Policy change to help more wounded stay in military

Dick Benoit

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.

Some fundamental changes have taken place in the Defense Department's disability policy, according to Rudi Williams in an American Forces Press Service release.

Williams was referring to recent statements by John M. Molino, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for equal opportunity at the 17th DoD Disability Forum in Bethesda, Md., Dec. 7. "Today, if wounded service members want to remain in uniform and can do the job, the military tries to help them stay," Molino recalled President Bush telling the patients during a visit to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington in December 2003.

"This statement, this attitude," Molino continued, "has implications for everything from accessibility policy on military installations to the long-standing expectation that every active-duty service member must be able to deploy to combat anywhere in the world. We're re-examining our basic assumptions, and basic changes are on the way."

The department is committed to doing all it can to bring those changes about, Molino told the group.

"We're moving aggressively to help service members remain on active duty if they wish to do so," he said. "This is the news in DoD disability policy today."

Phone card program

Armed Services Exchanges are authorized to sell prepaid calling cards to any individual or organization that wishes to purchase cards for troops who are deployed. The Help Our Troops Call Homeprogram is designed to help servicemembers call home from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Civilians without access to military installations who wish to donate a prepaid calling card to a military member may log on to any of the three Armed Services Exchange Web sites: the Army and Air Force Exchange Service http://www.aafes.com/, the Navy Exchange Service Command http://www.navy-nex.com/, and the Marine Corps Exchange http://www.usmc-mccs.org/. Click the "Help Our Troops Call Home" link.

From there, a prepaid calling card may be purchased for an individual at his or her deployed address or to "any service member" deployed or hospitalized.

The Armed Services Exchanges will distribute cards donated to "any service member" through the American Red Cross, Air Force Aid Society and the Fisher House Foundation. The Armed Services Exchanges operate telephone call centers in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and other countries and aboard ships -- anywhere servicemembers are deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. All of these locations stay busy around the clock to keep up communication between deployed troops and their loved ones. The cards available through the "Help Our Troops Call Home" program offer the best value for calls made from the call centers, they never expire, and there are no added charges or connection fees.

In brief