Heart link prepares AF spouses for AF mission, tradition

Published March 13, 2006
By Kyna Weaver
48th Fighter Wing Family Support Center

ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England (USAFENS) -- For new Airmen, adjusting to the Air Force way of life can be difficult. For new spouses this adjustment may be just as challenging.

Heart Link, a program designed with the new AF spouses in mind, is available to help spouses transition into the military lifestyle.

Heart Link was created in response to a number of spouses who reported the early times in their marriages to active duty Airmen were especially difficult because of a lack of knowledge about military programs, agencies and the mission.

“It originally started at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and culminated into a worldwide AF program,” said Chris Lawson, the RAF Lakenheath family support center flight chief.

The goals of the program are to strengthen AF families through knowledge; therefore, enhancing overall mission readiness.

For six hours, spouses are given information by the many helping agencies on base, including finance, the military personnel flight, TRICARE, family advocacy, the chapel and protocol.

“Spouses should expect to have a fun time; Heart Link is not a briefing, it is an orientation designed to give spouses with very little military experience information about what services, programs and traditions are available and followed in the AF,” Mr. Lawson said.

Spouses learn traditions such as the Air Force Song and the role coins play in the military.

For more information on Heart Link, contact your local Family Support Center.