News/Features

CSAF Spouse announces Five & Thrive initiative

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (AFNS)—The spouse of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Sharene Brown, has announced a Five & Thrive initiative, which increases focus and attention on the top five quality of life challenges military families face.

The challenges – childcare, education, healthcare, housing and spouse employment – are directly tied to military family readiness, resilience, and retention of the force. These five areas were selected based on feedback from military families and surveys conducted by Blue Star Families, Military OneSource, the Military Family Advisory Network, and other organizations.

Five & Thrive was developed by Brown with her Thrive Team, a diverse group of spouses. Her platform aims to encourage, support and build thriving military families by tackling these challenges and enhancing preventative measures through partnerships and sharing of best practices.

“My goal is to ensure these five specific areas are highlighted and any challenges under them are met with purpose and resolve, to include the unique challenges to our Exceptional Family Members Program families,” Brown said.

Brown meets with families and service members during base visits to collect experiences, best practices and recommendations. Her goal is to share this information with senior leaders to address these challenges, promote community partnerships, and ultimately improve quality of life for military families.

See THRIVE, Page 10

Be sure to visit the official 6th Air Refueling Wing website at www.macdill.af.mil

COMMANDER’S ACTION LINE

The Action Line provides two-way communication between the 6th Air Refueling Wing commander and the MacDill community. Personnel may submit questions, concerns or comments via email to macdillwingcommander@us.af.mil or Facebook @6thARWCommandTeam

MacDill on the web

Website: www.macdill.af.mil Facebook: www.facebook.com/ MacDillAirForceBase Instagram: macdill_afb Twitter: @macdill_afb

MacDill Thunderbolt

Publisher: Joe Deluca Editor: Nick Stubbs

The MacDill Thunderbolt is published by the Times Publishing Company, a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force. This commercial enterprise newspaper is an authorized publication for distribution to members of the U.S. military services on MacDill. Contents of the MacDill Thunderbolt are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by the U.S. government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force or the 6th Air Refueling Wing.

The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force, 6th Air Refueling Wing or the Publishing Company of the products or service advertised.

For retail advertising, call (813) 226-3318.

Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use, or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other non-merit factor of the purchaser, user, or patron.

News items for the MacDill Thunderbolt can be submitted to the 6th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs office, 8208 Hangar Loop Dr., suite 14, MacDill AFB, FL 33621. Call the Thunderbolt at 828-2215. Email: 6arw.pa.macdillthunderbolt@ us.af.mil.

Deadline for article submissions is noon, Wednesdays to appear in the next week’s publication. Articles received after deadline may be considered for future use. All submissions are considered for publication based on news value and timeliness.

Every article and photograph is edited for accuracy, clarity, brevity, conformance with the “Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual” and Air Force Instruction 35-101.