005: Army Emergency Relief | The Financial Lifeline Every Soldier Needs to Know About Feat. (R) SMA Michael Grinston

0:00 SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show that we want today. And today I have the absolute honor sitting down with our 15 times and the Army and Mr. Michael Grintonic personal and powerful because it's about something every soldier should understand the Army Emergency Relief Program, or as we know the AER has for decades, ADR has been there in our topic moment having soldiers families, retail leads and survivors get their financial hardships, but many still don't know how deep it actually impacts lives. Today we are pulling back the curtain and going deep into what AER really stands for, beyond the paperwork, beyond the stigma, and into how it's changing lives across the forest.

0:43 SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show there.

0:45 SPEAKER_02: Awesome. Thanks for having me.

0:47 SPEAKER_01: All right. Question number one. We all want to know beyond the uniform, what moment or experience in your personal life shaped the way you led soldiers and your approach towards programs like AER today?

1:03 SPEAKER_02: That's a great question. I think beyond the uniform, oh, that's uh really good, is really, you know, how I grew up as a kid. Um my mom was a single parent. Um, I'd say we didn't have much, you know. I didn't feel like we were poor though. You know, it's like, you know, uh it was just, you know, you just have you didn't have things, you know, there were other people that had a lot more than you did, but you know, we still had food on the table. Um, we know we we worked hard, and that's who we were.

1:34 SPEAKER_02: It's as you watch a your single parent mom like literally deliver newspapers. That's what she did for 40 years. So uh just a lot of hard work. And she instilled discipline in us and expected extreme discipline and expected a lot of hard work, and that's that kind of just carried over to who I am today, you know. Somebody that like I like to say I'm still pretty disciplined, says you know, says the guy that got up at four o'clock this morning, still working out. So nice, yeah, and then a lot of hard work.

2:05 SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

2:06 SPEAKER_01: Perfect. Question number two When boots come off and the mission slows down, what drives you now? What does purpose look like for you after serving at the highest level of the army?

2:19 SPEAKER_02: Well, it's really AER, you know, it's uh pretty simple. I still get to help soldiers and their families. That's uh the greatest purpose. Um, but there is a really famous quote made by my wife is right after I'd retired in August, she said, you know, I was working, I was doing some stuff around the house, and she goes, I figured it out. It wasn't the army, it was you. So I've been known to uh to be extreme, you know, working hard. And and you know, after I destroyed most of the house, and I now the good news is I put it back together, I rebuilt it.

2:55 SPEAKER_02: It it all good, good, good, good. So she's like, you need to find a job, like right now. So uh so I I have this uh extreme sense of drive and hard work. I've been doing it my whole life, like I said, uh growing up with my mom. Um, but uh I I thought it, you know, you know, maybe you know, kind of slow down. It's like, no, I like being active, I like working. Um, but the purpose to help soldiers and their families, it's like it's just a joy. You know, every day I wake up and go, man, I everything that I do at the end of the day, I know that I'm I'm working hard to help soldiers and their families.

3:29 SPEAKER_01: Oh, we love that. And we really do appreciate everything you are doing and all the things that happen behind the scenes that a lot of people really don't know about, which is the whole purpose of getting on this interview so we can get a little bit of that insight. So, Star Major, from your perspective as a senior leader, what does AER truly represent to you? Not just as a financial assistance program, but as part of the Army's overall mission to take care of its people.

3:54 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it it's as simple as we build readiness. It's like sounds so simple. And we prevent things. So I'll talk about the readiness at first. I mean, imagine that, and this is a true story. Um, so I called this uh, I was thought I was calling a soldier. So I called a soldier, but the the spouse answered and she said, and I said, Well, you know, how's AER? How'd we do for you? Because I do that every once in a while. People don't think it's me. It's like, is this really the CEO? Or it's like, you know, the hang up on me.

4:27 SPEAKER_02: So a lot of funny stuff. So she answered and and I said, Anything else you needed? And she goes, No, I'm really happy with AER, but I just don't know how I'm gonna put food on the table uh before the the first. And I said, Well, um, in about an hour, somebody's gonna call you from the headquarters. And I I call I went to Charles who runs our assistant, said call call call the family and see what we can do. And we ended up giving her a$250 grant for food, uh, make sure she had food on the table. Uh, but the backside of that was the soldier was at NTC.

5:04 SPEAKER_02: So that's how we build rest. I mean, I mean, you know, they go, What did you call the brigade commander? No, I didn't actually, not at all. We just made sure that that spouse didn't have to call the brigade commander, the battalion commander, the first sergeant, the squad leader, or whoever they had to call. And so uh that's kind of you know how I build readiness is that that's one thing you didn't have to worry about at that moment, so you could stay focused while you're at the national training center trying to do your wartime mission.

