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The American Red Cross provides quality services to the men, women, and families of our U.S. Armed Forces through Chapter caseworkers, both employees and volunteers. Basic services include: Problem solving and crisis intervention, emergency communication between servicemen and their families, assistance with grants for servicemen and their dependents for emergency travel or housing. In the event of an emergency, please contact the number listed above.

Military Members and Families

While providing services to 1.4 million active duty personnel and their families, the Red Cross also reaches out to more than 800,000 members of the National Guard and the Reserves and their families who reside in nearly every community in America.

Red Cross workers in hundreds of chapters and on military installations brief departing service members and their families regarding available support services and explain how the Red Cross may assist them during the deployment. Both active duty and community-based military can count on the Red Cross to provide emergency communications that link them with their families back home , access to financial assistance , counseling and assistance to veterans . Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services personnel work in more than 800 chapters in the United States, on 61 military installations around the world and with our troops in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Today’s American Red Cross is keeping pace with the changing military. Using the latest in computer and telecommunications technology, the Red Cross sends communications on behalf of family members who are facing emergencies or other important events to members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving all over the world. These communications are delivered around-the-clock, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Active Duty Military Personnel

Members of the U. S. Armed Forces don’t have to be actively deployed to benefit from American Red Cross support. The Red Cross provides services to 1.4 million active duty military members and their families. Our services are available to all branches of the military. The American Red Cross wants members of the military to get to know us before you need us. All too often, service members don’t know about available Red Cross services until they are mobilized. Knowing in advance that communication links, access to financial assistance and counseling will be available in an emergency brings peace of mind to the military members and to the families from whom they are separated. Similarly, knowing that Red Cross services are available to service members and their families provides a safety net in times of need.

Red Cross services include:

• Emergency communication
• Access to emergency financial assistance
• Counseling
• Veterans services
• Information and referral provided by Armed Forces Emergency Services

How to access Red Cross services

• Active duty service members stationed in the United States and family members residing in the service member’s household (example: service member’s spouse) should contact Armed Forces Emergency Service Centers for information and assistance 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The toll-free telephone number may be obtained from military installation operators, from local on-base Red Cross offices and from the local Red Cross chapter.
• All family members who do not reside in the service member’s household, regardless of where the service member is assigned — at a local military installation or another geographical location — should contact their local American Red Cross chapter for assistance. Red Cross chapters are listed in local telephone directories and online at www.redcross.org, under “Find Your Local Red Cross.”
• Active duty service members on overseas military installations may access Red Cross reporting and communication assistance by contacting base/installation operators for the listing of the on-base Red Cross office or information on how to access Red Cross assistance if there is not a representative on the local installation.
• Families living overseas may access assistance through the local on-base Red Cross office or through the base/installation operator for information if there is not a Red Cross representative on the local installation.
• In overseas deployment areas, service members should contact the American Red Cross office responsible for their jurisdiction/installation.
  Publications

Get to Know Us Before You Need Us: Serving Military Families Worldwide (ARC 2081, Rev. Dec. 1997) provides an explanation of American Red Cross services for active duty military members and their families. You may request the booklet from your local Red Cross chapter.

Welcome Home, A Guide to a Healthy Family (ARC 2091, Apr. 1996) is a publication especially for military personnel returning home to their families after a lengthy deployment. The guide has suggestions for making the transition smoother for the entire family. You may request the booklet from your local Red Cross chapter.

Emergency Communications Services

American Red Cross communication services keep military personnel in touch with their families following the death or serious illness of a family member or other important events, such as the birth of a child. The Red Cross quickly sends these communications on behalf of the family to members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving anywhere in the world, including ships at sea, embassies and isolated military units. The information or verification in a message assists the service member’s commanding officer with making a decision regarding emergency leave.
How to Contact the Red Cross to Send an Emergency Message:
Active duty service members stationed in the United States and their immediate family members may call the Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Service Centers for help 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The toll-free telephone number is available through base or installation operators and from local on-base Red Cross offices.

Other family members who do not reside in the service members’ household, members of the National Guard and Reserves, retirees and civilians may access Red Cross services through their local Red Cross chapter, which is listed in local telephone books and at by clicking here.

Overseas personnel stationed on military installations should call base or installation operators or the on-base Red Cross offices. At overseas deployment sites, contact the American Red Cross deployed staff.

When calling the Red Cross to send an emergency message to a family member, it is helpful to have the service member’s:

• Full Name
• Rank/Rating
• Branch of Service
• Social Security Number
• Military Address
• Information about the deployed unit and the home base unit (for deployed service members only)