More military spouses are becoming entrepreneurs to contribute to the family’s income and fulfill their personal goals. The lawmakers want the ability to track how many of these spouse-owned businesses bid for and win federal contracts.

“This change would ensure that military spouse entrepreneurs are adequately represented and accounted for,” said Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., in announcing a letter sent to the Office of Management and Budget May 10, on the eve of Military Spouse Appreciation Day. She is leading the effort.

While military spouse-owned small businesses can compete for federal contracting opportunities, there is no way to know whether they are doing so or being awarded contracts. The government doesn’t track military spouse participation.

As a result, there is no way for Congress to gauge trends in military spouse participation levels or address any deficiencies that might exist, the lawmakers stated. The information could also be used to help address the unemployment gap for military spouses, which has stubbornly remained at 20% for years, they said.

The lawmakers, all but one Democrats, have asked OMB to change policy to allow military spouse-owned businesses to self-identify in the Federal Procurement Data System, which is overseen by the Office of Federal Procurement at OMB. That data system includes entities registered to do business with the government. It recognizes many different self-identifiers, such as minority- and veteran- and woman-owned businesses, with codes assigned to each category. Congress, the administration, the Government Accountability Office and others use the information to identify trends and inform policy decisions.

Agencies can search what businesses and other organizations exist in the system and use the data to solicit Requests for Information from companies that might be interested in doing business with the agency, generally or on a specific type of opportunity.

The change, if adopted by OMB, would mean establishing criteria and eligibility for the military spouse-owned business category.

The change wouldn’t give spouses priority unless they qualified under another category such as veteran-owned. But agencies looking for a small business to handle a contract could express interest in those owned by a military spouse.

The housing advocates say two privatized housing companies that have been sued by military families — Balfour Beatty Communities and The Michaels Organization — are trying to force them to turn over most if not all communications regarding their housing issues, whether or not they are involved in the lawsuits.

“The subpoenas appear designed to harass [housing advocates], to drain their resources and to distract from their core mission of protecting military families from abusive landlords,” the nonprofit Armed Forces Housing Advocates stated in an April news release.

Dozens of military families are suing various privatized housing companies around the country over allegations of mold, cockroaches, sewer backups and other problems. Those include several lawsuits against Balfour and Michaels. But none of the advocacy groups are parties to the suits.

Over the past several weeks, as part of the discovery process, lawyers for the two companies issued subpoenas to National Military Housing Advocates, Armed Forces Housing Advocates and independent advocate Sarah Kline, who was previously affiliated with Armed Forces Housing Advocates.

Such subpoenas are unusual for nonprofits that aren’t part of a lawsuit, unless it’s a very large case, said John Hughes, an attorney representing some of the military families suing Fort Belvoir Residential Communities and Michaels Management Services.

Representatives of Balfour and Michaels say the subpoenas are more narrowly tailored than the advocates claim.

“The subpoena does not seek confidential information about any residents not involved in the lawsuit, and the accusations to the contrary are false,” Michaels officials said in a statement provided to Military Times.

Balfour Beatty Communities owns and operates family housing on 55 Army, Navy and Air Force installations. The subpoenas issued to Armed Forces Housing Advocates and to Kline relate to lawsuits filed by families at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma; and Lackland Air Force Base, Fort Bliss and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

The company argues that during the discovery process, “plaintiffs testified that [Armed Forces Housing Advocates] has relevant information related to their claims.”

“As is customary in litigation, a subpoena was issued requiring AFHA to share that information,” Balfour Beatty officials said in a statement to Military Times. “AFHA’s lawyer has not objected to the scope of the subpoena or said that a response would be unduly burdensome.”

The Michaels Organization, which owns and operates 11 military privatized housing communities, is the parent company of Fort Belvoir Residential Communities and Michaels Management Services, which are named in the Fort Belvoir lawsuit.

During the discovery process, “several plaintiffs testified under oath that a group called the ‘National Military Housing Advocates’ has information relevant to the lawsuit and to their personal claims,” Michaels officials said.

“Separately, the NMHA has filed at least one [Freedom of Information Act] request with the Army seeking documents relating to the lawsuit at Belvoir. Both of the individuals who filed that FOIA request on behalf of NMHA are plaintiffs in the case.”

“So, it is apparent that the plaintiffs, not the defendants, have involved NMHA in the lawsuit” Michaels officials said.

But the advocates insist company lawyers are asking for communications not just with families who are suing them, but any military families who have communicated with them about the companies.

The subpoenas include nearly identical descriptions of what the companies are seeking, with a list of nearly 100 items, including calendars, lists of people attending meetings, all forms of notes, medical records or reports, test readings, photographs, email, reports of telephone conversations and many more items.

Raven Roman, executive director of National Military Housing Advocates, formerly known as Belvoir Housing Advocacy Group, worries that general descriptions such as “any communications related to claims of mold or excessive moisture” would apply to any military family raising questions about housing at any installation, including those not owned by the two companies.

