A&FRC provides financial freedom, assistance

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Benjamin Sutton
  • 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho --  Editor's note: This is the second installment of a three-part series on Airmen's total health.

The Airmen and Family Readiness Center offers a wide variety of educational programs and services to military personnel, dependents and retirees.

Every program and class is geared toward helping Airmen deal with different issues by providing life and adult education classes.

Curriculum includes family therapy and new parenting courses, life education and skills building classes as well as personal financial management classes and new military family transition assistance class.

"Professionals from the A&FRC provide services to all military personnel and families," said Tech. Sgt. Travis Hughes, 366th Force Support Squadron's A&FRC readiness noncommissioned officer in-charge. "Our mission is to provide guidance and information to our base leadership about what specific issues Airmen are dealing with and what solutions there are for them."

Some of those issues arise from financial problems, especially during these tough economic times. The A&FRC has multiple solutions to these problems.

"We offer classes for financial planning and independence, investment goals, budgeting and savings classes, retirement planning and thrift saving plan classes for military and Department of Defense employees," Hughes said.

There is also Air Force Aid Society, a charity which helps Air Force personnel, dependents and retirees financially in case of emergency and provides classes to spouses new to the military.

"Air Force Aid is here for any Airman or dependent who needs emergency assistance, and we also provide the Heart Link class which is for brand new spouses," said Kristine Thomas, A&FRC Air Force Aid officer. "Spouses participate in orientation activities consisting of presentations from base agencies and learn the military acronyms. The hope is by the end of the day, spouses feel they are an important and respected part of the Air Force team and ready to deal with the military's particular difficulties."

Dealing with the stresses of deployments is one unique challenge.

"I give the pre-deployment briefings to Airmen and their families to help prepare them for the upcoming separation as well as post-deployment briefings to ease the family with reintegration," Hughes said. "Finances tend to be one of the biggest problems or issues during a deployment, which is why we offer so many different financially related classes and programs."

They even offer a budgeting class geared specifically toward first-term Airmen.

"Many personnel are brand new to working, and joining the Air Force is the first real job they have ever had," Hughes said. "We like to see Airmen being proactive in terms of their financial or budget planning. Some have never had to actually do a budget or any financial planning, so we like to reach out to these Airmen before potential problems arise and get them set up for the ultimate goal which is financial independence."

Establishing an emergency account for unforeseen expenses and keeping a budget to begin investing for the future or for retirement are a few ways the A&FRC can help new Airmen.

"We also offer credit counseling and classes on ways to improve personal credit scores to be able to purchase a home or automobile," Hughes said. "Often people don't realize they have marks on their credit scores until they come see us and we explain how to check and fix them with a simple phone call."

People off-base may pay a lot of money for this kind of advice, but for Airmen the services provided by the A&FRC are free of charge.

"Everything we do here is free for Airmen, families and retirees," Hughes said. "By providing these free services we are able to contribute to Airmen's total health. Ensuring dependents are taken care of helps Airmen focus on the mission, whether it is stateside or abroad, and goes along with one of our base commander's priorities of developing and deploying combat ready Airmen."

By working with base senior leaders the staff of the A&FRC are able to meet the needs of Airmen and their families.

"Please don't hesitate to come and see us regardless of if you are a single Airmen or have a family," Hughes said.

For more information contact your local A&FRC or visit your base's Comprehensive Airmen Fitness webpage.