5:35 SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's that's really the readiness side. And then the prevention of things is I I truly believe that we could be helping in all kinds of areas that you don't even know, like suicide. I put a lot of effort in the army with reducing suicide when I was SMA. And when I really looked at it, it's like, how many times did it start with a financial problem? And you know, my my spouse leaves. So, like the spouse left, but why did they leave? Well, maybe they were struggling with money, they had an argument about what you spend something on, and then next thing you know, they left, but it started with a financial problem.

6:14 SPEAKER_02: So if if I could, you know, help as many soldiers as I can, how many times did I prevent a suicide that they didn't have to worry so much that uh they didn't know how they're gonna put food on the table? Um, the good news about preventing a suicide is that you never know, right? Because it didn't happen. Um, so I I think there's two things readiness and then some of those other uh things that could be happening that you just don't know that you prevented.

6:43 SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, I love that. And it does go a lot, a lot deeper, as we know. Um, there's often a misconception that AER is only for soldiers in crisis. Can you explain the full scope of who AER supports? And then can you explain why that reach actually really matters?

7:02 SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Well, first of all, there's a lot of misconceptions about AER. Uh so um it is, you know, 90% of what we do, I like to say, is in a you know, a crisis moment. But there's I'll probably name five things that uh we do that's not just a complete crisis. So we help with child care when you're PCS. We help with PCS moves. So for those out there that are listening, and because of the government shutdown, you're stuck in a hotel or something, and those bills are racking up because you're in temporary lodging, you should come to AER and uh we can help you.

7:38 SPEAKER_02: So um, those are just a couple of things. And the major one that I can think of right off the top of a head that people don't realize is scholarships. So uh last year, I think I don't think$6.5 million dispersed in scholarships. So that's uh just that's not an emergency. That's just looking out for the long-term well-being of soldiers and their families and workforce development. Soldiers getting ready to get out and they need some help, maybe getting some clothes or something. So we have a few programs to help uh with soldiers trying to transition out of the army.

8:14 SPEAKER_02: Now that sounds weird from the army's nonprofit, because we want you to stay in, but uh, we don't want you to struggle as you get out to. Um, so there's a lot of things that uh the largest misconception actually has nothing to do with emergencies, it's all about all you do is loans. I was like, yeah. So um last year we did$21 million in grants and scholarships. Yeah. So um we do a lot in grants. If you just took out the scholarships last year, we still did$12 million in just grants. Um and everybody thinks all you do is loans.

8:46 SPEAKER_02: It's not true.

8:47 SPEAKER_01: Right, not true. Very, very not true. We there are a lot of grants there. Okay. Um AER has been around for decades, uh, yet many soldiers still don't fully understand it or are afraid to use it. From a leadership standpoint, where do you think that miscommunication gap starts and how can we bridge it?

9:06 SPEAKER_02: Well, wow, man, I've been working on this for two years. I think every time I take one step forward, I feel like I take two steps back. Is number one, I think it sometimes it helps us and it hurts us, is that we'll do the active duty campaign. So we have we're allowed to talk about AER and then raise funds for soldiers, you know, through soldiers. But what happens is that we have to do an AER, we have to make sure that we don't start with please donate to AER. Matter of fact, as the CEO and sometimes lead fundraiser, I never talk about.

9:45 SPEAKER_02: I'm like, why is that why do I have to do this? So you know. Um, I always start with who we are, uh, how we help, and then how to get help. That's it. And a lot of people don't do that. Like, hey, you know, would you like to give to AR? It's like, no, if I if you got to tell it, who am I giving this money to? And I'll say, We're the army's nonprofit. They're like, Are you really? I was like, Yep. Um, the vice chief of staff is on my board. So that's a and I asked him the other day, I said, Are you on any other boards?

10:13 SPEAKER_02: He's like, Absolutely not. I said, Okay, so uh we got an army reg, so we're part of the army. Um, so that's who we are, because a lot of people don't know that. The second time is they they don't know how we help, and that's like this huge thing is that I go out and give these briefs, like, okay, we can help with PCS I just told you about. We can help with child care, we just told you about. And I was in Germany um maybe a year ago, and this sermon first class was like, you know what? When I PCS'd, I got to Germany and I had my deposit, then I had a uh you know, my first runsman, I had all these bills just getting into my place.