While Roman is personally involved in suing Fort Belvoir Residential Communities LLC and Michaels Management Services, the nonprofit advocacy group is not, she said.

“AFHA does not engage in any type of lawsuit or refer people to attorneys, and we try to work with the process that’s in place with the Military Housing Privatization Initiative because we want to avoid this exact problem,” said Kate Needham-Cano, executive director of Armed Forces Housing Advocates

“However, asking for the breadth of information regarding an entire company across the entire United States has nothing to do with those particular lawsuits, and that’s where it feels compromising … and that’s where it feels abusive to us as an organization,” Needham-Cano said. “We will use every resource available to us to lawfully participate and protect the families to the best of our ability.”

Families have a right to know “the housing company is trying to pursue information that they don’t have a right to,” Roman said. “Our main priority is to let families know what our stance is, and to let them know that we intend to oppose providing any information that might put them at risk, their communication with us.”

Both of the nonprofits are run by volunteers with limited resources. Armed Forces Housing Advocates was served with five subpoenas, Needham-Cano said, forcing them to choose between curtailing their services and grants to families for things like mold tests, food grants, window guards and reasonable accommodations, or paying for a lawyer to protect the families’ information. Luckily, they’ve had a small amount of money to be able to hire an attorney.

Roman said National Military Housing Advocates has been able to seek pro bono legal advice.

The issue could also have even broader effects, said Kelly Hruska, government relations director for the National Military Family Association. “I’m afraid the effects will be chilling on housing advocacy for military families and that it might spill over into other issues,” she said.

But “the location is still officially undecided,” said J. Elise Van Pool, a spokeswoman for U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The Army and the families of troops with 7th Special Forces Group want the CDC on the camp where service members work.

In fact, the Army has budgeted about $16 million in fiscal 2025 for the center, anticipating it will be located on Camp Bull Simons. But the Air Force says it is concerned about the children’s safety because the camp is adjacent to an active bombing range. Air Force officials are planning to use military construction funds to build the center on federal land in the city of Crestview, just north of the camp, where most of the families live.

Despite the Air Force’s stance, Army Special Operations Command officials “feel confident in the current safety protocols for [Camp Bull Simons] and think the addition of a CDC doesn’t represent an increased risk,” Van Pool said. She noted that Air Force officials are still surveying possible locations for the CDC and no money has been appropriated to buy the land needed.

“A CDC in Crestview would be acceptable,” she said. “However, we have concerns that building off the installation will cause additional delays. The need for child care is an acute problem, and we are trying to avoid unnecessary delays.”

Many thought the issue was decided.

In October, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth announced that “working closely with the Air Force, we now have plans to build a new CDC at Camp Bull Simons” in fiscal 2025. More recently, at a public meeting on April 25, Army Lt. Gen. Kevin Vereen, deputy chief of staff for the operations (G-9) directorate, said, “I can assure, I can almost guarantee, that we’ll have a CDC at Camp Bull Simons and it will be an Army CDC.”

He did acknowledge, however, that “we’re in the middle of trying to figure this one out.”

Unusual beginning

As part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure action, Camp Bull Simons was carved out of an Eglin Air Force Base bombing range that the service uses in its testing mission.

Due to testing of hypersonic weapons, long-range standoff systems and other tests, the risk to children is too great to have the child care center on the Army camp, said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey T. Geraghty, commander of the 96th Test Wing at Eglin, in an interview with Military Times.

Geraghty serves as the installation commander at Eglin, as well as the range operating authority, responsible for mitigating risk and ensuring that nothing encroaches upon the test facility.

The ball is now in the Defense Department’s court, Geraghty said. “They’re doing a pretty comprehensive study to determine the risks on the range,” he said. The DoD Test Resource Management Center is doing the study “to make sure the Army concerns are addressed, Air Force concerns are addressed, national security and weapons test concerns are addressed, and encroachment concerns on our national defense ranges are addressed,” he said.

That study is expected to be finished in September; a decision will be made later in the year on the location, a process which could further delay construction.

“I believe this is going to find the right solution because the Army and Air Force are working together at the highest levels,” Geraghty said. “Perhaps the reason you don’t hear the Air Force coming out with as strong a position as the Army has, is that right now the ball is really in the court of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.”

“We do acknowledge that that’s a hardship for the Team Eglin families that live up there to have to come down here to Eglin main to get day care,” Geraghty said.

“So, that’s the problem we’re working on, big picture, the fastest we can, to get a child development center that services those families that live north of the range. That’s Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force. We want to give them a child care facility up there.”

Families are “grateful that we’re working to bring child care up closer to where they live, up there in the city of Crestview,” Geraghty said. “Those who live up there but don’t work at Camp Bull Simons are especially excited about it.”

About 60% of 7th SFG families live in Crestview. He’s also been letting them know that the longer term plan is to take care of their medical needs closer to home, with a military treatment facility and a Veterans Affairs facility.

