November 8, 2021
by Terese Sarno, DA Germany VMF Caucus
The DA Germany Veterans and Military Families Caucus collaborated with the U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt to present a VIRTUAL VETERANS INFO SESSION on Monday, November 8, 2021, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm on Zoom.
We listened carefully to your concerns about U.S. government services available to you in Germany (and around the world) and the Consulate designed a program that covered the topics important to our Veterans, military families, DoD civilians and all Americans overseas. One of the highlights was the discussion on voting while you are overseas and the importance of voter outreach programs since Americans overseas must request their absentee ballots each calendar year.
Representatives from the Consulate’s American Services Unit and from the Federal Benefits Unit discussed many important topics including Passport Renewals, the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), and Social Security.
The DAG VMF Caucus presented an overview of the VMF caucus goals and programs that have been offered this year and discussed our non-partisan voter registration events. There was a Question and Answer segment that allowed participants to get information needed for their personal concerns that was greatly appreciated.
The 80 participants, including veterans and civilians from all parts of Germany, highlighted that there is great interest in hearing directly from U.S. Consular Officers and in connecting with staff in the American Services Unit and the Federal Benefits Unit, so we hope to schedule more Info Sessions in the future. Let us know what topics would be of interest to you for a future program. If you would like to receive a copy of the Consulate slides, send us an email at [email protected].
We encourage everyone to join the VMF Caucus- https://www.democratsabroad.org/vmf.