10:49 SPEAKER_02: It was$17,000. I just looked at him, I go, You you know we help with that. It's right now I think it's a 50% loan, 50% grant for your uh safety deposit. And he looked like, what? Uh now it's not going to be retroactive. So it's like, you know, a year later, uh, don't you know come after that. But um so the so because of the campaign, people will come up and say, you know, you know, you want to help AER with donations, but we forget to tell people how we who we are and then how we help. And then we've got 37 categories.

11:25 SPEAKER_02: We help with basic needs, we help with health and wellness, we've got workforce development, we got care for families, those scholarships, and then a care during crisis, hurricanes, forest fires. So most of the time I tell people if you're going through financial struggle, the first thing you should do is call AER. But it, if I if I could do anything, would give more briefings about how we help soldiers, and that's all I do. When I'm traveling, 90% of the time when I'm talking to a soldier, that's all I talk about.

11:56 SPEAKER_02: Here's how we help you. And then every time somebody goes, man, I could have come to AER. And the the last thing about this is that you know, I just need people to care, and I want you to know that we care. So if there's something that somebody tells you no or says that AER won't help with, uh, you send me a note. And I always give out my email, and then people are like, Really? That's your email? Like, yeah, Michael.grinston at aerhq.org. Uh if you find you've been wronged, or you know, now I'm not gonna always tell you no or yes, but I'm gonna try and do my best to find ways to help you.

12:34 SPEAKER_02: So who we are, how we help, and how to get help, I forgot, is uh online. You can go in and fill out an online application. So uh we just did a a huge push because of the government shutdown, and you can go on there, you fill out the application online, um, it goes to somebody to validate it, and and then it gets approved. We disperse through Zell and uh ACH right now. So once you do the docu sign, you usually get your money within 24 hours.

13:05 SPEAKER_01: So wow, that's a very quick turnaround. Yes, so many improvements from my processes when I when I was in. So that's that's really good to know and really helpful. Um, beyond financial relief, what unseen impact does AER have on morale, retention, and family stability across the force?

13:26 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and this is one, and I'll give you, you know, kind of what we've been doing uh for the government shutdown, and then this uh with a story on this too, is that you know, there's this angst that uh people weren't gonna get paid. So what happens is it creates anxiety, and maybe it's a holdover from COVID, right? So it's like uh, you know, I'm gonna go get every roll of toilet paper known to man. It's like it's like, oh yeah, you know you got enough for like the next hundred years, right? So um number one, I was trying to just alleve the stress.

13:57 SPEAKER_02: It's hey, we are going to pay your paycheck. If the army doesn't pay you, we're gonna be here. Um, you're gonna not don't worry about those bills. Um, so just focus in on your job and uh we'll do the rest. So trying to alleviate, you know, some of that anxiety that comes with you know, pay and um other things. Um, so that's our number one thing is just kind of alleviate some of that stress. But um I also want to know that people are there for them, you know, that we've got your back. Uh and sometimes I don't want them to feel alone and unafraid because when you feel that way, you know, you just you know, it's just a bad situation to be.

14:38 SPEAKER_02: So knowing that AER is going to be there and kind of alleviate some of the stress is probably the number one thing I'd have to say.

14:45 SPEAKER_01: Excellent, excellent. I love that. Many soldiers fear asking for help because they see it as a weakness. What message would you personally send to that private, that specialist, or that sergeant who's struggling but afraid to come forward?

14:59 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I say this all the time. You shouldn't be afraid to go to behavior health and you shouldn't be uh afraid to ask for help financially. And I've and I as many times as I talked to formations since I've left, I find it to be so true. They're just and their number one question to me from soldiers when leaders aren't in the room is please don't tell my chain of command. And I go, okay, I won't. Um, you know, come to me and we'll help you. Uh so uh people don't want to tell other people they're struggling.

15:32 SPEAKER_02: And and we're so judgmental sometimes, like we all got bad days, you know. It's like, yeah, so if you're struggling uh with some finances, you don't want to tell your command that I'm struggling because they'll look at you like, well, you know, I've you know, I've got good and bad. I'm trying to tell a good story. A good story is a battalion commander called me and said a soldier needed help. The bad story was, you know, we had a soldier get a counseling statement for using AER, like, you know, you need to manage your money better.

16:02 SPEAKER_02: That is not helpful. Not at all. Not at all. Uh, because they they you know it really looks um you know bad. And it's like, well, you know, see, that's why I don't want to use AER, because they, you know, my chain of command yelled at me. So um please, if you're listening, change command, please don't do that. Um, but if you're a soldier, please know that I'm gonna do everything I I can to help you. But here's what I found, and I'll tell uh formations this all the time. Um, one in five in four years will use AER.

