New expo maximizes family time

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Timothy Boyer
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AFB, Calif. --  Just one year ago, Airmen preparing for deployment were required to go to a one-hour meeting at the Airman and Family Readiness Center at Travis. This meeting fulfilled a deployment checklist requirement from the AFRC once the readiness NCO signed it off.

Fast forward to 2012, as the Air Force continues to do more with less, Airmen continue to come up with more efficient, and equally effective, ways to do things.

One such Airman is Tech. Sgt. Joseph Bogdan, 60th Force Support Squadron readiness NCO. Bogdan and his team at the Airman and Family Readiness Center saw a problem with the way the predeployment briefings were happening and they decided to do something about it.

"There was too much briefing and not enough impact on service members and their families," Bogdan said. "The new format makes it so members are being briefed by more agencies and families are briefed on programs specific to them."

The AFRC team got busy turning the previous one-hour briefing into a half-hour readiness expo, during which several agencies would participate, allowing deploying Airmen to get multiple checklist items signed in a single session, he said.

"It shortens the time members and their families have to sit in briefs and at the same time maximizes impact," Bogdan said. "It also minimizes foot traffic at finance, the legal office and the AFRC by combining all three in this one short briefing."

In addition to condensing the briefing and involving other agencies, the AFRC staff decided to add a new element - a spouses predeployment briefing.

"The spouses are in a different room getting briefed by other military spouses on issues that service members might neglect to think about," he said. "Issues such as whether your name is on the (utility bills) and the need for powers of attorney."

Bogdan said the spouses will leave with valuable knowledge, but also with some valuable goods.

"They will get a $580 PLAYpass for use at facilities around the base, a free oil change voucher and a voucher to obtain free child care once a month," he said.

While some may dread the required mandatory briefings, Bogdan and his team at the AFRC have worked hard to ensure the experience is expedient, informative and enjoyable for both the military member and the spouse.

The briefing is required of all members deploying in support of contingency operations for more than 30 days. Members can register online at www.TravisAFRC.com.