists as well. For years programs or entitlements were only for active duty personnel but now several programs are becoming available for reservists, who in my opinion, can no longer be considered as just "weekend warriors" and should be entitled to some benefits.

Ms. Carolyn Stevens was last to speak today and she also touched on education as well, reiterating that it was the top concern for family members. She also spoke about the complaints for the need for more childcare facilities overseas. She said those complaints were heard and stressed and since 2008 there have been 15 projects in Europe dedicated to expanding child care centers.

Well in a nut shell, that pretty much sums up the first day of the conference. After the opening remarks everyone was given a break to go to their designated rooms. Now the focus groups will do their thing for the next couple of days and on Thursday we will see the final fruits of their hard labor.

Make sure to keep watch because there will be bloggers from the focus groups posting for the next couple of days. You will get to get a firsthand look at what they are doing in those focus groups.

Army CPT Elizabeth M. Griffith
U.S. European Command Public Affairs