Red Cross emergency communications services keep military personnel in touch with their families following the death or serious illness of a family member, the birth of a service member’s child or grandchild, or when a family faces other emergencies.
If there is ever an emergency situation where you are unable to reach your loved ones stationed overseas (for example, they have gone on a weekend trip somewhere and you don't have a number to contact them, or you are simply unable to reach them), or while on deployment, you can contact your local chapter of the American Red Cross and they can relay the message to the service member's chain of command who will then contact them for you.
Your local Red Cross Chapter information can be found by visiting http://www.redcross.org/where/where.html and entering your zip code.
When calling the Red Cross, please provide the following information about the service member:
- Full name
- Rank/rating
- Branch of service
- Social Security number or date of birth
- Military address
- Unit Information
My personal suggestion is to have your military service member fill out the above information for you and keep it current. Keep this information in a safe place where you will remember it and have access to it in the event of an emergency.
