Web site links military with resources needed for moves Published July 25, 2008 By Holly Birchfield 78 ABW/PA Robins Air Force Base, GA -- The Department of Defense is using the information super highway to put military members and their families in touch with resources designed to make life better. Militaryhomefront.com is an official DOD Web site that links military members and their families to resources for permanent change of station moves, information on their next home base and tools for helping even the youngest military family member adjust to life at their military loved one's new assignment. Christine Parker, Airman and Family Readiness Center director at Robins, said the site is a user-friendly tool that not only helps military families directly, but also equips military leadership and service providers with information to better serve military members and their families one on one. Julie Thompson, a community readiness consultant at Robins' A&FRC, said the online tool comes in handy for those who may not be able to come in to her center. "It's a 24 hour, seven-days-a-week resource for our military members and their families," she said. "It's just so convenient for people. Maybe they don't have time to stop by our center, but this way they can go out on the Web and they can find their information." Tech. Sgt. Michael Bullard, Readiness NCO at the A&FRC for almost four years, said the site is a great help to military families going through a deployment for the first time. "There are resources that help families better understand what their military loved one is going through, as well as tools to help them understand their own feelings about it," he said. Sergeant Bullard said the site supplements information he already provides deployed military families. Militaryhomefront.com offers a variety of tools to help military members' frequent moves less painful. Mrs. Parker said military members and service providers can research military installations for all service branches and find direct links to Army posts, Air Fore bases, and other military installations, both stateside and overseas. "When someone gets ready to PCS, they can go in there and there are checklists they can use to make the process smoother," she said. "There are places to get more information on how to help children in the move. If you're a new military spouse, it has tips about that, so there is a whole big toolbox just under 'Plan My Move.'" Mrs. Thompson said militaryhomefront.com partners with MilitaryOneSource.com, as well as with many other service providers to give military families what they need when they need it. Mrs. Thompson said servicemembers and their families can talk to someone at MilitaryOneSource, one of MilitaryHomefront's many partners, day and night by calling 1-800-342-9647. Mrs. Parker said the Web site started quite a few years ago and was originally known as the Standard Installation Topic Exchange Service Web site, but DOD has taken it much further and developed the site into a much more valuable resource for everyone in the military community. "I can't say enough good about Military Homefront," she said. "It's very user friendly. DOD has done an awesome job with putting this together. It packs so much good information into it. We try to get all of our military families to look at it so that no matter what they're going through they can get information to help them."