Not only the servicemen are preparing for the mission in Afghanistan, their families are doing so, too. On 21 November 2009, the Family Day was organised in Baltic Barracks to get familiarized with the idea of Family Care Centre which will assist the families of the deployed personnel.
"It was a success", summarized the event Lieutenant Colonel Siegmar Plonka, Chairman of the Family Care Centre, which began its functioning on 19 November 2009. "We got into the first contact with the families and had a chance to pass them some information about us", he added. About 40 participants of the Family Day took part in the briefing, during which Lieutenant Colonel Plonka explained the purpose of the Family Care Centre and the idea of support offered by the Centre. Afterwards, all children and adults were introduced to the Family Care facilities, including a colourful children’s room with lots of toys and games. In the meantime, children’s mothers had an opportunity to meet and talk for a while. Everybody also got acquainted with the activities of the Danish, German and Polish National Support Elements, which closely cooperate with the Family Care Centre. The event ended up with a common lunch.
Supporting the families
The main idea of the Family Care Centre is to support all families of the deployed personnel whenever possible. It includes not only assistance is case of e.g. a failure in the power supply or a car breakdown but also organising social events. They are a good opportunity to integrate the families and add a variety to the time when heads of the family are on mission. As Captain Wolfgang Philippi, Deputy Chairman of the Family Care noticed, an active involvement of the families is a crucial issue in the functioning of the Centre. "The Family Care Centre can be as good as the participants require it. We need to learn about the ideas the families have".
Even though the Family Care Centre is already fully activated, a lot of events will take place no sooner than after the deployment of servicemen to Afghanistan. As Lieutenant Colonel Plonka emphasized, the Centre has no intention to "overload" the families with events before the mission actually starts.
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