CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
In preparation for this article, I told an Airman I was going to write about a 357s and he wanted to know why I was writing about a gun.
It took me a minute to realize he was talking about a 357 Magnum. I smiled not just because I thought he was funny, but rather it reminded me of when I first heard of the Air Force Form 357, Family Care Plan.
My wife had suddenly become ill and was hospitalized. I needed someone to watch my two young children and I didn't have anyone readily available. It was a bad time to find out I should have planned for something like this, but I got through it with the help of the Air Force.
Family care plans are a big deal in today's expeditionary Air Force. A family care plan is simply the advanced process of planning for care of family members during an Airman's absence. We must all be at our best when called to deploy and this can only happen when we are prepared. Air Force Instruction 36-2908, Family Care Plan, require single parents, dual military couples with family members and members with civilian spouses who have unique family situations to complete an AF Form 357. It is important to remember that, while only the previously described Airmen have written plans, all Airmen with families will have family care arrangements that cover any situation.
A family care plan must include a short and long term caregiver and appropriate legal documents that would allow for the caregiver to care for your dependents, such as a power of attorney. The short term caregiver is someone who will provide care to your children while the arrangements can be made to get them to the long term caregiver who is usually a family member. The short term caregiver can be the long term caregiver if the person is not a military member and older than 21. The goal of the plan is to provide you with people you can go to immediately who have already agreed to assist ahead of time with documentation to ease the transition for everyone involved.
At Charleston AFB, we have an annual need to be prepared for natural disasters such as hurricanes. Just think of Keesler AFB, Miss., and Hurricane Katrina. I bet there were some Airmen who wished they had given their long term plans some real forethought. The AF Form 357 must be created and turned into your first sergeant within 60 days of arrival to a new unit and must be recertified annually for workability. The annual recertification allows you to make changes to keep it relevant in our constantly changing lives.
Whether you are required to document the plan with an AF Form 357, every Airman with family obligations should have a family care plan because you never know when you may need it. If I had a plan when my wife became ill, I would have been able to spend more time with her in the hospital and I only would've been worried about her welfare rather than hers and the kids. And like the Airman who thought I was talking about a gun, you will now be prepared for this up-coming hurricane season.