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Presidential Initiative Supporting Military Families

January 24, 2011

“Today, I’m proud to announce that for the first time ever, supporting the well-being of our military families will be a priority not just for the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, but all across the federal government. ” President Barack Obama (1/24/11)

Earlier today, representatives from leading organizations supporting servicemembers and their families as well as military family members joined President Obama; First Lady Michelle Obama; Dr. Jill Biden; Cabinet Secretaries; Congressmen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Mrs. Mullen, Joint Chiefs of Staff and their spouses as well General McKinley and other representatives from the National Guard and Reserve for the release of the report, “Strengthening Our Military Families: Meeting America’s Commitment”.  The report details 50 commitments from different federal agencies around issues affecting military families centering around 4 key priorities:

  1. Enhance the well-being and psychological health of the military family.
  2. Ensure excellence in military children’s education and their development.
  3. Develop career and educational opportunities for military spouses.
  4. Increase child care availability and quality for the Armed Forces.

Looking around at the people in the audience, it was a bit awesome. To understand why….rewind back a few months…..to last July when I was among a group of military spouses invited in to hear about the initiatives going on at all the different agencies to support servicemembers and their families.  It was an extraordinary opportunity to hear about the breadth of programs that exist from senior level representatives and to provide our feedback and additional insights on challenges and opportunities.  Now back to today….reading the report, it was apparent that they listened to us (for the most part).  From the thoughtful remarks to the document itself, it’s obvious that the feedback they received from our group as well as others in the field helped shape the initiative.  I think in the past it’s been too easy to relegate military family issues to the DoD or VA when the reality is that military family issues are everyone’s issues.  It was gratifying to to see all the cabinet secretaries in attendance; their presence spoke volumes about their commitment to the cause.  Even the biggest skeptics among us have to recognize the power of bringing together all these federal agencies with the single purpose of making sure supporting military families rises toward the top of their priority lists.  It was even more exciting to read the report and see how their commitment is being manifested into working collaboratively across stovepipes on behalf of military families:

  • The Department of Education will make supporting military families one of its supplemental priorities for its discretionary grant programs.
  • The Department of Defense in coordination with the Council of State Governments will pursue the complete development of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.
  • In order to encourage quality reintegration time, Education and DoD will provide guidance to school districts on best practices for approving “block leave”.
  • Department of the Interior, one of the largest Federal employers of youth ages 15-25 in conservation, will partner with DoD to identify military youth for employment opportunities.
  • Department of Labor and the Department of Commerce will educate corporate America on the benefits of hiring from the military and encourage them to hire more military spouses. *

These are just a small number of commitments outlined in the report.  Here is the full report.

However, government can only do so much…..

“One percent of Americans may be fighting our wars, but a hundred percent of Americans need to be supporting our troops and their families — a hundred percent.” President Barack Obama (1/24/11)

Businesses and other communities also play a huge role in the success of these programs.  But this is a conversation for another post….suffice it to say, exciting to watch the convergence of all the innovative efforts going on out there to better support military families.  My two cents about why today’s event was significant – in a nutshell, unprecedented support for military families across all the federal agencies.  Of course, being the natural skeptics that we are, military spouses will continue to wait and see what develops as a result of this directive, but today’s event was a good start.

* Excerpt from “Strengthening Our Military Families: Meeting America’s Commitment”

Filed Under: Events, News

Dr. Biden visits Army Wives

July 30, 2010

Last night, I was pleased to join my friend, Tanya Biank at a very special viewing of Army Wives.  The event was hosted by Chief of Staff of the Army, General Casey and Mrs. Sheila Casey at the Ft. Belvoir community center.  They were using the viewing as an opportunity to recognize Dr. Jill Biden for her work on behalf of military families.  The episode that will air on August 15th features a cameo of Dr. Biden playing herself paying a visit to Ft. Marshall.  About 200 of us were lucky enough to have been invited to join them for the festivities.

After reading the invitation, I knew that we were expecting Dr. Biden to be in attendance, but I don’t think anyone expected that the Vice President would show up to introduce her!  So, I’m sure there will be lots of blog posts and articles about the event, but what can I tell you that the cameras may have missed?

