Live from the Army Family Action Plan Conference

Monday January 11, 2010
LTG Lynch Remarks
Army Conference Seeks Input of Families on Programs, Services

Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, commanding general of the Army Installation Management command, opened the Army Family Action Plan Conference today by challenging more than 100 installation representatives to use the event to flag the most important Soldier and Family issues for the Army’s attention.

“The impact of the past eight years on Families is almost insurmountable, and the stress of repeated deployments is almost unbearable,” Lt. Gen. Lynch said. “I’m not worried that our wartime commitments will break our Army, but I am worried that our deployments could break Army Families."

Lt. Gen. Lynch explained that the Army is committed to its promise – in the Army Family Covenant – to provide Soldiers and their Families with a quality of life commensurate to their service to the United States. “We can’t allow Families to break – that’s why we signed the Covenant, “ he said. “In an era of constrained resources, your input on the Army’s priorities for Soldier and family programs is so very important. Your work at this conference will have lasting impact on the Army.”

During the AFAP Conference, installation representatives will break into workgroups to consider more than 80 Army-wide issues in the areas of Employment, Family Support, Housing & Facilities, Medical & Dental services, and Soldier Support. After discussing, evaluating and prioritizing these issues, the workgroups will develop recommended solutions. The conference concludes with selection of the “Top 5” Family issues which will be forwarded to the Headquarters of the Department of the Army for attention.

“Resource levels for the Department of Defense and the Army will be going down, but Army leadership is committed to the Army Family Covenant – it’s non-negotiable. The question we face is how do we meet the needs of Soldiers and Families and fulfill the promises of the Covenant?” Lt. Gen. Lynch said. “We do this by identifying duplicative programs and programs that are no longer useful to Soldiers and Families. We must ask ourselves: Are we doing the right things, and we doing things right?”

As evidence of the Army Family Covenant’s considerable success in providing Soldiers and Families a better quality of life, Lt. Gen. Lynch cited recent improvements in military child care facilities, housing and medical care. “We can’t just say we’re ‘Family first,’ we have to do ‘Family First,’” he explained. “We need to acknowledge where Soldier and Family programs need to improve while we stay focused on what’s going right.”

“We are a nation at war and we have to acknowledge the impact that war is having on Army Families. We are going to win the war on terrorism but we can’t break our Families in the process,” Lynch concluded. “What installation representatives are doing at the AFAP Conference – giving Army leadership input on priorities for our Soldier and Family programs – is more important than ever.”