Army Emergency Relief (AER) is a private, nonprofit organization that was created to help soldiers and their family members who experience financial emergencies. AER provides funds to help soldiers with immediate financial needs with rent, utilities, emergency travel, etc. AER also provides emergency funds to soldiers' orphans and Surviving Spouses and offers undergraduate scholarships to Spouses and Children of both active and retired soldiers. Established in 1942, AER has assisted more than four million soldiers and family members with more than $2 billion in financial assistance, including $1 billion since 9/11. AER supported more than 31,000 soldiers and families in 2023.
- Regular Army: Active Duty
- Regular Army: Retired
- Army National Guard: Active Duty Under Title 10 USC or Title 32 USC (Full-Time National Guard Duty)
- Army National Guard: State Active Duty
- Army National Guard: Drilling
- Army National Guard: Retired
- Army Reserve: Active Duty
- Army Reserve: Drilling
- Army Reserve: Retired
The return home from combat can often leave servicemembers feeling out of place with the most important people in their lives - their families.
"In deployment, Soldiers grow accustomed to a new lifestyle and a new 'family' - those buddies that bond together to defend each other," said Maj. Ken Williams, 14th Military Police Brigade chaplain. "This lifestyle change is prolonged and becomes familiar, i.e., the new normal."
The families also change while the Soldier is deployed.
"The family is a system," Williams said. "When one family member is absent, the whole system changes. All members of the family adapt to a new 'normal' way of life."
When the servicemember returns, the family may feel uncomfortable with each other, and the servicemember may withdraw from the family.