Red Cross Delivers Emergency Messages Over Hill, Over Dale
American Red Cross staff deploy with U. S. troops to provide emergency communications for military and their families.
Friday, May 23, 2008 — Somewhere between learning to duct tape the flapping straps on their bullet-proof vests and ways to move aggressively when putting on their gas masks, Nicole Bishop and Brittany Reynolds must have had second thoughts. If doubts did enter their minds, they were never spoken.
Nicole, Brittany and the other members of emergency communications Team 14 have now completed their assignment. Brittany is returning for another tour that begins in July. Voice over is provided by Red Cross Celebrity Cabinet member Elisabeth Rohm.
Brittany and Nicole needed to learn these military skills because they were on their way to Baghdad. They were spending the next five months in a forward location providing Red Cross emergency communications and other assistance to active duty military personnel.
A parent is critically ill. A child is born. A spouse has an accident. Soldiers away from home need to know. Families remaining in the community need them to know.
That’s where the Red Cross communications network kicks in. The 1.4 million active duty military personnel and their families are confident the Red Cross will transmit emergency messages 24/7. The system works, whether the recipient is on a ship in the Persian Gulf, an isolated camp on the Afghan border or a military facility in the United States.
Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces personnel form a global web of more than 6,000 volunteers, 700 U.S. chapters, 58 military installations worldwide and in forward deployed locations in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition to emergency communications, the Red Cross provides both active duty and community-based military access to financial assistance from military aid societies, counseling, referral to community resources and assistance to veterans.
About the American Red Cross: The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters; provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply; teaches lifesaving skills; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization – not a government agency – and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its humanitarian mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at www.redcrosschat.org.
