Question about filing a complaint

Gismo123

I haven't posted here in forever but it's the only Military group I know of that may be able to answer my question.  So my husband is on deployment and through the whole deployment I never got any newsletters from the ombudsman.  My husband gave my email to them on their roster before he even left on deployment and during the deployment he gave it to them again multiple times after I kept telling him I wasn't getting the monthly newsletter.  Well I went the whole deployment blind because now it's the end and my son missed out on EVERYTHING including the making of the welcome home banner and the chance for first hug or kiss.  I am very livid that we fell through the cracks, doesn't surprise me though becuase we live an hour from base so I am not part of that knit community like I have been at all our other commands.

I finally found the support page for his command and made a post about what happeend and how I hoped this didn't happen to anyone else in the future.  Well it turns out it happened to someone else on the last deployment!  She posted about her experience on my post.  The person running the page tried to say the Sailor is told about the facebook page when they check in, ok well my husband wasn't.  So I posted a response to the other girl this happened to and about how I felt so alone and even more alone since my dad passed away during the deployment and it would have been nice to have a support group.  I also said out of all the 14 years I had been associated with the Military as a vet and spouse that I had never not felt part of a command like this one.  Less than a min. later my post was deleted.  It's like she is trying to cover up her mistakes!  All that did was make me more angry.  I just wanted to vent how I felt and she is taking that away from me like everything else.

I want to file a formal complaint now but don't even know if that is possible since it's techincally a volunteer position.  Anyone have any ideas?  I don't want to cause a ton of trouble I just want this carelessness to STOP so future people aren't deprived of everything my son and I were and everyone before me as by evidence there are others.

Beachy730

Did you ever contact the ombudsman yourself to get on the page? At our command you still have to make the contact yourself, and they approve it through the command and sailor. Especially if they mainly use a Fb page, it's really hard to just search for someone by name since so many options pop up, and they aren't just going to add every "Jane Smith" or whatever your name is that they get in search results. It's very possible that they don't do an emailed newsletter either, since at our command it's all done via the Facebook page. Also things like first kiss and calendars and things are usually done through the FRG, not ombudsman. You can email the captain or cmc/cob, but it's likely not going to get you anything other than an apology. I guess I just don't understand why you waited so long to look up the pages yourself, especially if you were trying to get information and to get involved.

Gismo123

I know my post is old but just to reply they did send out newsletters via email.  The ombudsman rep for my husbands office was his officer's wife and I asked her if she ever gave my email to the main person and she assured me that she did but she can't verify if that person she gave it to actually put it on the list.  And The Ombudman is the person who ran the newsletter and came up with the activites for families to do while the loved ones were on deployment...I'm sure people had their inputs but she was the one who did the newsletter.  The only way you could find out about the FB is by getting the newsletter because it was on the newsletter.  My husband got the last newsletter because the captain himself sent it to all the troops and that is the only way I found out the facebook and joined it.  I met some other people after this fiasco happened that had the same problem on the deployment before so it's not a new problem that has been happening.

Also I didn't wait till the last min.  I asked my husband every month why I wasn't getting the newsletter and he relayed the message back to his OIC and asked him to ask his wife to send my email again to make sure I was on the list.  My email was sent at least 6 times, I had no idea who to contact and had never met any of the fellow Military wives as I live an hour from the base.  

RobynB13

why didn't he ask some of the guys he worked with if their wife was getting one or if there was any type of online group or page? I'm sorry you went through all of that, and for your loss, but if you file a complaint, they will probably question why your husband didn't take more measures to provide the resources to you, instead of saying they screwed up.

Rosebud2587

That happened to me during my husband's first deployment. I never got any emails or newsletters; I didn't even know I was supposed too until after the fact. I was never put on the list and as a result I didn't even know when my husband was coming home until I got a text from him that said "just landed." At the time I was moving into our new house and watching my neighbors kids so I missed out on the homecoming ceremony. It sucked.

iluvmytxrgr

Just like Soldiers and Sailors have o advocate for themselves to make sure things get done, it is also the responsibility of the spouse to make sure they are getting info. Most units have an influx of new spouses right before a deployment and information gets lost. Sucks, but it happens. Next time, you need to stay on people to make sure your I do is in their hands.