  • One of the most touching moments came when General Casey visited with the row of AIT soldiers sitting behind us.  He coined each one of them as a “down payment on the great service I know we can expect from you in your careers”.   What you may not know….General Casey also coined Tanya in appreciation of her work and contributions.  She was thrilled!
  • If you looked hard enough, you may have recognized some faces in the audience who went by unnoticed by the majority of the star struck folks in attendance.  In the front row, you would have seen the Chief of the Army Reserve, LTG Jack Stultz and his wife, Laura chatting with the new DUSD/MCFP, COL (USA, Ret) Rob Gordon.
  • Behind the Stultz’s and COL Gordon was LTC Gregory Gadson who just took over command of the Army Wounded Warrior Program.  LTC Gadson understands the issues of those he serves because he himself is a double amputee.  You may remember reading about him back in 2008 when he was dubbed the “Giants’ honorary co-captain” during their Super Bowl season.

For someone who could make a professional sport of people watching, it was a lot to take in.  Everywhere you looked, there was another little story unfolding.  The most remarkable part of the evening though, it was genuinely fun.  Everyone was incredibly relaxed.  The folks in charge did a great job in setting out movie style snacks and as the lights dimmed, everyone settled back to watch Dr. Biden’s acting debut.  The illustrious company seemed to fade into the background as the show unfolded.  Reactions were honest, vocal and pronounced.  As far as acting debuts go, Dr. Biden did a good job, as did the real Army wives who played cameo roles in the episode.  After the viewing, the VIPs stayed for a long time, shaking hands and posing for pictures.  All in all, it was a great evening.

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: Army Wives, Army Wives viewing, AW2, Brian McNamara, Dr. Biden, General Casey, Lifetime, Lifetime Television, LTC Gadson, military family support, Military spouse, Military spouse blog, Sheila Casey, Tanya Biank, Vice President Biden

A White House Meeting

July 14, 2010

A week or two ago, I received an interesting invitation to attend a meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to provide feedback on different programs and initiatives currently underway to support military families. The meeting is part of an ongoing effort by the military family inter-agency policy committee announced by the administration a few months ago. The committee is charged with doing a review of the programs out there that exist to support military families. Headed by the NSC staff, the committee consisting of Federal Departments and Agencies have been “challenged with creatively adopting the military family as part of their own family.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I don’t think I imagined that these senior leaders from the agencies would fill a room to hear the feedback from a handful of military spouses, but that’s exactly what happened. We started the afternoon with an informal reception in the “War Room” of the EEOB. Mingling with the other spouses and some of the staff on hand, we took a few minutes to enjoy refreshments and get acquainted. There were less than a dozen spouses in attendance….I very much felt like the kid that found the golden ticket and vowed right then and there that I would capture everything I could to share with you.

After our reception, we moved up to a larger meeting room. The interest from the other agencies to get in front of military spouses and hear the feedback far exceeded everyone’s expectations, so we were ushered into a big room where chairs had been set up around the perimeter to accomodate everyone.  We spouses sat at the table and were interspersed among senior officials from agencies such as: Justice, State, Treasury, Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, DoD, VA, etc….I’m sure if I had taken a harder look around, I would have noticed that all the agencies were represented. At the head of the table, our hosts from the NSC were seated beside representatives from Mrs. Obama’s office as well as Dr. Biden’s office. They were all there to update us on their initiatives and then listen to our feedback. Even though the time allotted to us was short at an hour, I have to commend them for presenting us with a great opportunity to share our insights. There was a lot of information flying around, but I thought I’d provide some of the highlights:

  • All the agencies are working on ways to integrate military families into their programs and initiatives.  Several agencies to include the Departments of Health and Human Services as well as Education have elevated military families to one of their top three priorities.  More importantly, they are also allocating money and resources to support their commitment.
  • There are a lot of programs out there supporting military families and service members that we are not aware of.  The challenge will be finding ways to get the information out to the families and communities who need them.  As an example, the Department of Education has an extraordinary amount of money allocated in a discretionary fund.  Since they have made military families a top priority, they are looking at ways to fund grants that address our demographic.
  • Reading between the lines, I would say that there are deep cuts coming our way [no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention].  Look for more programs to go away.  However, the good news is, I don’t think we are aware of all the programs out there supporting us, so hopefully where one program goes away, we’ll be able to find another with a little extra work.

Based on feedback I received from military spouses, I left the committee with two parting thoughts regarding military spouse employment:

  • As DoD reviews and revamps MyCAA, it’s important for them to understand that portable careers and 4 year degrees are not mutually exclusive.  There are any number of portable career choices (teacher, nurse, counselor) that require a 4 year degree.
  • The military spouse internship program is great in theory, but no one really understands it.  In addition to the website that’s been established to educate HR personnel, it would be helpful to have a checklist for military spouses on how the program works as well as a bellybutton we can reach back to in case we encounter an agency that is not familiar with the program.

