Mission: Family: ‘Joint’ effort: Family programs are open to all service branches - Marine Corps Community, discussions, blogs, photos & video - Marine Corps Times

Mission: Family: ‘Joint’ effort: Family programs are open to all service branches

Anyone who has spent any time in uniform over the past 20 years knows that the military has become — and is still becoming — increasingly joint.

Troops from different branches of service live and work together on many bases. They deploy to war together. Some installations belonging to different services have become “joint bases.”

But “joint” doesn’t mean seamless — and this ongoing transition definitely has its seams, as underscored by a conversation I recently had with a soldier stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

He said he called the family center at nearby Fort Carson to find out about a service available for troops and their families through all military installations. The person he spoke to wasn’t familiar with the program.

He didn’t call the family center at Peterson first, he said, because soldiers based at the Air Force base get their services from Fort Carson.

Why? Because the folks at Fort Carson speak the “soldiers’ language,” he said.

That shouldn’t matter with a family center, I said. The soldier agreed to call the staff Airman and Family Readiness Center at Peterson to ask them the same question; the person who answered the phone knew about the program and gave him all the information.

In terms of jointness, quality-of-life programs should be a smooth, hassle-free experience. Why should your branch of service matter when it comes to topics such as spouse employment, housing, child care, and financial programs and issues? It’s true that the service branches have some different programs available, depending on the installation. But if you’re a soldier living on an Air Force base, for example, you are entitled to use all the services on that base.

The tendency to want to stick within service lanes “is a cultural mindset” for some troops, acknowledged Kathy Moakler, director of government relations for the National Military Family Association.

No one should give you any less consideration because you’re wearing a different uniform. Service members and their families should be welcome at any family center on any installation — just as you can shop at any commissary or any military exchange, or catch a movie at any theater on any installation.

If you don’t get the assistance you need, you can always talk to the director of the facility, or let your supervisors know.

But save yourself some time, travel and expense and at least give your home-base facility an initial chance to help you.

Karen Jowers is the wife of a military retiree.