How bad is the child care shortage? Ask these Florida military families

“The good news is there’s going to be a child development center no matter what,” said Stu Bradin, president and CEO of the Global SOF Foundation, who has been an advocate for the families at Camp Bull Simons. “The bad news is there’s all these shenanigans going on to keep it from going to the optimal place. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s not optimal,” he said.

Some service members live in lower Alabama and drive an hour south to the camp, “because they can’t afford to live there. They don’t have the money even to live in Crestview,” Bradin said. There are also families who live closer to Pensacola, who would have to drive 15 miles further north to Crestview to drop off their children.

“It’s easier to drop your child off where you work. But anything is better than driving to Eglin, if it’s a government facility. The good thing about the military CDC is that they have high standards,” he said, and can adjust their hours to meet operational needs.

Families like the security of having their military child development center within a military installation, too. Geraghty said officials haven’t yet worked through the details on security. “But those are risks we are aware of, and we would certainly mitigate those as we build a child care center up there in the town of Crestview, too.”

Safety concerns rising

So, why are there safety concerns now if people have been living and working on Camp Bull Simons for more than a decade?

There have been no evacuations of the camp to date, Van Pool said, but they have been notified the 96th Test Wing may order one in the near future.

“The tests and the maneuvers, the weapons and the systems that we’re starting to test now are different than they have been for the past 15, 20 years that we’ve been focused on the global war on terrorism,” Geraghty said.

For years, the Air Force bent over backward to avoid having to evacuate Camp Bull Simons, he said, modifying its tests and employment of weapons. While normally they would test weapons at a certain altitude and air speed, they took some risks and tested at a lower altitude or air speed.

“We’d do some engineering analysis and say, ‘Hey in a war, it would probably still work even though we didn’t test it at the actual conditions.’

“We had accepted some risk, and our weapons weren’t as fleshed out as we are now making sure they are. That’s why we now have to move to start testing those weapons systems much closer to their full capability, which is drawing us to have to ask soldiers on Camp Bull Simons to … evacuate,” he said, noting that one such evacuation is coming in June.

“We are pivoting towards this preparation for this high-end conflict.”

They’ve worked with the commands at Camp Bull Simons to minimize any mission impact on them, he said.

Bradin questioned the concerns about a child care center, given that there have been barracks, a chapel, a troop clinic, a shopette and other services on Camp Bull Simons for years. “What is the risk mitigation for them? Are they putting bunkers there?” he asked.

“Those facilities were put there to take care of the morale and welfare of the soldiers and the people who were supporting the mission on the range up there,” Geraghty said. “There is some level of aggregate risk that we take in service to our nation that soldiers are certainly cognizant of when they sign up to serve.

“The adults who work in support of the mission on the range are cognizant of those risks,” he said.

“Let’s take care of our children and our child care needs outside of the range,” he said.

A recent DoD analysis, mandated by Congress, shows that if Pentagon leaders did decide to restore the full BAH level, as many lawmakers want, troops without dependents would get from $82 extra to $164 extra per month, on average.

In 2015, defense officials reduced the amount of housing allowances they pay to military families from the full cost to 95% of their rental costs, as determined by the Basic Allowance for Housing formula. The cost-saving measure was authorized by Congress, but it wasn’t required.

But due to economic conditions, concerns have grown about the affordability and availability of housing for military families. The rapidly rising cost of housing even persuaded defense officials to implement a temporary BAH increase at the beginning of fiscal years 2022 and 2023 to help service members find affordable, quality housing.

As a result, lawmakers have been urging defense officials to again have BAH cover 100% of troops’ housing costs, which DoD can do without legislation.

Congress also required DoD to analyze how much money the 5% boost would put in the pockets of average service members, based on rank and dependent status, as well as what it would cost the department. It won’t come cheap. Paying the full cost of housing would add up to $1.1 billion in DoD outlays in 2024 if the full BAH were restored in January. That’s in addition to the $26.8 billion in BAH currently paid to about 1 million service members.

DoD’s analysis, obtained by Military Times, shows, for example, that an E-5 with dependents would see an extra $111 a month, on average; an O-2 with dependents, would get an average of $118 more.

Department analysts also looked at the costs of gradually implementing a boost in the allowance, but their report doesn’t include recommendations about whether the department or Congress should act.

The current 5% out-of-pocket housing cost “reduces the buying power of service member families, especially in high cost areas of the United States,” lawmakers stated in their 2022 report requiring the DoD analysis.

Family advocates share their concern.

“Military families, like all Americans, have felt the financial pressure from the pandemic, inflation and a volatile housing market,” said Shannon Razsadin, president and executive director of the Military Family Advisory Network. “But military families don’t have the option to hunker down and ride it out. They move due to military orders, on average, every 2.5 years. From our extensive work on housing and food insecurity, we see a clear intersection between paying for housing and purchasing healthy food.

