By Carl Surran
Army Extends Family Readiness Support To Battalions
Fall 2007
The Army’s Family and Morale. Welfare and Recreation Command (FMWRC) announced plans to expand the Family Readiness Support Assistant program to reach all the way to the battalion level, Army-wide, to support deployed soldiers and their families.
Family Readiness Support Assistants, including Guard and Reserve units, currently total fewer than 400. They are primarily contract, term or temporary over-hire positions funded by supplemental funding or unit funds and managed by their respective Army commands. Under the new program, approved by top Army leadership, the positions will be added to unit manning documents and centrally funded, with FMWRC providing oversight.
The plan calls for as many as 1,100 FRSAs throughout the Army, placing a Support Assistant in each deployable battalion, brigade, division and corps headquarters. The positions will remain in place even when the unit is not deployed, providing continuity in the current climate that requires units to participate in multiple deployments.
“We know FRSAs have had an incredible impact at the brigade level, and we are thrilled at the opportunity to provide that level of support and assistance to the battalions,” said Delores Johnson, Director of Family Programs at FMWRC.
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MILITARY
