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***image1***Allowing stateside learner’s permit holders to take the U.S. Army Europe driving test for a one-year learner’s permit was one of the 11 issues brought up at the 415th Base Support Battalion’s 2004 Army Family Action Plan Conference held Oct. 19 and 20 at the Armstrong Community Club on Vogelweh Housing.
“The delegates did great this year,” said Linda A. Slaughter, the 415th BSB’s Army Community Service AFAP action officer. “They brainstormed and came up with some great issues that they presented to KMC senior leadership.”
“A Chance to Change Tomorrow” enticed several KMC volunteers to be delegates, facilitators, recorders and subject matter experts.
Soldiers, Air Force and Army civilians and family members, retirees and reservists worked together to suggest changes to make the KMC an even better community.
KMC issues
About 40 of the volunteers worked as delegates in one of the four focus groups that came up with the recommendations for the Army to fix their top three issues.
Besides the learner’s permit issue, the Teens group wants the Army to establish a program that allows students graduating overseas the opportunity to visit stateside colleges and universities. They also want the Department of Defense Dependent Schools to show flexibility in the new World History and Honor English combination courses.
The Community Support, Consumer Services, and Medical and Dental Care focus group’s top issue was for the DA to come up with an Army regulation for the establishment and uniformity of Family Readiness Groups, which support Army families when their spouses are deployed. Their next issue was increasing Family Practice Care appointments at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Their last issue was providing Armed Forces Network Decoders to servicemembers stationed overseas.
***image2***Making things fair across the board was the focus of the two top issues of the Soldier Support, Department of Defense and Department of Civilians work group. They want matching funds in the Thrift Savings Plan for servicemembers as there are for government civilians. They also find a disparity in the initial issue of clothing allowance between officers and enlisted personnel. Their last issue dealt with the debt recoupment and notification process currently practiced at the Defense Finance Accounting Service.
The Children and Youth Services, Housing and Public Works wants an evacuation plan for family housing to include pre-identified indoor assembly areas, and dog parks and runs on or near KMC housing areas.
Besides the three top issues impacting the KMC, the focus groups also listed their four most valuable KMC services and the five things that are going well in the KMC. These lists and issues are given to the 415th BSB Commander Lt. Col. Erik O. Daiga.
What happens now
These 11 issues will go forward to the 415th BSB Commander’s AFAP Steering Committee. The committee meets Nov. 8 at the 415th BSB Headquarters on Pulaski Barracks. They will determine which issues are local and need to be worked here and what issues need to be forwarded to the 26th Area Support Group’s AFAP Conference to be held in February.
The local issues will be worked on by appropriate agencies for about three months when the 415th BSB Commander’s AFAP Steering committee meets again. At this time, the committee will determine whether issues remain active, complete or unattainable.
The forwarded issues will either be prioritized by the 26th ASG AFAP Conference or sent back to the 415th BSB conference coordinators. The prioritized issues will be forwarded to the Installation Management Activity-Europe AFAP Conference to be held in May. If the IMA-E delegates prioritize the issues, they will go to the DA conference, which will be held in November 2005.
This year’s DA AFAP conference will be held Nov. 15 to 19 in Alexandria, Va. The KMC has one issue from the 2003 AFAP Conference which will be worked on at this year’s DA conference. The issue is non-chargeable leave for deployed service-members.
Interested members can check this Web site http://www.goacs.org. and then click on “AFAP” for a record of active AFAP issues and whether or not, those issues have been resolved.
For questions regarding the KMC 415th BSB AFAP program, call Ms. Slaughter at 489-7521 or 0631-536-7521.
