AUSA Day2 Recap

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Most of the 2nd day of AUSA i spent with LAW of Parent Zone. We started off the day attending another Family Forum that mainly focused on the Army’s National Guard and Reserve component.

It was really interesting to see all the National Guard/Reserve families that were there. Since this forum mainly focused on them, there was a multude of information and resources available for them. General and Mrs Stultz talked a great deal about the how the citizen soldier see that their community if partnering with the Army and that gives them some comfort.

They also discussed how some soldiers and families were falling thru the cracks. It was also acknowledge how they don’t follow “family readiness” and the Army realizes that they need too.

The forum talked about “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program which was started by Minnesota National Guard after they realized things were lacking for the Reserve and National Guard soldiers after they came home as compared to the Active component.

Secretary Geren signed an order earlier this year that states spouses, children and parents of single soldiers allowed to attend re-integration programs at the Army’s expense to better prepare families to support  their soldiers when they do come home. They can anticipate additional training for the individual with a multitude of resources at their disposal.

During this family forum, they also talked a great deal about the Community Covenant. Basically, its the engagement of our communities with the Army .. to provide support for our soldiers within their communities.You can find out more information about it at Communitycovenant.army.mil It has lots of information about ways for community to support the military  and  best practices at state and local level.

After this, LAW and I headed down to the Expo floor to check out all of the vendors in the Family section of the expo. There were all kinds of awesome resources for families. One in particular, was Operation Life Transformed which is an organization that provides education and resources to our war wounded caregivers and military spouses through private and corporate entities.

After lunch with LAW, I headed back to Blogger’s Row to hang out for a bit. I eventually ran into my new media friend, Jim Long and got to chat with him for a brief minute before Gen Petraeus’ speech.

Gen Petraeus was quite funny! He was even cracking Chuck Norris jokes!  : ) Gen Petraeus talked all about the great work that soldiers are doing in Iraq , what it takes to sustain what they currently have, etc. It was truly inspring to hear that we are doing good and making a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people.

I ended up not attending Day 3 as I had some client things that needed to be taken care. Believe me I’d rather have been at AUSA!

I’m definitely looking forward to attending next year’s event! I highly recommend it if you can make the trip. Thanks Andi for give me the opportunity to attend!