“At a time when nearly one-quarter of military families are experiencing food insecurity, an extra $100 per month could make all the difference,” she said. “We are encouraged by the options DoD presented and are hopeful Congress will lay the path for a full restoration of the housing allowance.”

Here's what that reduction in basic allowance for housing is costing troops

The DoD analysis also looked at what it would cost to restore the full BAH benefit over five years. The full implementation in 2024 would cost DoD an extra $1.1 billion in that year. Over the five years through 2028, it would add an estimated $7.5 billion (which includes inflation in housing costs).

If DoD increases the BAH gradually — by one percentage point each year for five years — service members would get less money at the start — ranging from $19 a month to $31 a month, on average. But it would cost DoD less: an extra $214 million in 2024 and an extra $4.4 billion over the five years.

The following chart from the report shows average BAH increases if DoD decides to restore the full BAH benefit.

While the monthly BAH increase would apply to all eligible for the allowance, troops living in privatized housing wouldn’t see it because their full BAH generally goes directly to their housing landlord. The rent for privatized housing is set at the BAH rate.

Generally, about two-thirds of service members live in the civilian community. Service members may choose to rent or buy a dwelling in the civilian community that costs less than the monthly BAH and can pocket the extra money. If they choose to rent or buy a dwelling that costs more than BAH, the extra expense comes out of pocket.

The allowance is designed to offset the costs of local median rents and average utilities. BAH rates are adjusted each January based on surveys and information collected about rent and utilities for different types of houses in more than 300 military housing areas in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.

In 2023, BAH rates rose an average 12.1%, the largest year-over-year percentage jump in the allowance in at least 15 years.

The Government Accountability Office has reported that DoD needs to improve the way it calculates troops’ housing allowances and defense officials are in the process of reviewing those procedures.

The increases are generally in line with previous years’ increases and go into effect May 1.

This is a voluntary dental benefit for eligible active duty family members and National Guard and reserve members and their families. Active duty service members, including activated reserve component members, get most of their dental care from military dental clinics.

For active duty members with one family member enrolled the single premium is $12.36, up from $11.94 the previous year. The single enrollment premium is for the family member, not the active duty sponsor. The active duty family premium is now $32.13, up from the previous $31.04. This applies when more than one family member is enrolled.

The Tricare Dental Program is a pay-ahead program; each payment is for the next month of coverage. This voluntary Tricare dental coverage is separate from Tricare medical coverage and requires separate enrollment. The Tricare Dental Plan is administered by United Concordia Companies Inc.

Other rates:

Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve (under mobilization orders)

• Sponsor only: $12.36, up from $11.94
• Single premium: $30.89, up from $29.84
• Family premium: $80.33, up from $77.59
• Sponsor and family premium: $92.69, up from $89.53

Individual Ready Reserve (not under mobilization orders)

• Sponsor only premium: $30.89, up from $29.84
• Single premium: $30.89, up from $29.84
• Family premium: $80.33, up from $77.59
• Sponsor and family premium: $111.22, up from $107.43

In addition to the monthly premiums, there may also be cost-shares for dental services. There are no cost-shares for diagnostic or preventive services.

There are also plan maximums, the most that Tricare will pay for certain dental services:

• Annual benefit maximum: $1,500 per enrollee
• Orthodontic lifetime maximum: $1,750 per enrollee
• Dental accident coverage annual maximum: $1,200 per enrollee

The monitoring, which generally costs around $30 a month or more, can help troops and family members keep on top of their finances, with information about new activity on their credit reports. With early detection, troops can take steps to nip fraud and other problems in the bud. The three credit reporting agencies are currently providing the service to all active duty members.

The bipartisan proposal, introduced Thursday by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota; and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to expand the definition of those eligible for free credit monitoring to include all in the uniformed services, regardless of duty status, to include members of the National Guard and reserve components. It also would expand the free credit monitoring to their spouses and dependents over 18.

“We owe it to our service members and their families to make sure that their financial well-being is protected while they are protecting our country at home and abroad,” said Carper, a 23-year veteran of the Navy and the Navy Reserve, in an announcement about the proposal. “Military families are often more vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches, which can expose personal data like sensitive financial and identification information.”

Ensuring that military families have full access to credit monitoring services will help keep their information secure, said Cramer, in the announcement.

Credit files maintained by the credit reporting agencies include information about where you live, whether you pay your bills on time and the amount of debt your are carrying; whether you’ve been sued or arrested; or filed for bankruptcy. The information is used to make decisions on whether to lend you money, rent you an apartment, and, importantly for many in the military, whether you should be given a security clearance.

The legislation is endorsed by TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting agencies, and by The Military Coalition, according to the announcement.

“The current law … provides a safety net for most but not for all of our uniformed services as we would intend,” said Jack Du Teil, president of The Military Coalition, in a statement provided in the senators’ announcement. “The key to oversight is to expand the current law to include all service members — a course of action TMC has long supported.

“We appreciate that this legislation also expands credit monitoring coverage to spouses and dependents of uniformed service members,” he said.

