From: bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: AF News 09/01/92
Date: 3 Sep 92 15:11:43 GMT
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC


From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>



689.  Evacuation entitlements
690.  Southern Florida aid
691.  Homestead family support
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689.  Evacuation entitlements
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Most servicemen and women stationed at Homestead AFB
will receive permanent change of station assignments, while Air Force family
members evacuated are considered in a Safe Haven status Air Force personnel
officials said.
     Although evacuated servicemen and women have sought shelter in many areas
throughout the southeast, most of the base populace went to MacDill AFB and
Patrick AFB, both in Florida.
     Aside from the military population of Homestead AFB and the surrounding
area, thousands of people in south Florida are still homeless because of
Hurricane Andrew.
     The massive storm hit the area Aug. 24 and caused an estimated $20
billion to $30 billion in damages, making it one of the costliest storms in
U.S. history.
     As relief pours in from around the country, airmen continue to return to
the base and assess the damage to homes, personal property and workplaces.
     Homestead AFB is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to allow residents to
return home and survey the damage.  On-scene legal officials continue to help
people settle claims on damaged personal property.
     Those servicemembers who went to MacDill and Patrick, should remain at
these locations until Air Force personnel assistance teams can help them
resolve personal concerns and process necessary assignment actions, the Air
Force said.
     Assistance teams are in place at Homestead, MacDill and Patrick to work
entitlements and relocation issues.  About two dozen assignment specialists
assigned to the Air Force Military Personnel Center are now in Florida helping
provide Homestead people with assignments to other locations.
     The assignment teams, composed of personnel from Air Combat Command and
AFMPC, began making assignments Aug. 31, for evacuees currently near
Homestead, Patrick and MacDill.
     Later this week, a team will move to Shaw AFB, S.C. and Moody AFB, Ga.,
to assist with assignments for evacuees at those locations.
     Homestead evacuees who are not located at one of the five locations
served by the assignment teams are being instructed to call their job
specialty personnel manager at AFMPC.
     As of Aug. 31, 649 of the 4,600 people assigned to Homestead had received
new assignments.
     People who relocated to areas other than MacDill and Patrick, as well as
those on leave or who have completed temporary duty and reported to other
locations, can:
     -- Remain, with their families, at their present location and process
permanent change of station paperwork through the nearest Air Force base.
     -- Proceed on temporary duty to Homestead or MacDill where assistance
teams are in place to help.  People proceeding to Homestead are reminded that
dining and lodging facilities are extremely limited and they should limit
their stay only for the purpose of surveying personal property damage and
attending to the disposition of household goods.
     Homestead-based airmen have been placed into a temporary duty status
effective the date they left the base.
     Family members are classified as being in a Safe Haven as of Aug. 28 and
will remain in that status until the military sponsor departs to the next
assignment.
     The Air Force designated the first Safe Haven location as the place where
the family members were Aug. 28.  With the Air Force's approval, families may
elect another Safe Haven location, for example, home of record, parents' home
or other location.
     As long as families remain in Safe Haven status, family members 12-years
old and over are entitled to full per diem on a lodging-plus basis for up to
30 days, using the rates for the Safe Haven location.  For children younger
than 12 the per diem rate is 50 percent.
     After 30 days, the rates for family members 12 and over are reduced to 60
percent of the lodging and per diem rates for that area.  The rate drops to 30
percent for children under 12.
     If the family returns to Homestead, per diem payments stop while they are
there.
     Because they are on temporary duty, service members are allowed travel
reimbursement to and from the temporary duty location, (transportation or
mileage), and per diem payments under lodging plus for the duration of the
temporary duty.
     Orders being processed will authorize a seven day delay en route to their
new assignment, to allow time for AFMPC to verify assignments and allow people
to get their personal affairs in order, officials said.
     Upon receipt of assignment orders, servicemen and women are allowed to
take up to three months of advance pay, officials said.  This is a permanent
change of station advance, not a grant, and must be repaid.
     More detailed information on the entitlements is available from personnel
assistance teams at Homestead or through other Air Force personnel offices.


