Gulf War I Program Expanded To Assist Wounded Airmen
The Air Force Warrior and Survivor Care Program is reaching out
to wounded airmen from the point injury on the battlefield and
throughout their rehabilitation and reintegration and beyond, the
program's manager said last week.
The program's success relies largely on family liaison officers
and community readiness consultants, John Beckett said in a "Dot
Mil Docs" radio interview on BlogTalkRadio.com. "The backbone of
that entire program is what we call the family liaison officer," he
said. "The family liaison officer is assigned to a family to be
their personalized assistant, if you will, to help with anything
that the family may need."
The family liaison officers are crucial players at the very
beginning of an airmen's recovery, Beckett said. "We wanted to
alleviate all of the logistical concerns at the very beginning and
provide assistance while their servicemember is in the hospital,"
he said.
The family liaison officers provide access to many key programs
to assist airmen and their families.
"Family liaison officers have access to airmen and family
readiness center consultants, who have access to almost any type of
benefit information or resources," Beckett explained. "They are
pretty much a one-stop shop for the family and the wounded
airman."
The program has access to resources to help airmen and their
families with financial, spiritual and child care needs, among
others. "Our charter is to do whatever the family needs, and that
is what we try to do," Beckett said.
The Warrior and Survivor Program started in the late 1990s as
the Air Force Survivor Assistance Program, but when Operation Iraqi
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom started, Beckett said, the
program changed to provide assistance to wounded, ill or injured
airmen and their families.
During hospitalization and after an airman is released from the
hospital, Air Force community readiness consultants are engaged to
help airmen and their families. They're equipped to provide resume-
writing services, financial support and a host of other things an
airman or family member may need, Beckett said.
He added that he draws enormous strength from the airmen making
their way through their rehabilitation process.
"What amazes me is the resiliency that our airmen have," he
said. "I have seen people who have been burned over 80 percent of
their body, and they get up and talk about what they can do and
what they want to offer back the Air Force. It amazes me -- their
dedication, their resiliency and how, despite what they have given,
they want to give back."
One airman, in particular, who was blinded and lost an arm to a
roadside-bomb explosion, is an inspiration to him, Beckett said.
"When you listen to him talk, he doesn't talk about what he gave
up, but [rather] he talks about what he can give," he told "Dot Mil
Docs" listeners.
The Air Force can learn some valuable lessons from these
wounded, ill and injured airmen, Beckett said.
"The Air Force policy is ... to keep people on active duty that
would like to remain on active duty," he said. "It could mean a
limited assignment status, or it could mean retraining to another
job. Our wounded airmen offer a lot of valuable experience for the
Air Force, and our goal is for them to remain on active duty, if
that is want they want to do."
(Aero-News thanks Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg, with the New
Media directorate of the Defense Media Activity.)