Air Force Families Must Be Prepared for Catastrophic Events Amid Shift to Potential Pacific Conflict, Service Chief Says

Katherine Kuzminski, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank who studies military personnel and family policy, told Military.com on Tuesday that the memo's comparison to how service members and their families were caught off guard by terrorist attacks in 2001 is notable.

"I think it's an apt comparison, just in the fact that in the lead-up to 9/11 the military was much more domestic, and they weren't deploying in the large numbers that we saw, and it really did matter that perhaps the support structures weren't in place," Kuzminski said. "The family readiness groups handle everything from training and advising families on how to just go through all the paperwork that comes along with the deployment, to coming up with a family care plan and family action plan."

One change has been rebranding the Key Spouse Program to the Commander's Key Support Program. That program helps connect families, spouses and single airmen to resources.

Volunteering opportunities have been expanded to more than just wives and husbands and now include participation for airmen, Guardians, federal employees and family members, regardless of marital status, the service announced earlier this year.

Kuzminski said that's necessary because many military spouses are working now and don't have the time or resources to devote fully to those programs.

"I think it's significant that they are changing the name from the Key Spouse Program," Kuzminski said. "Because that is another area where, in the last 23 years since 9/11, it's become evident that society has really changed, and the family readiness groups across all services have long depended on the fact that the service member who was married, that their spouse did not work."

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