When a military family experiences a crisis, the American Red Cross is there to help. Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, the Red Cross relays urgent messages containing accurate, factual, complete and verified descriptions of the emergency to service members stationed anywhere in the world, including on ships at sea and at embassies and remote locations. Red Cross emergency communications services keep military personnel in touch with their families following the death or serious illness of an immediate family member, the birth of a service member's child or grandchild or when a family faces other emergencies. Red Cross-verified information assists commanding officers with making a decision regarding emergency leave. A Red Cross message is required before a service member can be granted emergency leave or before Family Members can have access to Emergency Travel. Without this verification, the service member would not be able to come home during a family crisis. How to Contact the Red Cross for Assistance:
Call (877) 272-7337 if you are an Active duty service member stationed in the United States, or a family member residing with them. When calling the Red Cross, please provide as much of the following information about the service member as is known. Please fill in this information in advance so that you have it if you need it in an emergency: Soldiers Full name______________________________________________________________________ Rank___________________ Branch of service_________________ Social Security Number_______________________ Date of Birth________________________ 2-11 Field Artillery Regiment 808-655-6494 Unit of Assignment__________________________________________________Rear Detachment Phone #______________________ Building 449, Waianae Avenue Rear Detachment Address_______________________________________________________________________________________ Schofield Barracks Wahiawa HI 96857 Military Installation____________________________________ City______________________ State__________Zip______________
Military address Downrange_____________________________________________________________________________________
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If the emergency is medical you will also be asked to provide the contact information for the Medical Facility and the attending physician.
Red Cross Lessons Learned: Don’t wait! If you are experiencing an emergency where travel and/or emergency leave need to be initiated in a short amount of time, call in your Red Cross message ASAP! Do not contact the Rear Detachment (RD) first, they will only tell you to call the Red Cross. Once you initiate the message, you can then inform the RD that a message is on the way. Once they have the message in hand they can contact you with further instructions. The message verification process is not instantaneous. There is often a delay of several hours, especially if verification is required from a civilian doctor. If the doctor has gone off of duty or is otherwise unreachable, it slows the entire process down. Be sure to inform the physician that you have contacted the Red Cross and they will be contacting them for more information. Be sure to instruct the operator to send a notification to both the Rear Detachment and Forward. Since the Rear Detachment processes the paperwork for emergency travel, they need this information ASAP in order to get Soldiers or Family Members on flights in a timely manner. Be sure to write down and keep your Case Number so that you can call back and check on status or update your case!!