A proposal was introduced in the House in March to expand the free credit monitoring to all uniformed service members, but it didn’t include family members.

“We’re in the middle of trying to figure this one out,” Lt. Gen. Kevin Vereen, Army deputy chief of staff for the operations (G-9) directorate. “But I can assure, I can almost guarantee, that we’ll have a CDC at Camp Bull Simons and it will an Army CDC.”

“Thank goodness the [fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act] authorized us to be able to start design work for the facility,” Vereen said Tuesday at an Association of the U.S. Army event.

The camp was carved out of an active bombing range the Air Force uses in its testing mission.

Families at Camp Bull Simons have struggled with child care since 7th Special Forces Group was moved to Florida a decade ago under the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment action.

The camp has few amenities. Barracks, a chapel, a troop clinic, and an exchange shopette and services were built, but there’s no child development center, family housing or commissary. Army families want a child development center built near the chapel on Camp Bull Simons, where it would be convenient for soldiers.

But the Air Force has pushed back because of safety concerns.

Meanwhile, Vereen said, Army officials have placed a program manager in the area to look at interim child care options for families until they can get a CDC built. Right now, that center is scheduled to be built in 2025.

About 60% of 7th SFG families live in Crestview, 20 minutes northeast of Camp Bull Simons and 45 minutes to an hour from Eglin Air Force Base to the south. To get to child care on Eglin, they must pass the camp.

So, if they can get a spot, Army families spend three or four hours a day in the car to drive to and from an Eglin child care center, depending on traffic.

These Florida military families will finally get a child care center

In addition to the CDC at Camp Bull Simons, Congress approved 15 other child care centers across the services in the fiscal 2023 legislation, to include three Army CDCs. The Biden administration had requested funding for two CDCs across the military services; Congress added 14.

For years, service members across the country have struggled to find affordable, high quality child care for their children, with long wait lists in a number of locations. It has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the availability of child care in the civilian community, too. The services were trying to deal with staffing shortages at child care centers even before COVID-19.

And for a number of years, lawmakers have chastised military officials for not seeking funding to build more CDCs, which are trusted by military families to provide the level of care they want for their children.

The Army is now building five CDCs and another 10 will be built through fiscal 2025.

‘No shortage’ of Army child care centers?

“We don’t have a shortage of CDCs in the Army. We have enough infrastructure,” Vereen said, while noting that some centers need to be repaired or remodeled. The Army is working through that process, he said.

The number one issue is hiring enough staff members, he said.

“We have a lot of initiatives going on with regards to how we grow our CDC employment. So our installations are going after it, trying to incentivize our workers,” he said.

The Army provides opportunities for employees to develop their careers, through schooling, certifications, licensure, so they can transfer jobs when moving to another installation. Most of the CDC workers are military spouses, he said, so this provides employment opportunities as they transfer from one post to another.

In written testimony submitted to Congress for an April 19 hearing, Vereen noted that the Army’s child care strategy includes “increasing and sustaining child care infrastructure, recruiting and retaining additional quality child care providers, sustaining off-post care options, and exploring new initiatives and partnerships.”

However, ongoing staffing challenges related to recruitment and retention continue to limit child care availability at some locations, he noted, despite recent Army pay increases for child care employees which now start at $17.39 per hour plus bonuses and other incentives.

Vereen and Sgt. Major Michael J. Perry III, senior enlisted for the G-9 directorate said they talk with leaders, soldiers and families as they visit Army installations. During a visit earlier this month to Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, they learned that child development centers there are experiencing a 60% employee turnover rate, according to an Army news release about their visit. It creates a long wait list, and in some cases, soldiers aren’t able to report for duty because of the lack of child care.

About 75% of the children currently in the JBLM child care centers are the kids of single service members or dual military couples, who have priority. But that leaves few spots available for couples that include the service member and a working civilian spouse.

The pilot program continues at eight commissaries in the continental U.S., at least through June, but the delivery fee has more than quadrupled. The new delivery fees, implemented March 1, now depend on the distance of the customer from the commissary and range from $15.99 for a delivery within one to five miles up to $29.99 for a 16- to 20-mile trip.

Previously, it was about $4 per delivery, which was the only cost to customers beyond the actual cost of groceries and the 5% surcharge. Customers also have the option of tipping the delivery driver when they check out online.

The commissary website notes that the pricing is determined by the delivery service provider, not by the Defense Commissary Agency.

With a $4 delivery fee — which was the only money the contractors received — the program wasn’t sustainable, said numerous sources.

The federal minimum wage for federal contract workers is $16.20 per hour. Add on the current mileage rate of 65.5 cents per mile, plus fringe benefits and other costs, and “it’s very difficult to make it work,” said Todd Waldemar, founder and CEO of ChowCall, the contractor providing the delivery service at all eight commissaries in the pilot program, in explaining the delivery fee increase.

