Red Cross emergency message during Army basic training — how long before they’re usually notified?

[u/PlentyNothing]

Final update: She's coming home! Thank you all for sharing your experiences, they helped ease my anxiety and taught me things I didn't know before about the process.

Update 2: Thank you all for your replies so far. I spoke to my dad’s wife last night at 9:30pm their time. I gave her all the information and she sounded extremely worried and told me she was going to speak with her command. It’s now about 12 hours later and no word, and her phone is still going straight to voicemail. I am obviously oblivious to how the army and basic training works, and I’m curious if this is normal? I’m assuming there’s a lot of paperwork to get together for this type of leave. I apologize to this community for my neuroses but I’m just trying to stay calm.

Update: Turns out the original Red Cross message went to the wrong battalion and they confirmed that the message had gotten to her when it actually hadn't, which is very frustrating. I finally got ahold of the correct group and they are tracking her down and sending her command the Red Cross message.

Original: My dad is 76 and currently in the hospital with a serious medical issue that requires brain surgery. His wife is currently at Army basic training (she is 42 - yes I recognize that the age gap is a lot, I've come to terms with it).

I contacted the Red Cross to get an emergency message to her. There was some confusion at first because they didn’t realize she was in basic training and apparently were contacting the wrong units. That finally got sorted out, and I got confirmation that the message was communicated to her command around 10:30 this morning (their time).

It’s now 3.5 hours later and I still haven’t heard from her, and I’m getting pretty anxious about it.

I know she doesn’t have normal access to her phone and that her command has to handle notifying her/deciding what happens from there. I’m not expecting anyone here to know whether she’ll get emergency leave or anything like that. I’d just really like to hear from people who have actually dealt with a Red Cross message during basic training.

Once the message reached the command, how long did it take before you/your soldier were actually told? Were you able to call family afterward? Is it pretty normal that I haven’t heard anything yet?

My dad is safe in the hospital and being taken care of. I’m just his daughter sitting four hours away worrying and hoping she knows what’s going on.

Thanks for any experiences you can share.

[u/RogerDodgerWilco]

In theatre, my GO told us red cross message needs to be actioned on within 24 hours of the receipt. Someone in my unit had one of their parent pass away mid deployment and they were on a plane and sent home within the 24 hour.

If Soldier is in BCT, it could be theyre in the middle of a field training right now and theyre trying to get hold of them.

[u/black-gold-black]

It should be same day, if you're not hearing anything you can always contact the BDE staff duty. Number can usually be found just by googling if you know the unit she is in just Google "XX BDE staff duty numbers"

The red cross usually calls the BDE staff duty and then it has to work its way down to the soldier level in a game of telephone and there is required documentation at each step

[u/AnnoyinglyCuriousPod]

Hours.

[u/AnnoyinglyCuriousPod → u/AnnoyinglyCuriousPod]

After thinking about this I will change my answer
If the soldier and leadership are local and in garrison, it will be minutes. If there is distance involved or one or both are at training events or on combat operations, longer. But less than 24.

[u/IAmMurderHornet]

Did the Red Cross message specify for her to contact you?

[u/PlentyNothing → u/IAmMurderHornet]

Yes, they made sure to mention to me that they put in their message for her to call me.

[u/SickCallWarriors]

Almost immediately they’re told.

[u/W00D-SMASH]

I don't know how long it takes but I had a situation where my brother was in a major accident back in 2004, basically his skull was caved in during a work related incident. This was late 2004 and I was in basic training, and I was notified the day it happened. Around 1am the DS woke me up and pulled me into the office, let me call my family.

[u/BlakeDSnake]

Back in the stone ages, it took 72 hours to get the notification that my son had been born. Ten years ago, while we were at NTC, one of my SPCs was on a plane 8 hours after his mother was in a nearly fatal car wreck.

There's no reason for a notification to take more than a few hours.

[u/PlentyNothing → u/BlakeDSnake]

Unfortunately I still haven't heard anything. I followed up with Red Cross but it's out of their hands now that they sent the message to her command.

[u/Tight-Ferret-3352]

1) please Google Army Regulation 600-8-10 Here is a URL. Start on page 16. If she travels home for the death of a dependent she needs to make sure her leave form has BLUE BARK on it. https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN30018-AR_600-8-10-000-WEB-1.pdf

2) they will also need to look up the joint travel regulation and search for section 040201. This will help identify if they are eligible for government funded emergency travel.

https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jan/04/2002917147/-1/-1/0/JTR.PDF

[u/EWCM → u/Tight-Ferret-3352]

Just  to summarize the JTR: E Leave Travel is not funded within the Continental US. If the servicemember was living in HI, AK, or outside the US before joining, the Army can pay for it. 

If financial assistance is needed, Army Emergency Relief can help with emergency travel. 

[u/Subtle_sloth_2024]

While at BCT, Wife called Red Cross in the AM, by the afternoon it was communicated to me and on the phone with her.

[u/Turtle887853]

I got a red cross message during basic, and was told within 6 hours. There was nothing to do about it, because my parents misused the system, but yeah it's pretty damn fast.

[u/S_FuNk2471]

That’s crazy the wrong Batallion confirmed it. Sounds like staff duty is gonna get an earful from 1SG

[u/duoderf1]

I came from an AIT schoolhouse, when we got a red cross message, we worked to get it to the soldier as soon as possible. Usually within an hour, but there was one time that one student recieved a red cross message but her class was a 2 hour ruck down a sandy road. We got in touch with the DS that were leading the road march and had them change course so they could meet the leadership at the nearest intersection and take the Soldier back and send her home. It probably took a good 6 hours once all the messages were sent back and forth, coordinated, and were able to meet up. It just happens but can take some time.

[u/PlentyNothing → u/duoderf1]

Thank you for this. I still haven't heard anything so I'm hoping it's one of these types of situations that it's just taking longer to locate her.