Biggest takeaway from the meeting: when you’re out there looking for programs supporting military families, DoD should only be your starting point.  There’s a lot going on within the other agencies that get less attention.

Filed Under: Career, Events, News, Support Services & Resources Tagged With: DHHS, DoD, DoE, Interagency Policy Committee, Military spouse blog, Military spouse employment, MyCAA, NSC, White House

Launch Party

May 8, 2010

You know those moments in your life you inherently know you will remember forever?  Last night was one of those nights.

It’s amazing to think that months, years of dreaming of a network for military spouses to mentor, network and learn from one another finally culminated in the launch of the National Military Spouse Network.  I planned the launch of the NMSN to coincide with Military Spouse Appreciation Day because I could not think of a better way of spending it than hosting a party for some of the most amazing spouses out there, give them access to some phenomenal folks and get them to rethink the importance of networking.  Whether it’s because we as military spouses, we so often think of networking in a negative matter or because we just don’t know how to get started we often have a more difficult time getting connected every time we PCS.  With over 80% of people finding their jobs through the hidden job market, networking is a skill we need to cultivate.

Needless to say, the minutes before the launch, I was on pins and needles, unsure of how it would be received.  To say that I was silly to worry for even a moment is a supreme understatement.  Once the “doors opened”, people kept streaming in….people you only read about in the papers, spouses you know because you’ve read their books, listened to their radio show or seen their cartoons in the Stars and Stripes.  It was so overwhelming watching all the connections being made:

In one corner, Julie Negron (the creator of Jenny Spouse cartoons), Krista Wells (the Military Spouse Coach) and Wendy Polig (Founder and host of Navy Wife Radio / Military Life Radio) were hugging and chatting away, elated to finally be meeting in person after knowing each other online for such an extended period of time.

If you let your eyes drift left, you would have seen Rene Campos (from MOAA) holding court with MG Michael Sumrall and his wife, Paula from the National Guard Bureau.  They were chatted with former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, Lesley Arsht and the Director of DoDEA, Dr. Shirley Miles.

Everywhere you looked, there were people making connections.

The Blue Star Family reps were chatting with LtCol Jay Updegraf and his wife Becky who had driven down from McGuire AFB for the event, updating them on all the great programs the organization provides for military families.  The Updegrafs were absorbing every word as they were there to learn more about military family resources.

Al Boone, the Military LA for Congressman Sanford Bishop stopped by enjoy the great food and mingle with spouses to learn more about their employment challenges.

There were over fifty people there and everywhere I looked, connections were being made.  Catching snippets of information as I flitted from one group to the other, I learned that invitations were being extended to provide breakout sessions at an upcoming conference, valuable partnerships were being formed for the benefit of military children, spouses were sharing their expertise with one another and businesses cards were being exchanged.  So much for the negative connotation associated with networking.  The feedback we’re receiving from blog posts, tweets, and word of mouth is that everyone is pretty unanimous in believing that this good ole boys’ network for military spouses is long overdue!  Can’t wait for the next networking event.

Filed Under: Career, Events, News, Resources Tagged With: DoDEA, Military spouse blog, National Military Spouse Network, Networking, Spouse Career Resource

MilSpouse Friday Focus

April 16, 2010
Happy day after [tax day]!  Did you all get your returns in on time?  Personally, we’re thrilled that Virginia extends the deadline for the state income tax return to May 3rd, because this MSRRA stuff is proving to be complicated and frankly, we could use the extra weeks.  If you find yourself in the same boat of resarching how the MSRRA applies to you and where to find the pertinent paperwork, make sure you check your state’s Department of Taxation website to get the particulars.  Hopefully practice makes perfect and this will be a lot easier next year.
 
While we’re on the subject of military spouses, work and taxes, are you aware of a piece of legislation that was recently introduced by Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper?  The Military Spouses Job Continuity Act would provide a tax credit up to $500 to eligible spouses who have to renew or transfer a professional license as a result of a PCS that takes their family across state lines.  This could be a big boone to spouses who have to plan on shelling out hundreds of dollars out of pocket every time they move to maintain their currency.  Make sure you keep an eye on this and double check to see if your congressmen have signed on as co-sponsors. 
 
