Deployed Member

Dear Brethren,

I am the stake clerk. One of the High Councilors asked me what a ward should do with a member who is deployed overseas. Does the ward retain the record or what?

Any help is much appreciated.

Michael Klobas

From the MLS help file:

Members in the Military

Keep the membership record in the ward until the member completes basic training.
*
After the member completes basic training, move the record to the ward serving the member's permanent duty station. Be sure to include the military post office address, if known.
*
If a member is assigned to a combat zone, the record is usually kept in the ward that supports the duty station. The location of a military group can change rapidly.

mklobas wrote:One of the High Councilors asked me what a ward should do with a member who is deployed overseas. Does the ward retain the record or what?

Russell has provided the pertinent quote from the MLS help file. The home ward usually maintains the record, especially if the service member is married. (If the family moves, all the records usually move together.)

If the service member deploys to a location served by one of the two military districts (Afghanistan or Iraq), they will request the record if it is needed. Otherwise, the service member will probably be in a service member group with other military members in his area, and be supervised by the Manama Bahrain Stake if deployed in the Arabian Peninsula area.

lajackson wrote:Russell has provided the pertinent quote from the MLS help file. The home ward usually maintains the record, especially if the service member is married. (If the family moves, all the records usually move together.)

The pertinent quote says the record is moved out, but then you said the home ward maintains the record. What's the source for your statement?

Alan_Brown wrote:The pertinent quote says the record is moved out, but then you said the home ward maintains the record. What's the source for your statement?

If the member moves overseas as a permanent change of station, the record moves.

Mklobas said the member has "deployed" overseas. If it is a deployment, the last part of the pertinent quote applies:

"If a member is assigned to a combat zone, the record is usually kept in the ward that supports the duty station. The location of a military group can change rapidly."

lajackson wrote:If the member moves overseas as a permanent change of station, the record moves.

Mklobas said the member has "deployed" overseas. If it is a deployment, the last part of the pertinent quote applies:

"If a member is assigned to a combat zone, the record is usually kept in the ward that supports the duty station. The location of a military group can change rapidly."

I was asking about the bit about the deployed member being married affecting how the records are moved. That seems to make sense, but is not in any documentation I can find.

Alan_Brown wrote:I was asking about the bit about the deployed member being married affecting how the records are moved. That seems to make sense, but is not in any documentation I can find.

Ah. Good point.

When a member deploys, we have been told that the "ward that supports the duty station" is the ward where the family lives. Most often, it is the ward from which the member deployed, and the family remains there.

If the family moves after the deployment, we have been instructed to keep the records of the family together, and not to send just the records of the spouse and children.

The source is the membership department. You are correct that it is not in the Handbook or in the even shorter MLS instructions.

The principle is that the record goes where the member can best be supported. And in most cases, the ward where the spouse and children are living is also the ward that can best support the service member who is deployed.

There are exceptions, and we coordinate them directly with the membership department. But, in our stake, we deal with a few (thousand) of these issues each year.