Losses of $40 to $70 per delivery were cited in the questions asked by potential bidders in the contract solicitation for the expansion of the deliveries at all stateside commissaries.

“Expansion will be delayed until further notice as DeCA performs additional market research” to find an approach that’s sustainable and cost-effective for commissary customers, said commissary agency spokesman Kevin Robinson.

That means they’re trying to find a way to make the program viable for contractors, while keeping the cost for commissary customers as low as possible.

“DeCA has been working hard to make this work,” said Waldemar. “My interpretation is that they’re trying to find that sweet spot of how to make it viable for a contractor while staying true to their mission of improving quality of life for service members, families and other authorized commissary customers.

“It’s close to being viable,” he said.

Caitlin Hamon, deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, said the program is still needed.

“This is a service that families want, that they requested during the pandemic,” she said. “We think it’s important those families who need the delivery have it still as an option and still have access to the low-cost grocery benefit of the commissary.

“We were told by families, and earlier by DeCA, that the delivery services were becoming more popular,” she said. “We would encourage them to explore other avenues of funding for the delivery. Obviously the federal government has restrictions, but there’s something to be said for looking at the civilian counterpart grocery setup.”

Here's how DoD is helping commissary shoppers save more money

Waldemar noted that pricing in the delivery service industry is challenging, not just for the commissary agency but across the entire industry. The increases in delivery fees have affected the number of people using the service, he said, without providing specifics.

“But it’s still a great program, and it’s still going well,” he said.

“We, as a contractor, want to be profitable, but we also want to minimize the fees,” Waldemar said. “Volume is important. The more volume, the better for us.”

The doorstep delivery program is an expansion of the Commissary Click2Go program, where customers at stores worldwide can order online and pick up their groceries curbside at their commissary.

But this test has taken the groceries a step farther — to the customer’s front door. Commissary employees pick the items from the shelves to fill the customer’s online order, then bring them to the delivery driver curbside.

The eight pilot locations have seen an influx of 17,503 new Click2Go customers since the delivery program started, said Robinson, the commissary spokesman. The store with the largest sales volume is Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with 5,013 orders totaling $643,169 from May 18, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

In addition to Fort Belvoir, the doorstep delivery pilot program is available at seven other locations: Scott Air Force Base, Illinois; Fort Bragg South, North Carolina; MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Naval Station San Diego in California.

Rivet, another delivery services company that was part of the pilot program until February, was also successfully providing services, with military spouse employees.

“We were asked by the commissary to continue service without government funding and we shared, based on industry norms and pilot data, it is impossible to have a nationwide program without funding it, especially when federal regulation restricts revenue and adds costs,” said Harold Earls, co-founder of Rivet.

“Rivet was forced to pause services, letting go 41 military spouses” in late February, he said. But he’s optimistic that DeCA is working on a viable solution “and has a strong commitment to creating jobs for military spouses that transfer with them when they PCS,” he said.

Waldemar said 60% of ChowCall’s employees are military affiliated, including spouses and veterans.

When Rivet left the pilot program, ChowCall took over delivery services at all eight commissaries.

Limited options for the commissary agency

There are constraints DeCA has that other grocers who provide commercial delivery services don’t have. The agency, which relies on taxpayer dollars to pay for operations, to the tune of about $1.4 billion a year, is a benefit, not a business. Others in the delivery service industry have ways to earn revenue besides the customer fees they charge, according to questions and answers in the now-canceled solicitation. That includes marking up prices to pay for deliveries.

“The commissary cannot mark up pricing for groceries to cover or subsidize the cost of delivery,” commissary officials stated in the solicitation Q&A. “DeCA has statutory pricing and savings requirements that commercial grocery outlets do not have.”

DeCA officials have consistently said that all costs will be covered by customers using the delivery service. The agency won’t subsidize the program.

One questioner estimated a net loss of nearly $40 on each delivery, using the commissary at Fort Lewis, Washington, as an example. The estimate was based on a delivery fee of $11.99, which is the top of the range of the industry average.

Delivery from that commissary often takes drivers 45 minutes; plus there’s a 21-minute average wait time at the commissary for commissary employees to bring out the groceries. The local required wage rate noted for drivers is $20.90 per hour, along with the 65.5 cents per mile reimbursement.

Waldemar said the doorstep delivery is important to expand access to the commissary benefit. It’s especially important, he said, for spouses who may need to get their groceries delivered, for various reasons, when the service member is deployed.

ChowCall also partners with other businesses, expanding options for deliveries.

“Ultimately we want the military community to have better options than everybody else,” he said. “We want to tangibly make people’s lives better.”

It didn’t last long.

“That night, things took a turn,” she said. Around 8 p.m., after an upstairs toilet had failed to flush, she noticed a liquid leaking from multiple spots in the kitchen ceiling.

It was brown, it was disgusting, and it was flowing uncontrollably, including into the bathtub.