Just for fun…every week, I ask you all to let me know about the programs and resources that you’re hearing about.  Believe it or not, some of you actually do.  Thanks to one of my Twitter friends for letting me know that Dunkin Donuts has a Military Coffee Requests program where they take requests from (or on behalf of) troops stationed overseas.  Each month, they pick 50 winners to receive a case of Dunkin Donuts coffee.  How cool is that?  I’m going to feel a lot less guilty everytime I stop by Dunkin Donuts for a cup of coffee (still amazed by how they always get the cream and sugar EXACTLY right every time) or by some DD coffee in the grocery store.  Way to support the troops!
 
Another tremendous program that many of you are probably aware of, but may not have at the top of your mind is the NFL/eKnowledge program that provides free SAT/ACT test prep programs for eligible military families.  The program has given out over $30 million worth of programs so far.  It’s not limited to children either, so if you or someone you know needs the programs, check into it.  For those of you who are thinking about taking the LSAT, they also have a test prep program for that.  While not free, it’s offered at a significant discount.  My source tells me that when it comes down to choosing which set to purchase, go with the first, less expensive ($124.95) option as it has been updated and the set now includes the book…because every little bit helps!
Filed Under: Career, Finance, Miscellaneous, News, Resources Tagged With: ACT/SAT test prep, Dunkin Donuts, eknowledge, LSAT, Military Coffee Requests, Military spouse blog, Military Spouses Job Continuity Act, MSRRA, NFL, Rep. Dahlkemper, taxes

A New Adventure

March 24, 2010

A couple months ago, I left a dream job spearheading military spouse outreach initiatives for a wonderful military association. Many people thought I was crazy, but I wanted to create something out of whole cloth just for spouses.

Looking around at all the talented military spouses I know who have professional careers and aspirations and remembering my own experience with the job search in Washington DC, I realized that what we were all missing was a professional network. There are other organizations out there that already exist to support military spouses and they’re doing a great job in their niche, but we needed something more.

Forget the good old boys’ network, we needed a place we could go to meet like minded people; share great, relevant information and network with one another. I started reaching out to other spouses and the response has been overwhelming. Everyone could not have been more supportive or more excited. From all this, the National Military Spouse Network was born. We launch May 7th (Military Spouse Appreciation Day), but for now, you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter. If you’re in the DC area, you should plan on joining us at our launch event on the evening of May 7th. Cannot wait to update you all on the new endeavor as things progress.

As for those people who still think I’m crazy for leaving such a fantastic job, my days now are spent talking to extraordinary military spouses and creating a platform to highlight what we all do. I get to talk to people outside of our community and share our stories to elevate their level of understanding and make them more receptive and eager to hire military spouses because of everything we bring to the table. If we do this right, we are on course to change the face of military spouse employment and I can’t imagine a more worthwhile endeavor.

Filed Under: Career, Events, News, Resources, Support Services & Resources Tagged With: Mentoring, Military spouse blog, National Military Spouse Network, Networking, social media, Twitter

MilSpouse Friday Focus

March 20, 2010

DoD’s office of Military Community and Family Policy has come under some scrutiny over the past month or so due to the MyCAA accounts, but don’t let that single program cloud your entire judgment of a group of people who work tirelessly on behalf of military families.  The folks at MCFP also “own” plenty of the programs that we all care most about such as: military spouse employment, DODEA (schools), MWR and childcare.  In the latest edition of their newsletter, we learn that they have recently stood up a new Office of Community Support for Military Families with Special Needs, hopefully good news for the multitudes of families who have been clamoring for more oversight and assistance.

For families of currently deployed, recently returned or soon to be deployed servicemembers, the National Military Family Association has just opened up registration for their free week-long Operation Purple Camps.  More information and the application can be found at their site.  Aside from the traditional camps, NMFA also runs other retreats, so it’s worth stopping by their site to check it out.

Speaking of deployments, the folks at Build-a-Sign are offering free welcome home banners to military families.  I’ve had a lot of friends take advantage of this program and they reported back that it’s an easy process and the signs are wonderful.

DoD’s new Social Media policy is prompting a lot of folks to take a second look at the various platforms that exist out there trying to wrap their minds around the way the Millenials and many Gen-X’ers are now communicating.  For many, this can be a very uncomfortable process which they engage in very begrudgingly.  At a presentation I gave yesterday to a joint session of squadron commanders and their spouses, it wasn’t difficult to read the body language in the room – everyone looked quite rigid.  The majority had already made up their minds that social media was either (1) a waste of time or (2) too much of an PERSEC and OPSEC nightmare to even think about getting engaged and they weren’t budging.  It wasn’t my job to change their minds, but to simply present them with the information and give them another tool in their toolbox as leadership teams.

