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Cutting Military Benefits – How Far Can We Go to Protect Them
Being part of the military community is like being a piece of meat in a sandwich! The President is Commander in Chief and proposes the defense budget but Congress must approve it. In the meantime the military community is caught in the middle of these “discussions”. We can be part of this political discourse but are extremely limited by law while on active duty. How far can a military family member or retiree go during discussions about military “stuff”. Budgets, strategies, deployments, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), etc come to mind. We try to be as politically neutral as possible with MilitaryAvenue’s articles, blogs, tweets and pins. But this one…
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Three Veterans in the Same Room
US Marines DoD PhotoOur country has a problem with military service. Less than 1% of our population is physically and mentally capable of serving in the armed forces! An interesting statistic but it does not hit home to most Americans. Then we find after serving so many can not find employment. Finding those who have successfully transitioned is always a great story. Last night during a medical test at the University of Michigan Cancer Center, it was surprising to find three veterans in the same room and two of them were employed there as technicians! One an Army retiree, served 26 years; the second, a former Marine (well always…
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Caring for Your Parents from a Long Distance – Military Style Part Two – The Checklist
Sometimes a blog inspires new ideas and last week’s Caring for Your Parents from a Long Distance – Military Style brought up the idea of a checklist that might help others. Much of the same information but in a shorter format without personal details. Think of it as a guide and then add your own ideas too! Share your experiences with others too by commenting! 1 – Caring For Senior Family Member While Long Distance: print a copy of this list and put in your glove box. One never plans for an emergency long distance road trip. However, when called to go, arrive armed with a design for success. 2…
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The Army Profession, Drawdown, Army Families and more! DoD Bloggers Roundtable
Army children in youth program … see below for creditChandler said, Secretary of the Army – no cuts to Army programs for families without his specific approval. Did you know that the US Army end strength (total number of active duty soldiers) under the Defense Departments current plan and budget will be at 490,000 after the drawdown is complete? That is the loss of eight brigade combat teams and other resources (80,000 soldiers to be specific). The number of cuts seems to be a bit of a moving target as we talked just recently (December) with the DoD Blogger Roundtable and the number was 50,000! The Sergeant Major of the…
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A few Social Media ‘Patches’ for our Military Families
In keeping with the military-tradition of patches MilitaryAvenue created some for our family members that you can wear on your favorite social media sleeves (like on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest). Just click on your patch to save, like, pin or tweet, (such fun verbs!). Proud Wife of a US Navy SailorSource: facebook.com via Military on Pinterest Proud Wife of a US MarineSource: facebook.com via Military on PinterestProud Wife of a US Coast GuardsmanSource: facebook.com via Military on PinterestProud Army WifeSource: facebook.com via Military on PinterestProud Wife of a US AirmanSource: facebook.com via Military on Pinterest And this is only the beginning. We have Veteran, Husband, Brother, Sister, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Mom, Dad, Grandson, Granddaughter and a whole…
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A Quick Review of 2011 on the Military-Family Blog from MilitaryAve…
What happened to 2011? It is almost gone and the MilitaryAvenue team discussed all the activity we had seen this year! So much to do and write about. We saw the troops come from Iraq, discussions on the military drawdown for 2012 and beyond, military health issues at the forefront, homeless veteran initiatives, veteran employment resources, entertainers supporting the troops, we even grabbed the chance to attend the Military Bloggers Conference and so much more. MilAve’s Leanne Kocsis,Inaugural Blogger of Month at USAAMany of our regular features such Tasty Tuesday Recipes, the DoD Blogger Roundtable features on issues impacting the military community, book reviews, veteran support and military children articles…
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Tracking Santa with NORAD on Christmas Eve: Don’t be surprised, Be Ready!
How Fast is Santa’s Sleigh? Official NORAD response: Santa’s sleigh travels at Starlight Speed according to military trackers at NORAD’s headquarters in Colorado Springs. Don’t be surprised! Be ready; know when Santa is coming!This was so much fun! Let’s start from the beginning with a quick explanation from US Navy Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Bill Lewis. Bill is part of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) responsible for Tracking Santa on Christmas Eve. Bill said that 1,200 volunteers work the mission for 23 hours to ensure children worldwide know where Santa is going next. Some have done this as a family for 10-15 years and it is now part of…
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“1001 Things To Love About Military Life”
“1001 Things To Love About Military Life” and the authors have found them! What fun! A book to read that chronicles the military lifestyle in a positive manner and resources, moments of laughter, re-living the life or learning the life are all there! Inputs from four authors and social media friends provide a great coffee table reader for your guests! Your military friends will pick it up and find a section to comment on or your civilian friends will pick it up and ask questions like, “was it really like this? Or, did you really like military life? A great way to begin a conversation and tell others why we…
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Army to Drawdown by 50,000 – The head “Scout” of the Army’s Enlisted Force Talks with MilitaryAvenue
SMA Chandler with 170th IBCT (see below for photo credit)Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA), Raymond F. Chandler took some of his critical time to speak with the Bloggers Roundtable on Wednesday. He said felt like the lead Scout of the Army’s enlisted force and wanted to give us a feel of what the enlisted soldiers where concerned about and how the Army was dealing with their issues. The SMA was lively, interested in our questions and provided some great responses as he described an “amazing Army”. He told us we were at a crossroads in the Army with reduced budgets and a drawdown of forces that will impact everyone.…
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VOW to Hire Veterans Act and “WOW” Come Together for Veterans Seeking Employment at Sears!
A VOW from Congress and a big WOW for Sears! Citing Labor Department statistics with 900,000 unemployed veterans in October this year and with more returning from Iraq as the war ends there, David Works, Senior Vice President Talent & Human Capital Services for Sears, excitedly explained to MilitaryAvenue how they were increasing vet hires at Sears Holdings. A Navy veteran of fast attack submarines, David highlighted the efforts of Sears to increase veteran hires by 10% in 2012 with veterans filling positions from hourly associates to store managers, global logistics, corporate level and more with military experience a plus for new hires! Challenging other corporations to support our veterans,…
