Pentagon to Set Up Nationwide Troop, Family Support Network

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

Feb. 15, 2008 - The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act provides for the establishment of a nationwide center of excellence network that will assist servicemembers of all components in readjusting and reintegrating with their families when they return from overseas deployments, a senior Defense Department official said here today. Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, announced the new initiative today at the Department of Defense Reserve Family Readiness Awards ceremony that highlighted the best National Guard and reserve unit family readiness and support programs in 2007.

The new organization will be established quickly, Hall said, noting it will assist and coordinate efforts of more than 700 military family-support centers located across the country.

Efforts to obtain funding and staffing for the organization are under way, Hall said, adding it will have a central staff based in the Washington, D.C., area, and will have a board of directors.

The new support network will assist active duty, National Guard and reserve servicemembers, as well as their families, Hall pointed out.

"We've got to get that 'jointness' throughout (the system), and this is one of the things that this center for excellence is going to talk about," Hall said.