What’s interesting about the disconnect between those who do utilize social media and those who don’t is that the folks who don’t sometimes fail to recognize that the conversation is taking place with or without them.   Didn’t DoD learn this the hard way with the MyCAA debacle?  I think effective leaders in the future are going to need to understand and incorporate social media in their outreach and communications, or run the risk of being irrelevant.  The corporate world has certainly acknowledged this and some government agencies have begun to incorporate SM into their own outreach initiatives; an astronaut tweeting from space is certainly a nod to the fact that NASA understands the challenge they have in reaching Gen Y.  If you haven’t already seen it, make sure you check out this presentation about Gen Y perspectives.

Finally, don’t forget the applications for the Military Spouse Summit being sponsored by the Congressional Military Family Caucus are due March 26th for the April 23rd event.  Get that in now if you want to be considered.

Filed Under: Events, News, Resources, Support Services & Resources, Tips and Advice Tagged With: Congressional Military Family Caucus, Deployed Resource, Deployment, DoD Social Media Policy, MCFP, Military spouse blog, Military Spouse Summit, Milspouse Friday Focus, MyCAA, social media

MilSpouse Friday Focus

March 8, 2010

The excitement this week follows DoD’s highly anticipated release of their new social media policy.  Amazingly enough, it is quite expansive and states that the default for DoD’s non-classified network is for open network, allowing DoD users access to use new media across the board.  Inappropriate content and sites will continue to be banned (eg: pornography, gambling, hate crimes sites, etc…)

Earlier this week, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Mr. Price Floyd and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for New Media and Outreach, Mr. Sumit Agarwal hosted a

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to discuss the new social media policy.  The release of the new social media policy is quite significant in that this is the first time DoD has had an across the board policy.  Before this, each of the services had been developing their own policies and they varied greatly.  It’ll be interesting to see how this new policy is implemented and how the security issues are addressed.

As leaders check out the landscape and decide whether or not they want to engage, Mr. Floyd cautions that whether or not they choose to engage, the conversations are already taking place around them,  ”Question isn’t whether or not they want to participate, the question is whether or not they want to impact what is already being said about their unit or command.”  As people move forward and begin to get engaged with these new communications tools, DASD Price Floyd also encourages folks to continue to be mindful of OpSec considerations and utilize common sense in determining what kind of information to share, “Don’t say or do anything you wouldn’t say or do in front of your boss or your grandmother.”  More information on utilizing social media sites can be found at the DoD Social Media Hub.

In other news, MyCAA suspension continues to generate a lot of interest.  This past weekend, Representative Glenn Nye (D-VA) held a roundtable in Virginia Beach bringing together military spouses affected by the MyCAA suspension to share their stories.  Back on Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Military Family Caucus sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asking his help, “to better understand the basis for this “pause,” how long this “pause” will be in effect and the impact it will have on spouses.”  The link to the letter includes the signatures of the representatives who signed in support of military spouses, so if you’re interested in whether or not your congressional rep signed on the dotted line, you can check that here.  Spouses continue to look for answers and unfortunately, the new information coming out is serving to fan the fires.  The surge in websites, roundtables, articles and demonstrations around the MyCAA suspension tells us that this is not an issue that’s going away anytime soon.  I’ll continue to keep you updated.

Short newsletter this week as I’m penning it from the road.  I picked up one my milspouse pals in Virginia Beach and we are trekking it down to Ft. Stewart, GA to visit with friends and check out the Armywifenetwork Field Exercise.  Tara and Star have always been so gracious about extending an invitation to their contributing writers to join them on the road, so it seemed like a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone – visit friends and participate in a Field Exercise.  Can’t wait to tell you all about it next week.
If you find the information in these newsletters valuable, I hope you’ll feel free to share with friends.  And if you received this e-mail as a forward, it’s easy to sign up to receive the newsletter yourself.  As always, if I’ve missed anything, I hope you’ll let me know.

