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Being a Caregiver for Our Wounded Heroes
Do you know what it is like to be a caregiver for a seriously injured or sick person? a family member? Caring for my wonderful wife during her treatments for breast cancer five years ago became my mission! This fall she cared for me after several surgeries to remove malignant tumors from my foot and leg. With that experience and background I recognized the impact our wounded heroes’ caregivers. Recently the VA provided some great information about new programs to assist our wounded and their caregivers. The week of 14 February is set aside to recognize our wounded heroes. Do you know how many have been wounded since 9/11/2001 in…
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What Are We Sharing with Our Young People?
What a great opportunity! I had been invited to talk to a high school government class about my military service and it turned out to be a fun time! My daughter-in-law Becky is a teacher (so is my wife and another daughter-in-law,). Becky had some high school juniors with a unique assignment to interview someone who was employed or had been employed with the US government. My military experience provided an opportunity to tell the kids about you, our military community! During the class I introduced myself and then they each had questions to ask! They asked some great ones! For example, what was the most traumatic moment you saw,…
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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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“Tell A Friend” About Stop Loss Payments $$$$ – DoD Roundtable
Are you a veteran that has served since 9/11? Were you involuntarily extended beyond a separation or retirement date between 9/11/2001 and 09/30/2008? Do you know someone in these circumstances? Or even think they might have been? Be sure to tell them that they are eligible for $500 per month or partial month from the Department of Defense! Please go to www.defense.gov/stoploss to fill out the application! It takes 30 minutes! Average payment has been $3700! The end date for application is October 21st! Less than 3 months! Do not put it off! Tell them today! If you are eligible, file today! The DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Lernes “Bear” Hebert,…
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“MyHelpList” from the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense
I received a great document from my FRG (Army acronym for Family Readiness Group) that I thought was very timely for our monthly ‘Support Theme’. There are some great resources listed here that I hope you can use! MyHELPListInformation and Assistance for Military Service and Family Members During Tough Economic Times MILITARY RESOURCES Our Best Online Portals, Call Centers and Locator Services! Military OneSource24/7 Call CenterYou name it. We can help!1-800-342-9647http://www.militaryonesource.com/ MilitaryHOMEFRONTDoD programs, policies, news and events.http://www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil/ MilitaryAvenueRelocation Information for the American Military Familyhttp://militaryavenue.com/ Joint Family Resource Center (JFRC)On-demand counseling, educational materials and programs provided to support command sponsored deployment, personal finance and transition programs at no cost to commands.Command…
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Is This Our Career?
One of the biggest challenges of military families is deciding when it is time to step out of the service and join the civilian world and job market. I have seen many fine military personnel and their families make that decision and most had great reasons when they did step out! Some examples included the the family that wanted their high schoolers to stay at one school; others had a great job opportunity sitting there waiting for them; most had seen enough moves and long separations; some were just tired of the military routine or had missed a promotion cycle/opportunity and with their disappointment had decided to move on as…
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New Discoveries and Your Military Benefits!
Memorial Day weekend was wonderful! We had beautiful weather and great family get-togethers; and watched the Memorial Day parade in our small town with a niece proudly marching in the high school band! What fun. During a late walk on Memorial Day after all the festivities Deb and I discovered a couple of beautiful Dogwood Trees in our woods that we had not seen before. They were huge and we are still wondering how we missed them for the last 6 spring/summers!?? Maybe the cooler spring allowed more blossoms and/or the sun angle was right in the evening? But the blossoms jumped out of the new green vegetation and they…
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The Rising Costs of Food for a Military Family (or where do I plant my garden?)
One of the best military benefits we discovered after joining the Air Force way back when was the commissary! The food costs were truly a savings and became even more of a benefit as our family grew in numbers. We truly miss having one close by in our current location. You should see the looks on the faces of the commissary staff at Selfridge Air National Guard Base when we pull our four (4) heaping to the top carts (that is the amount we can get into one 1999 Cherokee) to the checkout counter during our quarterly visit. With the current energy prices going up, the larger impact on some…