“Water with poop was falling into our kitchen, with our groceries we’d just bought and onto our dog bed,” she said. She immediately notified the privatized housing company on base, Balfour Beatty Communities. Before midnight arrived, they were told they were being displaced, “that we should move to a hotel in an unfamiliar area, with two kids, two dogs and everything we had brought with us,” she said.

So, after moving from Washington state across the country in the middle of the school year and living in a hotel, she had to tell her children they had to move to a hotel again.

“We can’t use any of the bathrooms,” she said. “We can’t live with poop falling from the ceiling.”

Viera and two other Army wives spoke about their experiences during a military housing oversight session on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., conducted by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia. Since taking office in 2021 and meeting with troops and families, Ossoff and his staff have been investigating housing problems at Fort Gordon and across the nation.

Issues like those faced by the Vieras continue despite the massive reforms enacted by Congress more than three years ago, which required the Defense Department and military services to address a raft of tenant concerns and improve their oversight of privatized housing. The Army wives, all current or former residents of Fort Gordon, described their problems with mold, water intrusion, sewage backups and leakage within the past year. And their problems also occurred after the senator’s April 2022 investigation at Fort Gordon that spurred the Army to take action.

Ossoff said some progress has been made to resolve problems with mold evaluations, mold remediation and documentation of work orders uncovered in that initial eight-month investigation.

“We have seen some signs of apparent progress, as you noted, more technicians on staff, more full-time management focus,” Ossoff told Army leaders who participated in the session. “We still have a long way to go … the quality of the maintenance work, the timeliness of the responses to requests for work orders.

“We’ve heard from families about the emotional toll this takes on parents, the health impact on kids and on childhood development, and the impact it has on the morale and readiness of U.S. Army soldiers who defend the nation.”

Military families still suffer from lack of response to mold, leaks, report finds

Ossoff criticized Balfour Beatty officials for declining his invitation to participate, although they have met with his staff and provided documents in response to requests, he said.

“But given that this same company pled guilty to [Justice Department] charges for defrauding the U.S. military and [company officials] say they take seriously the need to improve their operations, their unwillingness to answer questions in a public setting calls into question their commitment to transparency and … improvement.”

In a statement provided to Military Times, Balfour Beatty officials said they declined the invitation “because we have multiple two-way communication channels in place to maintain transparency into maintenance requests, keep residents informed, and allow them to share their feedback and raise concerns. …” They also continue to meet routinely with the local military housing office and command “to ensure any resident housing concerns are being appropriately addressed by our team.”

It’s not clear why the sewage problems weren’t detected by Balfour Beatty or Army inspectors.

“Balfour Beatty Communities has always inspected every home before a new resident moves in,” according to their statement.

Viera said that when Balfour Beatty provided a second home on post, they found dead bugs on the floor, dust and dirt, and mold in the vents.

The wives’ descriptions were reminiscent of the 2019 testimony of spouses from around the country who told Congress about their frustrations with mold, sewage backups, water intrusion and vermin infestation, and dealing with privatized housing managers and maintenance staff who dismissed their concerns.

While this session was about conditions at Fort Gordon, the problems aren’t isolated to that post, said Breanna Barnhart, director of operations at the Safe Military Housing Initiative, a group that advocates for military families who have problems with their housing. “This is national in scope,” she said.

Gaps in military housing improvements lead to frustration, confusion

Living on the porch and in the car

And like many other families who have testified before, these spouses described hiring their own independent inspectors to evaluate their homes. Two of the homes were determined to be unfit for human occupancy.

Erin Greer said that rather than being concerned for her family’s health and safety, local company employees were “upset that we allowed an independent inspector to come in and drill holes in the walls.” In September, 2022, that independent inspector told them the home was unfit for occupancy, but Balfour Beatty didn’t agree to move them.

So they stayed out of the house as much as they could, limiting themselves to the front porch and sometimes sleeping in the car. “We didn’t have the financial ability to pay for a hotel,” she said.

The company later arranged for them to move while repairs were made. When the Greers returned, there were still problems, including mold on the carpet, she said.

On April 6, the Greers put in a work order for sewage that was flowing into the downstairs bathroom, and into the hallway and an area in the dining room. The repairs weren’t completed. “To this day, the bathroom floor is still covered in liquid sewage,” Greer said.

In their follow up investigation into housing conditions at the base, Ossoff’s staff also found there have been numerous incidents where Balfour Beatty failed to properly respond to or handle environmental hazards like mold growth. Ossoff said he held a town hall with enlisted personnel at Fort Gordon last week and heard about frustration with the quality of maintenance work, and the lack of professionalism of those who do the work, and the need for better communication with residents.

Many of the families want and need to live on base at Fort Gordon, which is a training base, and generally a short-term assignment. “They can’t afford to live off post. We were fortunate to find something we could afford short-term,” Viera said. “This is not an isolated incident,” she said.

“Our families are at the mercy of companies like Balfour Beatty,” Viera said. “It’s undoubtedly affecting soldiers’ morale. How can they focus on the mission when they’re unsure if their families have a safe living environment?”

