My Life As A Military Spouse

AUSA Updates

The 2010 census will make its way to your mailbox in early March. With many Servicemembers deployed, military families may have questions regarding how to answer certain questions. For example, if your Servicemember spouse is overseas, then the person receiving the questionnaire should not count the spouse that is overseas. The spouse overseas will be counted based on home of record provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center to the Census Bureau. Likewise, military families and Servicemembers living overseas will not receive a questionnaire and will be counted based on home of record provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center. If your spouse is on a military vessel with a United States homeport, then they should not be counted as part of your household. For additional clarification, please go here.

The Army’s antiterrorism (AT) program protects Army communities against terrorist acts. Family members represent a special group included within the program’s protection efforts. During the 3rd quarter, fiscal year 2010 the Army’s AT awareness theme will focus on enhancing family awareness about the indicators of possible terrorists activity and how to report suspicious behavior. Recognizing the commitment and sacrifices that our families make the Army is committed to building a partnership with Army families. When informed about the threat of terrorism and empowered to help protect our communities against terrorism, Army families become an extension of our overall protection. To read more about Army Antiterrorism Family Awareness, please go here.

The U.S. Army is testing telemedicine as a way to give patients at remote posts in Europe better access to American specialists. In recent years, as the military footprint in Europe has shrunk and U.S. hospitals in places such as Wurzburg have closed, Servicemembers and family members increasingly have been sent to foreign medical facilities for treatment. Telemedicine, which enables doctors to do remote consultations over the internet, is a way to bring those patients back into the U.S. medical system. For further information, please click on the following link here.

Anger management group therapy can be just as effective over video hookup as in person. An estimated 40 percent of today’s combat veterans come from remote or rural areas of the US. Many of them, up to one in six, return home with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Leslie Morland, of the Veterans Administration (VA) National Center for PTSD, Pacific Islands Division, wanted to know if a treatment that had already been shown to be effective for PTSD-related issues when administered in-person could be as effectively managed and as beneficial for participants if delivered via videoconferencing. The study showed that anger management problems could be safely managed remotely. For more on this study, or to read this article in full, please go here.

For children of military families, making friends at new schools doesn’t seem to get easier. Parents face their own challenges as well, such as; new rules, regulations, laws and attitudes which shape their sons’ and daughters’ education. The El Paso Independent School District assigned liaisons to help ease the transition for military parents and students. This program, which began in 2005 after Congress signed off on a plan to move the 1st Armor Division to Fort Bliss, helps ensure high school credits are transferred. Liaisons explain why a student was successful in the previous school must learn a new way to do math or adopt a new reading routine. To read more on this successful program, go here.

At BuildASign.com, they are very proud of the continued service and sacrifice that our military personnel selflessly provide every day. To express their support of our brave men and women in uniform, they want to invite you to take part in their free “Welcome Home” banner promotion. Beginning in July 2008, they began offering free “Welcome Home” banners to the friends and family of members of the Armed Services coming home from overseas. To date, they have given away over 60,000 banners. All banners can be customized in full color, including pictures; they just ask that the customer pay the shipping and handling fee. For more information, please go here.

posted by LoveMyTanker @ 9:10 AM