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Week in Review: July 17 – 23, 2011 (Military News) #MilitaryMon
Popular Military Family Articles for the week of July 17 – 23 on MilitaryAvenue.comLittle Known TRICARE Benefits:TRICARE offers comprehensive, affordable health coverage to more than 9.6 million eligible beneficiaries worldwide. It is an enormous military health benefits system and because of its complexity, many beneficiaries may be unsure of all the benefits and programs available to them. TRICARE has decided to highlight several well-know and maybe not-so-well-known benefits … Let’s Celebrate!: Get ready though… we have big plans for our 1,000 post coming soon! Prizes from USAA, Sears, Home Depot, Army Wife Network, Prudential and more. But I can’t stop there because the list is growing daily. (Are you a…
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What a great week!
A dinner at one of my new favorite restaurants with the love of my life; a newly stained deck; a fresh coat of oil on my deck table; a cleaned out garage, with a year’s worth of dirt, power-washed out back to its natural habitat; barbecued shish-kebobs with grilled asparagus and fresh bread with dipping sauce, (Wow, a meal with no “ICK… I’m not eating this”); evening walks; some wonderful alone-time with hubs; and wine… a few bottles of wine over the course of the week. It has been a great week! First of all MAJOR PROPS to my mom and dad for hosting the annual Camp Grandpa! The inaugural…
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Touch Pad Touches Home
Here we are yet in Nashville. Fun city for so many. A tourist attraction. Land of hospitality, southern drawl, sweet tea and genuine warmth. We are here because our Daniel is working on his breathing. Working on getting that heart rate down. Doing Olympic type feats like getting out of the bed, marching down the hall, dragging a pole, pumps, tank all while sporting a back flapping cotton gown. Always the edgy one in the family.The rest of the family are in their homes in Ohio, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Connecticut and Florida yet they are in contact continuously. Facebook, iPad, iPhone, instant messages: touch pads. We are letting the…
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“Too Sweet a Deal”? You Decide!
The military lifestyle is a tough road! No one can deny that but many civilians do not understand why it is tough either! Long deployments, extensive TDY/TADs, frequent relocations (PCS), and caring for our families despite these conditions are frequently misunderstood. Also largely misunderstood is the impact on the lives of Reserve Forces including the National Guard and Service Reservists. Yep, some civilians may even ignore these situations but I think the major issue is education. How do we tell our fellow citizens that we are stretched as a community and in some cases would like them to “cover our 6 o’clock” for us? Checking 6 is when another aircraft…
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“Let’s Move” How Healthy Are You and Your Military Family? – DoD Roundtable
We see it everyday! Sometimes in our own mirror, in family members, at the Exchange, at church/chapel, around town, while visiting family and at the doctor’s office: Many Americans including our children are overweight! We need to get active! The “Let’s Move” campaign is a national effort to improve our health and we need to get going! As the military order goes, “Move Out” on this one! “She said the campaign was focusing on three targets: Diet, Activity and Screen Time.” I am encouraged by the interest of our country’s leaders taking a stand because this is becoming a health care issue with record numbers of childhood diabetes, adult onset…
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Week in Review: February 20 – 26, 2011 (Military News) #MilitaryMon
Popular Military Family Articles for the week of February 20th – 26th on MilitaryAvenue.com: Military Saves Week: That Wind in Our Hair: Fresh out of college. Brand new job. This was my former life. I worked for Hewitt Associates (HA), a benefits administration company, in their customer service department. Our clients’ employees called us to help with their health care benefits, 401(k) plans and pension plans. After a bit of time with HA I became ‘the manager’ you talked to if you had a problem with your 401(k). Yes, I knew the rules and regulations like the back of my hand.Fresh out of college. Brand new job. Disposable income. ……
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Our Military Families and the Defense Budget of 2012 – DoD Roundtable
Defense Secretary Gates has called service members the “military’s greatest strategic asset,” and the President and First Lady’s Initiatives to support military families have had an impact on the proposed DoD Budget for 2012. No longer screaming for large medical fee increases for those who serve/have served, the budget includes $8.3 Billion for family support for all the services. The community that has sacrificed so much during two wars, while most Americans continued ordinary lives, should not be the target of budget cuts for their programs. We recognize that our country is in the midst of economic instability but too often the military budget is the first target of the…
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A Breastfeeding Journey
WE did it! By “We” I mean BabyBoy *L* and me! In just a few weeks he will be six-months old and aside from a few sips of formula (promptly spit out on his part) he has been exclusively breastfed. Can I tell you how much I have enjoyed this journey?! (Thanks, then I will.) I tried with my other two. *E* my first born was a colicky-mess… or maybe it was just me that was a mess? But he would cry for hours and at about six-weeks old consistently had blood in his diaper. I /tried/ to cut out all cow’s milk from my diet at the recommendation of…
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Veterans and Military Associations
What is the purpose of a military association? Why do we join them? Veterans have numerous military organizations/associations to choose from for membership. Recently, I wrote one to resign my membership because they were doing political endorsements with which I strongly disagreed. I received a very professional note back from them but the damage was done. Their name infers that veterans supported these particular politicians that I had absolute no faith in (either for supporting our veterans or directing the course of our country) so I resigned. That caused me to start thinking about military associations to which I send my dues. Why did/do I/we join? Some are working hard…
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Push Back… Hold Forward… Integrity
It is flu season, or at least I have heard the forecast, similar to a hurricane coming this way. Get ready! So we went forward. After seeing TV ad after TV ad about going into local pharmacy to get the shot, Dale and I decided to take a ride. Not being one who looks forward to pain, shots, pokes or whatever, I let him go first! We whipped out our military IDs; which is all that we need to show insurance when picking up medications at 2 local places here in Michigan. The registered nurse who sat at the table looked at cards, our faces and asked “What is this?”…
