AMERICAN RED CROSS EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS FOR MILITARY MEMBERS

[Rhonda8881]

I copied this from the official American Red Cross information pages.

Emergency Communications Services

When a military family experiences a crisis, the American Red Cross is there to assist by providing emergency communications twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. The Red Cross relays urgent messages containing accurate, factual, complete and verified descriptions of the emergency to service members stationed anywhere in the world, including ships at sea, embassies and remote locations.

Red Cross emergency communications services keep military personnel in touch with their families following the death or serious illness of an immediate family member, the birth of a service member's child or grandchild or when a family experiences other emergencies.

No matter where a military member and their family are stationed, they can rest assured the Red Cross will deliver their notifications in times of crisis. Even if the service member receives notification of an emergency through an e-mail or a phone call, Red Cross-verified information assists commanding officers in making a decision regarding emergency leave. Without this verification, the service member may not be able to come home during a family emergency.

How to Contact the Red Cross for Assistance

Call [phone] (toll-free within the continental United States) if you are:

An Active Duty service member stationed in the United States or overseas, or a family member residing with them,

• A family member of an active duty service member who does not reside in the service member’s household,
• A Department of Defense Civilian assigned overseas and family members residing with them,
• A member of the National Guard or Reserves,
• A recruiter, MEPS military personnel,
• A Veteran

When calling the Red Cross, please provide as much of the following information about the service member as is known:

• Full name
• Rank/rating
• Branch of service (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard or DoD Civilian or contractor)
• Social Security Account number
• Date of Birth
• Military address
• For deployed service members only: Information about the deployed unit and home base unit

[Pat (MP)]

Also it would be a good idea to notify the ombudsman of the situation so they can give the command a heads up. In the event of a death during deployment, they will only allow leave for immediate family members: mom, dad, siblings, and children. 

[Rhonda8881]

Pat, when I called the Red Cross for a death notification, they also said if the person had participated in raising the sailor they would also notify them for you.  Unfortunately in my situation, it was my brother in law and he had not raised my son. The lady was nice enough to tell me over and over that if he had, she could send the message.  But I would have felt guilty for lying about that so I did not use the excuse.  I told her I would just call when the situation was the right one.

My sailor would not have been able to come to the funeral anyway, so I just waited until he came back from deployment.

[Pat (MP)]

Hi Rhonda, yes that is true, but it has to be documented. They can send the message regardless who it is, even though they will not allow them to leave during deployment unless it involves immediate family and as you said someone else that raised them. One of the Nimitz' mom's father passed away during their last deployment and the mom contacted the Red Cross and the ombudsman and while they wouldn't let him leave, they allowed him to call home and gave him a break for a couple of days. I know it's a tough call to make especially during a deployment.