690.  Southern Florida aid
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- As southern Florida attempts to regain some
semblance of normality following the ravages of Hurricane Andrew, massive
relief efforts have been launched from around the country to assist some
250,000 people left homeless by the storm.
     At the direction of the White House, active-duty, Air Force Reserve and
Air National Guard crews began flying relief supplies into the southern tip of
Florida Aug. 28.
     Reserve C-5 transports from Kelly AFB, Texas, flew pallets of supplies,
refrigerators, generators water purification kits, portable showers, latrines,
tents, vehicles and other supplies and equipment.
     Pope AFB, N.C.-based C-130 transports flew thousands of Army soldiers
into southern Dade County to assist in the relief efforts and sent up
temporary living facilities for the victims.
     As of Aug. 29, forces in Florida have reached the capability to feed
60,000 people three meals a day, as well as provide these people with water,
said Army Maj. Gen. John C. Heldstab, director of military support for the
Army.
     Crews flying C-5, C-141 and C-130 transports delivered packaged meals to
the storm victims, and continued to ferry troops in from Fort Bragg, N.C.
     The Air Force also transported disaster medical assistance teams and
delivered Veterans Administration mobile medical vans from Arizona and
Washington state.
     "The Air Force continues to do yeoman's work in flowing all of the forces
from the federal family," Heldstab said.


691.  Homestead family support
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Aside from the material aid going into south
Florida, Air Force family support centers throughout the state have become
nerve centers for assisting displaced airmen and their families.
     The family support center at MacDill AFB, Fla., has been particularly
busy in the days following the storm.  Volunteers started streaming through
the center doors following the evacuation from Homestead, Sandra Paige, Air
Force family plans chief, said.
     On temporary duty at MacDill when the evacuees started coming in, Paige
said everyone from four-star wives to E-1 wives, as well as active-duty
members came in offering whatever help was needed.
     Thirty volunteers immediately manned a food bank, collecting, packaging
and delivering food to the families in local hotels and billeting facilities.
     Also on scene to offer assistance to Homestead-based people is the Air
Force Air Society which processed nearly 1,100 cases.  The society also loaned
nearly $500,000 to help victims get back on their feet.
     "It was the first chance for these evacuees to have cash in their
pockets," Paige said.
     "It was their first chance to be able to buy food because so many of them
left in such a rush that they just had exactly what was on their backs and in
their pockets.
     "Air Force Aid came through when they were needed, and they were
magnificent."
     Donations also came in from the community.
     To handle those donations, MacDill established the Friends of DOD
Families, a nonprofit organization that allowed base officials to accept
donated funds and designate them for the evacuees.
     Calls have also come in from corporations across America, Paige said.
Plus, a $5 donation from someone who just stopped by.
     "That was all they could afford but they wanted to help as well," she
said.
     Paige was a member of the Fiery Vigil task force that handled the
evacuation of Clark AB in the Philippines last summer following the eruption
of Mount Pinatubo.
     What hit her the hardest following this disaster was seeing the people
from Clark.
     "This is the second time in a year and two months that they've gone
through a terrible tragedy," she said.
     While many left important documents, such as passports and insurance
papers behind at Clark, assuming they would return, this time around those
items went with them.
     "They were pretty aware they would not be coming back," Paige said.
     At Eglin, support is coming from individuals who can empathize with the
Homestead evacuees.
     A number of people at Eglin were evacuated from Clark last summer
following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo.  Many of these people are working in
a command post set up to support Hurricane Andrew evacuees.
     Briefings were held every day to control the spread of rumors and offer
needed information to the evacuees.
     "Air Force Aid paid for our line into a telecommunication system called
FAMNET," Paige said.
     The system allowed the MacDill center to be in contact through a computer
E-mail with 84 other bases, including the Air Force Aid Society.
     "Within an hour of coming on the system we had 15 calls waiting for us
from people who were offering help from other bases," she said.
     Evacuees are also being allowed to use the E-mail system.
     The support center staff devised a formula so family members could send a
message to the military sponsor.  The message is sent to the family support
center at the temporary duty location and passed on to the individual who can
return a message to the family.
     FAMNET has also kept the center staff in touch with the Air Force Aid
Society full time.  At least seven people available have been working from 7
a.m. to 7 p.m., to help people applying for loans.

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