Senior leaders accomplish year of the Air Force family road show

  • Published
  • By Belinda Petersen
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Air Force leaders traveled recently to 23 bases across 12 major commands, including the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve Command, to spread the word on Year of the Air Force Family.

Known as the Year of the Air Force Family road show, Air Force leaders had the opportunity to meet hundreds of Airmen and their families and receive their feedback. The most common themes were spouse employment and career opportunities, access to medical care and records, quality of older fitness facilities, availability of dining facilities, housing opportunities, support for special needs family members, quality of local schools, longer hours for child care, and spending time with family and friends.

"These themes, along with other key feedback items, will be part of the foundation for initiatives rolled out in the second half of YoAFF and beyond," said Col. Harrison Smith, Air Force spokesman for Year of the Air Force Family. "Additionally, we are sharing this feedback with an outside contractor who is developing the 2010 Caring for People Survey."

Earlier this year, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley designated July 2009 to July 2010 as the "Year of the Air Force Family," a period to recognize the sacrifices and contributions of the diverse Air Force Family including active duty, Reserves, Air National Guard, single Airmen, civilians, spouses, children, retirees, and community partners. The Air Force will reinforce and reaffirm successes in quality of services, identify potential gaps in developing and caring for Airmen and their families, and work to renew a sense of community throughout the Air Force.

"I have asked the headquarters staff to review our policies and determine whether there are Air Force, major command, or base-level policy adjustments that we can make to improve family life at our bases...we can encourage commanders to identify these local issues and seek solutions, and identify where major command or Air Force policies are hindering their effort," said Secretary Donley during his remarks to Air Force Sergeants Association in Aug.

Meanwhile, the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis, recently provided results on its survey of active duty spouses that was conducted from July to August 2009.

The survey was designed to identify specific problems that Air Force spouses face, their perception of support provided by the Air Force, and their overall satisfaction with Air Force life.

The researchers concluded that spouses of active duty Airmen are satisfied overall, however, they had ongoing concerns with child care, employment opportunities, and their ability to save money.

The information gathered from the survey will be aggregated along with YoAFF road show feedback, outcomes from the 2009 and 2010 Caring for People Forum, and other YoAFF feedback mechanisms to analyze and determine quality of life improvement initiatives for Airmen and their families.