Airman and Family Readiness Flight officially opens

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carissa Lee
  • Public Affairs
GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The Airman and Family Readiness Flights have recently made changes to their missions across the Air Force and the Goodfellow AFB A&FRF celebrated its official grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house Jan. 19.

"The new location for the A&FRF is right by the troop walk, which allows our organization to have more visibility on base," Maureen Hartford, A&FRF community readiness consultant said.

The building itself has gotten high praise from the center's director, Anthony Hooks. He said it's a "multi function facility that will serve as a meeting place for many base organizations, and it looks great, too. The color selection inside the building provides a warm and calming effect upon persons entering the door...it really makes you feel at home," he added.

Previously known as Family Support Centers, the organizations now are called the Airman and Family Readiness Flights. The new name reflects a change in focus and scope that has been evolving since Desert Shield/Storm in the early '90's Ms. Hartford, said.

Other Air Force-wide changes that are expected to be made in the future are the transferring of Common Access Card and ID card services to the A&FRF.
"The location's larger size allows us to be more centralized, which will keep our customers from having to go to different locations in order to use our services or activities."

Staff from the Student Satellite Center, an annex of the A&FRF, will remain in Bldg. 3201 in order to continue to meet the needs of the student population on base.
According to Larry Graves, community readiness consultant team leader, the new location allows the flight to better serve its customers by creating more areas to perform the various services of the flight. The new location houses two training rooms, four counseling rooms and two resource rooms; one resource room will include a minimum of four computers designed to help customers with taking advantage of services like creating a resume, or doing on-line job searches.

Although the A&FRF has undergoing several changes, much remains the same as far as the flight's services go.

The A&FRF's telephone number will continue to be (325) 654-3893 and traditional services such as relocation and Transition Assistance Programs, personal financial management, Air Force Aid, spouse employment, and family life education will still be offered.

"We hope that with the new changes, more people will begin to understand that the scope of responsibility for the A&FRF has widened and that we are here for all Department of Defense military and civilian personnel and their families, which includes Guard, Reserve, other eligible uniformed members, military retirees and their eligible family members," Ms. Hartford concluded.