Tragedy can strike a family any time, day or night, and separation due to military service often makes it difficult to reach a man or woman in uniform. The Red Cross communications system is capable of reaching family members residing in the largest and smallest American communities, as well as ships at sea, embassies and isolated units. Red Cross emergency messages provide military personnel and their commanders with fast, reliable information to help make decisions about emergency leave, deferment, compassionate reassignment and dependency discharge. The American Red Cross transmits more than 1.4 million emergency messages each year to members of the U.S. Armed Services and their families. Financial Assistance Working with military aid societies to provide interest-free loans or grants when urgent personal or family crises arise.
Financial aid is used for such things as emergency travel, burial assistance, food and shelter.
Counseling Providing counseling, information, referrals and other social services to military families. This role is becoming increasingly important as more community-based military, such as the National Guard, are called to active service. Veterans Assisting veterans in claiming financial benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs and providing support services to patients in Veterans Administration hospitals. In 1905, the U.S. Congress granted a charter to the American Red Cross that required it to act in accord with the military authorities as a medium of communication between the people of the United States and their armed forces Since then, the Red Cross has provided communications and other humanitarian services to help members of the U.S. military and their families around the world. Working through 450 paid staff members and 40,000 volunteers worldwide, the Red Cross achieved the following goals in helping members of the armed forces during the past year.