Military Members and Families

The American Red Cross was born on the battlefields of the Civil War, where Clara Barton risked her life tending to fallen soldiers of the North and South. For over a century, the Red Cross has provided emergency services to members of the U.S. military and their families around the clock, around the globe.

Today's American Red Cross is keeping pace with the changing military. Using the latest in computer and telecommunications technology, the Red Cross sends communications on behalf of family members who are facing emergencies or other important events to members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving all over the world. These communications are delivered around-the-clock, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

While providing services to 1.4 million active duty personnel and their families, the Red Cross also reaches out to more than 1.2 million members of the National Guard and the Reserves and their families who reside in nearly every community in America.

Red Cross workers in hundreds of chapters and on military installations brief departing service members and their families regarding available support services and explain how the Red Cross may assist them during the deployment.

Both active duty and community-based military can count on the Red Cross to provide emergency communications that link them with their families back home, access to financial assistance, counseling and assistance to veterans. Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces personnel work in 756 chapters in the United States, on 58 military installations around the world and with our troops in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.