16:33 SPEAKER_02: So if you look at we do 31,000, you know, cases every year. Um actually it's 34,000 cases, 31,000 people. So some people need it twice. Uh so 34,000 cases every year, so multiply times four, that means almost every one in five in formation will actually use AER during their tour. Um, they just don't want to tell you. So, you know, like AER doesn't help anybody. It's like uh they just don't want to tell you they were struggling. And we have had assistance requests from 06, E9, and below.

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17:09 SPEAKER_01: Wow. Wow.

17:12 SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, no way, a colonel.

17:15 SPEAKER_01: Yes, dumb too.

17:17 SPEAKER_02: Yep, yep. You know, you know, people struggle. And here's the thing is um, and I tell everybody is like, you know what, when you when you get a little bit higher in rank, the bills are actually hard higher. You know, it's more requests. It's not it's not a$500 request, it's a lot more. So um they need help too. Everybody makes, you know, some you know, things may have gone wrong, or you never know, life happens. Um so a lot of people need assistance. Um we've seen those requests from all ranks.

17:46 SPEAKER_01: Excellent. And so you just mentioned that um in that that 31,000 and 34,000, um, some people needed it twice.

(Cont.) 005: Army Emergency Relief | The Financial Lifeline Every Soldier Needs to Know About Feat. (R) SMA Michael Grinston

17:54 SPEAKER_01: Is there is there a limit on how many requests you can put in for AER?

17:58 SPEAKER_02: Uh we just put restrictions kind of on it. There probably will be a limit at some point, but like if you're in if you're a soldier and you come like once or twice, now we are gonna make you go to the chain of command. You know, something may be going on that they need to know about that's in your life that uh so at certain points, like when you I think after the at least the second or third time and you're a soldier, we're gonna require you to notify your chain of command. Um, so there are some kind of limits, like your loudable pay.

18:30 SPEAKER_02: So if you're asking for another loan and then you can't even, you know what I mean? You know, there's no money left over, and you want another loan, it's like, okay, well, that's not gonna do any good. Um, so there's there are some restrictions on how we do that. It's and when we ratchet it up a little bit. So, but we did, like I said, there's 3,000 people that have come back to us more than once in a year.

18:52 SPEAKER_01: Excellent. Yeah, so that is uh case by case. Yeah. Um, how has AER evolved in recent years to meet the modern financial challenges soldiers face, like the rising cost of living, PCS moves, and the transitions out of the service?

19:07 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're constantly changing. And like I said, is when I looked at PCS moves and emergency travel, so those are just two is I found that I I still remember as a young soldier when I PCS', I was like, wow, you know, I'll come out of, you know, maybe I make some money if I, you know, I eat real well and you know, and be, you know, really good steward. And you know, as I travel, I'll be really good. I'll maybe you know have a hundred dollars or two. And then I found as I started to move later in life, it was like I got no money left over.

19:37 SPEAKER_02: I'm going in the hole. It's like this is terrible. You know, uh moving shouldn't be you know financially, you know, disturbing. And that's what I found. And yeah, look, if I'm a sergeant major and I'm having that problem, I'm like, what's you know, what's happening with the young soldiers? So we went, that's why I went. When you get to those new duty locations, we saw the price of uh housing go crazy. So that's why we said, well, 50% loan, 50% grant for those move-in costs for that safety deposit, that uh first month's rent.

20:10 SPEAKER_02: So that's one way we have evolved. The second one is in January we made emergency travel a full grant. We had 50% loan and 50% grant. I was like, well, why would we do that? And uh, you know, emergency, army emergency release. So um, and and really it goes back to my own personal experience. Um, you know, when my mom passed away, I was the sergeant major of the army, and I flew down, and I was really lucky to get there before she passed away. I bought a plane ticket, flew down, and then she passed.

20:40 SPEAKER_02: Uh I was there. So I flew back, got my family, bought three plane tickets, flew back. Um, and then we're there for the funeral, and then on the way home, thunderstorm hits Atlanta. What I found out, the airlines though they don't pay for your hotel if there's a thunderstorm. It's you know, it's not my fault there's thunderstorms. So I had to pay for that for three people, and then finally get back. And I'm saying, like, man, I racked up a lot of bills. And I'm like, okay, what happens? You're going through such a terrible time, and now you now you're just putting one more burden.

21:12 SPEAKER_02: This is you know, some of that stress and suicide. You know, it's like, what if we can just take that away?

