When life reaches 'The Turning Point'

  • Published
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Somewhere on base there's a junior enlisted Airman balancing their checkbook and realizing that even after raising their right hand and enlisting, they still live paycheck to paycheck.

Elsewhere on base there's a Department of Defense civilian who seems to be sick every morning and can't quite shake their drinking habits. They realize this can't continue without jeopardizing their career, body or family.

Over in base housing there's a wife at home caring for a couple of small children and desperately trying to keep her house in order. Her husband is deployed and she is barely making ends meet, yet doesn't know where to go for help.

Have they finally reached the turning point?

The turning point is the point in a person's life when they are fed up with their circumstances and decide to enrich their lives or minds - to seek help.

A recent survey reports that nearly one third of Team Mildenhall's junior enlisted families have trouble living on their incomes and 32 percent of junior enlisted Airmen's spouses do not know where to go to receive basic command or support information.

As a result of the final 2009 Community Action Information Board, the 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs office started an aggressive and informative campaign called The Turning Point.

"We needed to create a dynamic avenue to channel massive amounts of information to our junior Airmen and their spouses," said Deborah Laskiewicz, 100th Force Support Squadron Airman & Family Services Flight chief and CAIB executive director. "[Technical] Sergeant [Kevin] Wallace from Public Affairs sought me out and agreed to streamline all divisions of PA with other base organizations on a new Turning Point campaign. The idea is to expand public awareness, enhance spousal involvement, and bolster the public Web site pertaining to four focus areas: military preparedness, support for formal agencies, ability of spouses to cope with deployment, and relationship support."

What does that mean for Team Mildenhall?

Get ready to see a series of products on the base Web site, more related posters around base, and even consider signing up for e-mails sent weekly from PA directly to your personal e-mail account. After all, this is the Year of the Air Force Family and base leadership wants to ensure information makes it home.

"Every week Public Affairs sends a message to all RAF Mildenhall Airmen letting them know what news transpired that week," said Sergeant Wallace, 100th ARW NCO-in charge of community and media relations. "We recently added Honorary Commanders and British-American Council members to the list of recipients."

Why not add anyone desiring more information to the list?

"Imagine those 32 percent of spouses, who don't know where to go for information, getting a weekly message from PA containing all the weekly base happenings," continued the sergeant. "They could keep informed of everything week by week, stay on top of 'The Turning Point' articles as they are released, and have a Public Affairs point of contact - in case they need to provide feedback or have questions."

These initiatives could mean a lot to a struggling junior family, said Capt. Lindsey Hahn, 100th ARW PA chief. Moreover, it provides an avenue for direct feedback and strengthens readiness.

"By linking junior Airmen and their spouses to key programs, we can better help them understand their roles, and their spouse's role in deployments," said Captain Hahn. "We can help build supporting relationships by targeting junior Airmen and aligning them with appropriate support agencies, better inform them by direct e-mail contact, which also provides avenues for feedback."

Public Affairs is also adding a new tab to their Web site, which will contain related information about where Airmen and family members can go for an array of various circumstances.

"The last thing someone wants to do is voice their problems to dozens of people before finding who they really needed to talk to in the first place," said Sergeant Wallace. "We plan on listing an array of 'what if' circumstances on our Web page. When someone clicks on the topic, they'll get immediate information for the precise person or organization they need to contact. There's no need to air their dirty laundry or suffer unnecessary embarrassment."

Family members wishing to receive PA's weekly updates should send a message to marauder@mildenhall.af.mil or simply click on this link.

Editor's note: The Turning Point is a recurring series scheduled to continue through May 2010. Look for part 2 of The Turning Point on www.mildenhall.af.mil soon.  To visit The Turning Point Web page, click HERE. Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace is open to story suggestions and wants to hear you or your family's concerns. Contact him by e-mail at kevin.wallace@mildenhall.af.mil.