MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Annette Conway, the spouse of Commandant Gen. James T. Conway, made her first official visit to Camp Lejeune here Nov. 29 where she toured the base and spoke with the spouses of service members.
During her visit, Conway asked the volunteers for their experiences, concerns and input on the Key Volunteer program in an effort to make it a better support system and help meet the needs of Marines and their families around the Marine Corps during a meeting with 52 Key Volunteers.
“If your husband or spouse is in the Marine Corps, you have input into what is going on and we need that input,” said Conway. “We get more things accomplished if all of us are hearing and saying similar things. If we don’t hear something we think that everything is ok. If we hear about something we know we can act on it and if we hear about it from more than one person than it makes it higher issue that needs to be addressed.”
Conway addressed the volunteers about the problems of pay day lenders and how the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society is planning to set up a six-month test program to cut down on the wait time for loans and paperwork to give people an alternative to payday lenders.
Conway also opened the floor for questions and answers where she discussed with the volunteers about support for families with wounded family members, efforts to keep the consistency in different key volunteer networks so when families move to different duty stations they don’t have to adjust to different support systems and can maintain the same programs they are used too.
Conway also visited the Wounded Warrior Barracks with her husband where he spoke about his plan to create a Wounded Warrior Regiment with battalions on each coast.
“It’s great timing and we are excited,” said Lt. Col. Tom Siedenthal, officer in charge of the Injured Support Unit. “We are Headquarters Marine Corps driven and Headquarters Marine Corps centered on the Wounded Warrior Regiment.”
Conway also visited the Family Team Building Center and the Child Development Center during her visit.