21:18 SPEAKER_03: Right.

21:18 SPEAKER_02: You're already going through a really bad time. Let's make that a grant. We don't need to put more stress on so those two things that we've really tried to change in the last uh year. That emergency travel to start in January. The PCS changes, I think, started in October, November last year. And the latest one we just got approved is who you said who we help. We help active duty, guard and reserve, if they're on Title 10 status longer than 30 days, National Guard, surviving spouses and retirees.

21:52 SPEAKER_02: Um, we did a brief last Friday to the OCAR, that would be the you know, the commander of the Army Reserve. And we got the approval that we're gonna assist Army Reserve soldiers full time.

22:06 SPEAKER_03: Wow.

22:07 SPEAKER_02: Regardless of how long they've been on orders. So we will start that in January. So we've got some training to do in the next couple months. Um, and then we'll get that going. So we're still trying to figure out ways that I can help all soldiers anytime. But this is a program for those that are currently serving. Now, the only part is those that we don't help veterans. If you serve one tour, you didn't retire, or your surviving spouse. We'll call somebody because we know a lot of organizations that help veterans.

22:42 SPEAKER_02: That's just not what we do.

22:43 SPEAKER_01: Got it. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. I do have a lot of vets. Um looking ahead, how do you envision AER continuing to adapt over the decade to ensure it remains the pillar of strength and readiness within the Army community?

22:59 SPEAKER_02: Well, I've said this uh when I first got in. I said I want AER to be the number one nonprofit. So I'm still sticking to that. I don't know. I gotta one day I gotta figure out how I'm gonna measure this. But um we're gonna still evolve and right after we do the Army Reserve, we're gonna uh do our best to get the National Guard full-time um eligible for AER. We help on a case-by-case basis. So again, if you need help, please call us. Um, this happens all the time. We had let's see, it was flooding, uh, ice storm followed by flooding, followed by a call-up for Michigan National Guard.

23:38 SPEAKER_02: And they were still in a Title 32, not on active duty, title it's over 30 days, and the state sergeant major called me and said, Hey, we need some help, soldiers in a bad way. We dispersed over$150,000 in grants to help them. So we still help National Guard on a case-by-case basis. So everybody that starts throwing rocks at the you don't help National Guard usually happens every podcast. So uh um so we do help on a case-by-case basis. My goal is after the Army Reserve, see what we learn from that.

24:14 SPEAKER_02: Uh, we'll start off slow. We're not gonna offer everything we do to the Army Reserve, and then we'll get once we get that, that'll be our model, and then the next one and add the National Guard. So it took me longer than I anticipated for the Army Reserve, it took like almost two years. So um hopefully it doesn't take two years to add the National Guard. So uh that's one of the major things that uh you know I'm gonna try and do in the next couple of years.

24:38 SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that. I love that. Sorry, Major, we are winding down on time for our interview, but I want to thank you for your time and sharing your leadership and insight with us today. For those listening, remember this AER isn't charity, it's soldiers helping soldiers, it's the army taking care of its own, and it's one of the most powerful examples of unity we have in this organization. If you've ever found yourself in a tough season or know someone who is, I hope this conversation reminds you that help exists, hope exists, and strength is built through asking.

25:14 SPEAKER_01: SAR Major, thank you again for your continued service to the Army community. It's been an honor to have you on the show. Do you have any closing remarks for the audience?

25:25 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'd just like to say um for those that are out there, I really I truly love what I do. I don't like it. I love it. Um, it's something that I didn't think I would love this much, but it's truly uh a joy to be the CEO for AER that uh we get to help soldiers and their families all the time. But we couldn't do it without your support. So we we do all this through donations, and our number one uh donor actually is retirees, not soldiers. So uh, and who are eligible for assistance with AER. So uh we appreciate uh all the care that goes into helping soldiers and their families, and I appreciate it.

26:05 SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me today.

26:06 SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely. This is a very personal and and sensitive one for me from being in as well, having soldiers always pushing them to the AER program. And I can say I've been following the AER program now for a couple of years, and I really have seen the change and the impact that you've actually brought to the program. So I would really like to just say thank you from the bottom of my heart and for everything that you continue to do and everyone behind the scenes that's helping you as well to really get this mission going and staying in motion.

26:35 SPEAKER_01: So if you've enjoyed today's episode, share it with a battle buddy, leader, or family member who could benefit from learning about AER. Until next time, stay strong, stay focused, and stay ready. Thank you, Sar Major.

26:49 SPEAKER_02: Thank you.

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