Oct. 12, 2011 – Family programs remain important and their budgets will not be used to fund other initiatives, top Army leaders pledged at a family forum here this week.
Army Secretary John M. McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno assured family members and family readiness group leaders that family programs remain as important as ever, despite looming Defense Department budget cuts and drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The leaders spoke Oct. 10 during the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2011 annual meeting and exposition.
"We don't talk enough about our families, about what we've gone through," Odierno said. "We sometimes don't know the impact it's had on our children, and I do worry about that. What are we doing for our children? Wherever I go, I talk about [how] our children are the strength of our nation, our children are the strength of our Army, and how we help them to get through these numerous deployments and how we help them to cope with issues of missing Dad or Mom.”
And this won't end the day U.S. forces come out of Afghanistan, the general said.
“We're going to have a lot of work to do after that as well, because we'll have to continue to deal with family issues [and] family programs for years to come,” he continued. “We have to ensure that we're invested in them, and we have to ensure we understand what those issues are.”
And he does understand, Odierno added, noting that his wife makes sure of it. read more>>>
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