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A&FRC hosts military support meeting

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Luis Loza Gutierrez
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Various individuals and organizations strengthened their network by sharing information about resources during a meeting of the Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee, hosted by the Airman & Family Readiness Center here, July 24, 2012.

"I was very glad to find out that our base would be hosting this meeting because ISFAC is an organization that makes sure we are providing the best support possible to our military veterans and their families," said Col. Scott Rizer, 319th Air Base Wing vice commander.

The Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee is a voluntary military cooperative partnership organized to provide multi-service networking for training and assistance to ensure Total Force Family Readiness. Its purpose is to provide assistance to families regardless of service component. The ISFAC in North Dakota has approximately 200 registered members.

The meeting helped provide ISFAC members with an opportunity to share news on some of the latest developments and projects for veterans taking place in the state of North Dakota, such as the opening of the Military Outreach Center in Fargo, N.D., the second of its kind in the state.

Other veteran-related news updates were provided courtesy of Lonnie Wangen, Commissioner of Veterans Affairs of North Dakota.

The commissioner lauded the success of North Dakota's outreach program for women veterans, citing the state's first Women Veterans' Fair, held earlier this year, and the increase in number of women veteran support groups.

Wangen also briefly mentioned plans to create a Veterans' Park in Larimore, N.D., a town located approximately 14 miles from Grand Forks AFB.

The meeting also served as an opportunity to discuss positive and negative trends regarding veterans. Two such trends that drew several questions from the audience dealt with homelessness and unemployment.

"I've had cases where a veteran will come into our office, saying, 'I don't need any medical assistance or food, I just need gas money so I can get myself up to the western part of North Dakota and get a job in the oil fields,'" said Vince Dicks, a military outreach specialist from the Fargo Military Outreach Center. Dicks said he and other outreach specialists have seen a rise in veterans seeking assistance in finding work in the oil fields.

Dicks, a retired veteran, said there are approximately 57,000 registered veterans in the state. However, the dream of making "big bucks" in the oil fields has lured many out-of-state veterans, skewing the number of veterans residing in the state even further, turning that number into what he called a "guesstimate."

Dicks said some of the homelessness and unemployment cases he's seen involve guardsmen and reservists who volunteered to deploy in order to have some type of income because they didn't have a job before they left. He said some are disappointed because they realize how unprepared they are to face the reality of not having a place to sleep, or not qualifying for a certain job despite their veteran status.

"One of them was in his 60s," Dicks said, emphasizing that such cases involve veterans of from various service eras, not just recent wars such as Operations Iraqi Freedom or Desert Storm.

Thomas Slaughter, A&FRC community readiness consultant, said he thought the goal of the meeting had been accomplished by the end of the day.

"The goal for some of these organizations or individuals was to simply let people know they exist and how they can help. For others, it was simply to become members of the committee itself. This meeting today allowed some of those organizations and individuals to become known and show the caring heart of ISFAC," said Slaughter. " That new membership is now set, that knowledge has now been passed on to others who share the goal of helping our military veterans and their families, and the Airmen & Family Readiness Center and I are proud to be part this network and we look forward to helping it grow even more in the future."

For more information about services offered to military veterans and their families, please call the Grand Forks AFB A&FRC at (701) 747-3241 or visit one of the following sites.

www.facebook.com/ISFAC
www.warriorgateway.org
www.militaryonesource.com
www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil
www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov
www.vets4vets.us
www.uso.org/
www.militaryfamily.org/
www.dol.gov/vets
www.va.gov/