Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.
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AP and Army Emergency Relief. I told you yesterday I was pinging the Big Army public affairs shop, saying they needed to jump on this one - either acknowledging a problem and laying out some sort of solution, or, defending the program. Not because the public at large really cares - I don't think many of them notice things like this - but because the donor base - people such as myself, my father, and people who read this blog and other milblogs *do* care. Deeply.
Jason over at Countercolumn mounted a critique of the AP article.
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Gunner! Flechette! Poseur Front, Fire! Old Blue does a little painting by numbers. Painting a set of metaphoric concentric rings on the metaphoric forehead of one Robert Pelton. -the Armorer
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AP and Army Emergency Relief. I told you yesterday I was pinging the Big Army public affairs shop, saying they needed to jump on this one - either acknowledging a problem and laying out some sort of solution, or, defending the program. Not because the public at large really cares - I don't think many of them notice things like this - but because the donor base - people such as myself, my father, and people who read this blog and other milblogs *do* care. Deeply.
Jason over at Countercolumn mounted a critique of the AP article.
The Army will be hosting a blogger's roundtable at 1230 CST today.Objection, your honor. The use of the term "facade" is prejudicial. AER is what it is. There is no "facade." Nobody in his right mind thinks that the AER is the Army. And as a matter of fact, the AER is NOT the Army, though it has military officers on its board.
Founded in 1942, AER eases cash emergencies of active-duty soldiers and retirees and provides college scholarships for their families. Its emergency aid covers mortgage payments and food, car repairs, medical bills, travel to family funerals, and the like.
Instead of giving money away, though, the Army charity lent out 91 percent of its emergency aid during the period 2003-2007. For accounting purposes, the loans, dispensed interest-free, are counted as expenses only when they are not paid back.
Tuesday, Feb. 24
1:30 PM ET
COL Andrew Cohen (R), Deputy Director for Finance and Treasurer of Army Emergency Relief will discuss the program and dispel some of the misrepresentations of the recent AP article about AER. COL Cohen will discuss the over 258,000 Soldiers and Families who received help and assistance from 2003-2007, and discuss how AER has met the need for financial assistance. COL Cohen will also clarify key points including the fact that AER does not hold any funds in reserve. All assets less $9 million in restricted accounts and the receivables from interest free loans are available at all times to meet the needs of Soldiers and their Families. In fact, in 2008, AER provided $83 million to 72,000 Soldiers and Families. 24% of that amount was in the form of tax free grants and 76% was for interest free loans. Soldier repayment of interest free loans account for 65% of available funds and provides a cash-flow that is used to respond to future needs by Soldiers and Families.
Please join us to hear from COL Cohen, and have your questions answered.
Of course I have only one non-moveable thing to do this week, and it coincides with the BRT that I agitated for. Sigh. All is not lost on that front - AFSis is going to cover down on the event. -the Armorer
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Staff Sergeant Mancini, who gave us that cool pic last week, is back with more this week...
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Staff Sergeant Mancini, who gave us that cool pic last week, is back with more this week...
-the ArmorerU.S. Army 1st Lt. Jared Tomberlin, left, gets a first-hand view of the land with outgoing commander 1st Lt. Larry Baca on top of a ridge near Forward Operation Base Lane, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Feb. 21, 2009. Tomberlin is assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment and Baca is assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Adam Mancini
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Gunner! Flechette! Poseur Front, Fire! Old Blue does a little painting by numbers. Painting a set of metaphoric concentric rings on the metaphoric forehead of one Robert Pelton. -the Armorer
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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires. Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute. Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is. The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now. Of course, now I have to call them UAS's, because someone got a Legion of Merit for the name change.Anyway, I call the post H&I Fires because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. Another term of art that might be appropriate is Free Fire Zone.
two 1LTs overlooking from the high ground with a map. i got a nickel say any grid spots they derive are still off by more than a click.
The Roundtables are "invitation only" national conference calls. I got on the list after meeting Lindy at last year's milblog conference. John's on it because he's a rockstar. heh.
I honestly don't know what criteria (if any) Lindy uses to extend the invitations.
It was a long call, btw, lasting about 45 min.
As you might expect, the call got rather heated from time to time. I will put all of my thoughts on paper later tonight, but here's a taste:
1) Jeff Donn's numbers just don't add up according to what Col. Cohen said. He's not sure where he got the numbers from for his article and gave us an update on some of them. For instance, the article suggests that they had $345 million by the end of 2007 and had only distributed $64 million in "direct aid". Current invested capital ranges between $190-200 million, and in 2008 they provided $83 million in aid to about 72,000 soldiers/family members, about 25% of which was in the form of tax free grants. The remaining 75% was distributed as interest-free loans.
2) The article states that ranking NCO's and officers often coerce contributions to the AER through the use of either awards for giving, or punishments for not giving enough. The AER has a strict policy of non-coercion and does not tolerate any sort of award/punishment system to get donations. They've hired a 3rd party watch dog to provide oversight of donation campaigns, providing protection to whistle blowers who come forward.
3) They re-evaluate the program every year to see if there are any soldier/family needs that aren't being met. These discussions resulted in increasing the family scholarship program from $3 million in 2003 to $12 million in 2008. (granted, they are cutting back to $8 million in 2009, but that's still a LOT of money)
4) There was a lot of noise about "if you've got the money, why aren't you spending it, and why are you still relying mostly on loans instead of handing out grants". I'll discuss that later, along with some other details of the call.
Great I have questions but will wait for your discussion.
email me your questions so that if I can, I will answer them in the post. If I can't, I will send them to Lindy who will get the answers for me.
thanks!
Learn how at www.abitofhome.org
If you want to help somebody out who needs a significant chunk of cash now, but has a steady, long-term stream of income, then an interest-free loan is a great way to help that person make use of his own income without adding any extra stress the way that an interest bearing loan would. I'd much rather be able to tell a donor than his contribution is being used to help out different people over and over again, rather than just say "We gave it away, it helped a guy, now give us more."
On the other hand, if somebody just doesn't have the resources (maybe a disabled veteran trying to put a couple kids through college?), then I think it's a charity's place to just give a check, no strings attached.
that's EXACTLY what Cohen said today. Not word for word, mind you... but that's the whole idea behind providing more loans than grants. It's temporary assistance, soldier to soldier... not a give-away, unless a give-away is what is truly needed to help the soldier.
I'm happy you like this photo too, thanks for putting it up. I swear it's just luck. You guys are great!
Thanks again,
Adam