Troop and Family Support Center launches

When a servicemember deploys or returns home from a deployment, it is often his or her family that feels the most strain.

The American Legion has grouped all of the various resources and services that it offers these servicemembers and their families into its Troop and Family Support Center - a comprehensive, online hub that provides links to apply for the Legion's Family Support Network (FSN), Operation Comfort Warriors (OCW), Temporary Financial Assistance (TFA) and scholarship opportunities.

OCW, the Legion's flagship wounded-warrior support initative, provides comfort items to servicemembers who have been injured and are in recovery. FSN links military families to a nationwide network of posts that are ready to provide assistance in the form of lawnmowing, daycare or housework. And TFA gives monetary grants to needy military families with minor children.

The Troop and Family Support Center also provides useful external links to helpful military resources, such as Hero Miles, which provides free airfare to military families, Soldiers Angels, a resource for wounded veterans and their families, and Cell Phones for Soldiers, which gives free calling cards to deployed servicemembers.

The Troop and Family Support Center is part of the Legion's greater effort to help servicemembers who are transitioning from the military back into civilian life. As part of this effort, a Veterans Employment Center was launched earlier this month on Legion.org to assist veterans in their attempts to reenter the civilian workforce.