Dear Mr. President.
I am an Army Spouse. I have given my life to our Country by supporting my Active Duty Army Soldier. I keep the home, I take care of the kids, I am the one who stabilizes our family when nothing else seems to be stable at all. I am the one who knows the ins and outs at home, while my Soldier goes to work for you and our Country. Often times you may even see me in the work place, bringing a basket of smiles to my Soldier and other Soldiers. You may find me chatting with their Spouses and offering encouragement and support to them and their families. That’s what I do.
Now that I have explained my role I also have to explain to you that all too often we live paycheck to paycheck and need a little extra income so I may have to go to work myself. There in lies the problem. Every time we move I have to pick up, leave and then start all over again. Many civilian employers frown at my resume. I may not have been able to hold a job more than one year, maybe it’s two or three years, but longevity is my downfall. When I interview and I am asked, how long will you be staying this time? I have to look them in the eye and tell them, “When Uncle Sam calls, we go” there’s no definite in that. Yes, there are programs now in the last 5 years or so that have given Spouses of the Military a little more hope, my problem is not that those programs exist, it’s that those programs aren’t working! If it’s broke fix it, however, if it’s truly not broke we fix it anyway and don’t worry about the ones that do need serious attention.
“Program S” which was put in place to help Military Spouses gain competitive appointments with government positions is vague to say the least. Yes, there is a list of requirements for the spouse, however, does the spouse have to go somewhere online or on a facility to “register” for priority? Overseas Spouses have no issue of the program because it works overseas where the jobs are abundant and more often encourage spouse employment. How about those who are stationed remotely? What about those Spouses who are not near a Military Installation and cannot access Army Community Services? There are government positions available in Recruiting which are harder to gain for a spouse because of the educational requirements, or because Spouse Preference doesn’t pertain to them. How do you put a program together and not maintain it for the entire community and legitimize it only for a few?
I give my life every day for the Army, I may not go into battle, I may not stand at formation or wear rank on my chest, but I do Support the Army the best way I know how… to support, love and care for my Soldier so that he is effective when on the line or at his post. That’s my duty, that’s what I do, I am an Army Spouse.
My suggestion to you, take a look at the programs set in place or even being considered and then take a Military Spouse and appoint them as your Consultant. No one is better at the job than one who makes that sacrifice. Allow them the freedom to tell you honestly what is working and what needs TLC, then allow them to assist in creating a more effective program, one that will work for all not some. The World’s greatest Military is falling apart because there are so many more Soldiers and Sailors who are divorcing, going bankrupt, and committing suicide than there should be. If we had stronger family support programs and not just recreational programs and call it family support, then maybe our Military could still be strong even with dwindled numbers. Maybe those who are entering into the Military now, would want to make the Military their career instead of just a service commitment.
I invite your wife and yourself to come visit any Army Recruiting Battalion and it’s families. I ask that you take a look at our systems and see they are far from successful and offer us resources to make family life in Recruiting better. Give us suggestions on how to strengthen our support channels. Visualize an Army family in the middle of America with no Army Family living next door or two houses down, and find that our Commanders are focused on their obligations and their mission to ever worry about a failing Family Support program. Find a Soldier’s Spouse struggling to find a job or stick to a career because licensing in one state is different from another and education requirements are different just the same. You’ll find women and men who have spent a fortune in job training or higher learning that they often are unemployed after a Permanent Change of Station because their license or certification in the last state doesn’t have the same klout in their new place of residence. You’ll also notice that “Joining Forces” doesn’t find it’s way to Recruiting Families as it does for those at Military Installations. We’re a support group torn apart and many of us Spouses are searching for friends who know what we’re going through, someone to share some time with, but instead we’re alone and more often so spread apart from one another that even if we met at our one time a year training and awards banquet, that acquaintance would fall apart because we would never be able to see each other for the distance between us would be too hard to overcome. See as I do a Soldier’s family wishing to go back to a line unit or whatever and wherever the Soldier’s MOS would take them, as long as it is far away from Recruiting.
Take a closer look at housing in Recruiting. Let’s not get me started with the lack of programs available for holding civilians accountable for leasing uninhabitable homes to our Soldiers and their families. NO protection for the Soldier who has to rent a home sight unseen because housing is limited in the rural areas we have to recruit in. NO home inspections available to Military Families who have to rent in a civilian community and now with Privatized Housing on military installations, we have to give our entire BAH to a company for substandard housing that should have been condemned but instead our government allows for repairs to keep them going. Why is it that surveys are completed by those Soldiers and Sailors who have no need for civilian or privatized housing because they live in the barracks? Why is it our BAH often only allows for substandard housing in civilian areas? Why must it be that we have to incorporate utilities, phone, cable and oil or gas, with rent in order to survive on our base pay? Utilities, Phone, Cable and Oil or Gas… Are you aware that none of these have a Military Rate or Discount? Are you aware that the Military Housing Program or Government Leased Housing Program is suffering and far from successful? There are very few Landlords that will pay for extra utilities and combine them in the rent advertised. Especially in our current economy it’s hard enough to lease a home to someone who can pay for rent. Soldiers and Sailors fortunately enough have a housing allowance, but our basic housing allowance amounts need to be looked at all over the US and adjusted to fit civilian advertised lease amounts. These adjusted amounts can’t be regional or by state but yet more by county. We have Recruiting Soldiers living in remote areas that their housing allowance doesn’t cover the advertised lease amounts and so these Soldiers and their families have to spend more out of their base pay to afford a home that is not substandard. Are you aware that many Soldiers purchase a home, when loans can be obtained, because they have no other opportunity for leasing a home that is above substandard or they live in a community where leased homes are taken as soon as they are posted? When these Soldiers have to relocate, selling their home is more a hassle that many have to lease their homes and take less than their mortgage in order to get the home rented. Many who lease their homes find that it is more a hardship because of the maintenance costs and the cost of repairs after a tenant vacates. What programs are available that help our Military Men and Women lease their homes to competent tenants who will not take advantage of the fact that many of our Soldiers are several states away and there is often no one to take care of quarterly inspections of the home while the tenant is residing in the home? In my own case, our Family experienced a tragedy because there are no housing programs in place for those who have to rent in a rural community miles away from any Military Installation. Had there been a housing program in place that provided a home inspection prior to our acceptance of a lease, we probably wouldn’t have lost our two daughters to a house fire which was determined to have started because of faulty wiring in the home. I now have a better knowledge of substandard living, and believe it or not, there are several Soldiers who just are not aware of what to look for when they rent a home. They are not aware of the local tenant laws that govern homeowners/landlords so they cannot hold them accountable for maintenance that the homeowner should be responsible for. There is no brief made available for the Soldier or their family on what to look for in a lease contract that a homeowner should be responsible for, however the homeowner or their Agent will write it into the lease agreement that the tenant is responsible and the tenant agrees not knowing that it shouldn’t be as written. We’re not lawyers, we’re not lawmakers, we only know what information is given to us and when we’re left to our own devices more often than not we make the wrong decision, not because we’re careless, but instead because we’re not informed.
So, Mr. President.
I challenge you, not to make this an agenda for re-election, but instead to make this a priority for the Safety, Sanity and Security of our Military Men and Women and their Families. Concentrate not on programs that aren’t broke and don’t need repair, but instead on those programs that need immediate repair like the ones I’ve mentioned here.
Sincerely.
Julie D. Powers
Army Wife
Army Recruiting BN New England
Kittery, ME
