Photo by Charmain Z. Brackett Beth Foley, wife of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Foley, U.S. Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon commanding general, participates at many ceremonies and events with other senior leader spouses. As a retired Army officer and a military spouse, Beth Foley has seen the Army Family Action Plan from many different angles.

"I've been a delegate, recorder, decorator," said Foley, the wife of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Foley, Fort Gordon's commanding general.

Before retiring from the Army after 25 years of service in July 1999, she even served as a subject matter expert.

And she's watched the impact AFAP has had on the Army community from its active duty component to Family members to civilians.

"The beauty of AFAP, it's a wonderful idea; it shows the way the Army tries to better itself and keep pace with all the changes that go on in our lives," said Foley, who will be an active part of next week's AFAP conference at Fort Gordon.

She will accompany the command team to the conference

and be an observer through many of the proceedings

on Wednesday and Thursday.

Foley said that other senior spouses will also take part next week.

Janice Clark, wife of Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Clark, Mark Napper, husband of Brig. Gen. Jennifer Napper, commanding general of the 7th Signal Command (Theater) and Martha Capps, wife of Joe Capps, Fort Gordon's deputy commander, will also be part of the proceedings, she said.

"There is a wealth of knowledge imparted through the AFAP process by those senior spouses," she said.

One of the great things about AFAP is that it is a "grassroots" program in which problems are brought up at the local level and sometimes taken as far as the Department of the Army level, where the highest ranking officials address them and make changes, Foley said.

Evidence of the conference's importance has been seen by the fact that Gen. William Casey, Army Chief of Staff, gave opening and closing remarks at the recent national AFAP conference last month in Virginia, she said.

Foley said she thinks AFAP is not well-known outside the gates of installations, and she feels that's a shame.

AFAP is a way of empowering everyone associated with the military all the way down to the newest of recruits. AFAP shows that a young Soldier has an avenue to voice concerns, which will be heard by those in higher authority, she said.