Filed Under: Career, Events, News, Resources, Support Services & Resources Tagged With: Armywifenetwork, Congressional Military Family Caucus, DoD Social Media Policy, Field Exercises, Military spouse blog, MyCAA, Price Floyd, social media

Milspouse Friday Focus

February 26, 2010

The suspension of the MyCAA program continues to be the big news. As mentioned last week, spouses were appalled that they were not given any official notification of the unexpected turn of events. I think it’s fair to say that a high majority (if not nearly all) of the spouses found about the suspension through Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. To make matters worse, once the word was out on the street, officials in charge of the MyCAA program remained quiet for the critical first few days before finally issuing a statement. Unfortunately, it may have been too little too late as spouses had already taken matters into their own hands and contacted their congressional delegates and the press. What started as spouses talking to local press has exploded on the national scene as evidenced by a recent piece in The New York Times.

The latest MyCAA developments and resulting uproar have Congressman Sanford Bishop and Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers (co-chairs of the Congressional Military Family Caucus) drafting a letter to be sent to Defense Secretary Gates regarding MyCAA. They are encouraging spouses to contact their state representatives to sign on to the letter.

In other news, the aforementioned Congressional Military Family Caucus released a statement that they will be holding a Military Spouse Summit in Washington DC on April 23rd. They are looking for 50 military spouses to participate in the event and are accepting applications until March 26th. This is your opportunity to have a say. If you or someone you know may be interested, don’t wait too long before sending in your application; March 26th will be here and gone before you know it.

Every once in a while, we’ll seek to highlight a benefit that you may not be aware of. For instance, did you know that there are a handful of states that provide unemployment benefits for eligible military spouses who have to give up their jobs in conjunction with a permanent change of station (PCS)? To see if you may qualify, consult the following document compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures. There are so many programs out there supporting military families that it’s difficult to keep up with them all. We’ll do our best to bring them to your attention.

If you find the information in these newsletters valuable, I hope you’ll feel free to share with friends. As always, if I’ve missed anything, I hope you’ll let me know.

Filed Under: Events, News, Resources, Support Services & Resources Tagged With: Congressional Military Family Caucus, Military spouse blog, Military Spouse Summit, Milspouse Friday Focus, MyCAA, Spouse unemployment benefits

Milspouse Friday Focus

February 19, 2010

The big news of the week was the unexpected suspension of the wildly popular MyCAA accounts.  For those who are unfamiliar with the program, MyCAA provides up to $6000 in educational benefits for eligible military spouses.  According to a Navy Times article, over 133,000 milspouses have submitted applications since the program’s inception over a year ago and over 98,000 are in the pipeline (either already approved for tuition assistance or already enrolling in classes and utilizing the benefit).

Twitter and Facebook are abuzz with spouses lamenting the lack of notice and wondering why.  The only consist ent information that can be found regarding the action states that they are “reviewing the software applications, financial assistance documents and overall program.”  The timing could not be worse for spouses who may now have to scramble to find other means of funding their educational goals; hopefully, the program will be back up and running soon.  In case the suspension of the program leaves you at loose ends, here is some information regarding potential alternative funding sources.

The information about the temporary MyCAA suspension was only out for a few hours before military spouses were on the phone with Military OneSource counselors, their schools and their congressmen trying to get to the bottom of the story.  More information is coming out daily.  If you’re interested in following the most up to date information, check in at the myriad of Facebook pages out there dedicated to serving military families such as: Fleet and Family Support or Congressional Military Family Caucus .  Sites such as Military OneSource and Military.com have also been updating information quite frequently.

Coincidentally, as part of the “Open Government Initiative”, DoD has launched a website to solicit your ideas and opinions.  I’m not sure they’re ready to hear everything we have to say!  Already, spouses are not being shy about sounding off.  All kidding aside, in addition to being a portal for folks to share their inputs, the site’s a great jumping off point for other DoD resources.

In other news, finding flexible employment opportunities remains a challenge for many military spouses.  Fortunately for us, the Military Child Education Coalition has multiple part time positions available nationwide for Parent to Parent team members who will facilitate training sessions.  This is a great opportunity for military spouses who would like to build some tremendous résumé bullets working on a part time basis doing very meaningful work.

It’s been an extraordinarily busy week for military spouse issues.  If I’ve missed anything, I hope you’ll let me know.  I’d love to hear how any of this news is affecting you.

Filed Under: News, Resources, Support Services & Resources Tagged With: Congressional Military Family Caucus, Fleet and Family Support, MCEC, Military Child Education Coalition, Military OneSource, Military spouse blog, Military.com, MyCAA, Parent to Parent
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