Offering EMERGENCY financial assistance
AER Campaign kicks off
Organization helps Army take care of its own

David Poe

Monitor Staff

Fort Bliss kicked off its Army Emergency Relief Annual Fund Campaign with an information session and luncheon at the Centennial Banquet and Conference Center at East Fort Bliss Feb. 24. 

Speakers addressed old and new AER program innovations, what they’ve meant to local troops, and the importance of Soldiers helping Soldiers during this Army-wide campaign season, which started Monday and is slated to run until May 15.

According to AER’s Web site (www.aerhq.org), “AER is the Army’s own emergency financial assistance organization and is dedicated to ‘helping the Army take care of its own.’” The program provides active-duty Soldiers, as well as Guardsmen and Reservists who’ve served in an active-duty status for more than 30 days, and their immediate families, with financial grants based on eligible need.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Scott, an AER Headquarters officer, addressed Bliss Soldiers on several positive aspects of the AER program, such as its stability and reputation in the non-profit organization community.

“In the last four or five consecutive years we’ve received a four-star rating, which is the highest you can obtain,” said Scott. “There are only about 8 percent of the organizations in this country that have received that rating.”

Scott said 85 percent of the funds go to active-duty Soldiers and family members, and the remaining 15 percent go to those still considered a part of the “Army family.” They are retirees, regardless of whether they retired for medical reasons or otherwise, as well as widows and orphans.

He said he was concerned these potential recipients weren’t as informed as they needed to be about the resources available to them and asked the audience to pass on that information to the Soldiers back in their respective units. He spoke of a medically retired sergeant he had once met as an example.

 “I ran into a young Soldier and his wife and he had lost his left arm in Iraq,” said Scott.  “He told me, ‘From the time I was wounded to the time I left the Army I’ve received the best medical treatment I could possibly receive, but the problems began when the Army retired me. 

“‘I was told my VA disability was going to be processed pretty quickly, but eight months into my retirement I still hadn’t received it. I was five months behind on my mortgage and they started foreclosure proceedings so I had to let the house go,’” said Scott.  “I looked at him and I said, ‘Why didn’t you come to us? We could have worked with you and helped you to save that house until you got your VA disability.’ He looked at me with a puzzled look and said, ‘I didn’t know I was eligible for AER because I was no longer in the Army.’”

Scott said despite the 250,000 individuals who were assisted over the last four years, which accounted for $300 million in payments, today’s AER is a flexible program that offers personal attention to those in need, one person at a time.

“Everyone we’ve helped represented an individual Soldier or family member and it represented a time in their life when they were undergoing a great deal of distress,” said Scott. “So this organization is not about numbers. It’s not about dollars. It’s about reaching out to Soldiers in their time of need and doing so in an expedient manner.”

Fort Bliss Commanding General Maj. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg also spoke at the event and talked about the importance of supporting AER as Soldiers and as members of the Bliss community.

“Last year $2,485,178 were provided in grants, loans and other actions to support your Soldiers,” said Bromberg, “so this is about taking care of our own. 

“Considering the size of the post we have, that’s a pretty significant payback to our community,” said Bromberg. “I ask you to think about that as you talk to your Soldiers and give them opportunities to engage if they so desire to contribute to this campaign, because this is about taking care of our own Soldiers, in our own community.”

Bromberg ended by thanking the national AER representatives for their selfless work and encouraged those in attendance to take AER’s message back to their Soldiers as the 2010 campaign got underway.

“These are not great [financial] times,” he said. “Some people come into the military for financial reasons, particularly the older Soldiers, and a lot of that’s based on the challenges they’ve had in the outside world. It’s a great time to be in the military and be a part of a community that takes care of its own, and that’s truly what AER is all about.”

For more information on the AER program, you can contact Ruth Nero at 568-7088 or come by Army Community Service, located in Bldg. 2494 on Ricker Road. Also visit www.aerhq.org to learn more about how you can help, or be helped in your time of need.