‘Committed to fixing this situation’

Rachel Jacobson, the Army’s assistant secretary for installations, energy and the environment, listened to the wives discuss their housing problems.

“I’m very, very sorry for the hardship these families have endured,” she said. “What you have described today and what you’ve experienced is unacceptable. And we at Army are committed to fixing this situation.”

Following Ossoff’s initial investigation, Army officials launched their own investigation. They suspended incentive fees for Balfour Beatty at Fort Gordon and agreed to conduct home-by-home inspections of all living quarters, which began at the Georgia post the week of April 10. Ossoff observed the beginning of those inspections.

The Army has also revised language in ground lease documents, the foundation for oversight of the privatized housing program, specifically outlining the consequences for not complying with the requirements, which could lead to default, Jacobson said. She used this enforcement tool in July 2022 to inform Balfour Beatty it was in jeopardy of default at Fort Gordon.

Following the two investigations, “we demanded the development and implementation of a comprehensive quality assurance and quality control plan,” she said. Balfour Beatty complied with requirements and briefed Army officials on their quality assurance plan in December, she said.

Lt. Gen. Kevin Vereen, Army deputy chief of staff for the G-9 directorate, said Balfour Beatty has made significant housing leadership changes at Fort Gordon. A full-time manager with the needed expertise is now there on the ground, and that “has been a game changer,” he said, helping ensure not only the quality of the work but also the customer service.

Ossoff said he’s encouraged by the initiative to build 76 new homes at Fort Gordon because the underlying problem is the age of the homes. Although it’s no excuse for poor repairs, he said, the base needs new houses. But he questioned how the Army is going to ensure the homes will be well-built, which has been a problem with some of the privatized housing at Fort Gordon and elsewhere.

Jacobson responded that the Army is hiring 23 engineering specialists to focus on housing across the service. They will oversee construction activities and make sure it adheres to Army standards. The consultants who are overseeing the ongoing inspection program will also be on site to oversee the construction, she said.

“It will be y’all’s responsibility to ensure this construction is well-executed. If it’s not, we’re going to be right back where we have been,” Ossoff said.

“Apparent signs of progress need to become real, specific, measurable progress that is felt by the families on post,” he said. “When I return to hold another town hall with enlisted personnel, and I’ll do it again later this year, I need to hear from them that [their] experience has changed,” he said.

Viera urged Ossoff to hold privatized housing companies accountable “for the negligence and failure to maintain the housing our families live in.”

The shortcomings have led to confusion, frustration and concern among military families.

The guidance from above has been especially problematic for two key initiatives required by law: the formal dispute resolution process and the roles and responsibilities of tenant advocates, according to an April 6 Government Accountability Office report.

While military officials have taken concrete steps to implement laws designed to address mold, water incursion, vermin and other substandard living conditions, they could do more, GAO auditors stated. By addressing those weaknesses, DoD could help personnel more effectively perform their duties and reduce residents’ frustration, they said.

“The bottom line is that there’s this feeling among residents that no one is watching out for them. That’s the crux of the entire problem,” said Kate Needham-Cano, executive director of Armed Forces Housing Advocates, a nonprofit organization that advocates for families living in military housing and helps them resolve issues. The GAO findings didn’t surprise her, she said.

The rush to implement protections for tenants is partly responsible for the problems, auditors stated. Military officials attempted to put the tenant bill of rights into place quickly, before policies were finalized and before reaching full agreement with the private housing companies to implement these rights.

Fourteen private housing companies are responsible for 78 privatized housing projects, encompassing 192 installations. These private companies own and operate 99% of military family housing at domestic military installations, with 34 Army projects, 31 Air Force projects; and 13 Navy and Marine Corps projects. DoD owns, operates and maintains family housing overseas.

The privatization of military housing began in the mid-1990s to address the inadequate, dilapidated family housing, which had suffered from lack of funding and maintenance backlogs for years. The military services entered into agreements with private companies to replace, renovate, build new homes, and maintain the homes. But nearly 20 years into the privatization effort, military families in some housing areas had reached a boiling point over ongoing problems that were compounded by their inability to get their problems fixed by their landlord or to get help from military installation officials.

So, laws were put into place to fix the persistent problems with the condition of the homes, to improve oversight by the military, and to institute a tenant bill of rights.

For their report on how that effort of going, GAO auditors analyzed DoD policies and guidance, interviewed military housing officials and private company representatives at five installations, and met with some residents.

More oversight needed

Auditors found the housing program needs to provide better oversight of the condition of the housing units. The law requires inspections of privatized homes before new occupants arrive, and the services are conducting them. But DoD doesn’t have clear or consistent inspection standards, and the services haven’t provided enough training for inspectors. This contributes to inconsistencies in how the inspectors rate homes. Military housing officials and private housing company officials told GAO that enhanced training requirements would improve the overall condition of homes over time.

Defense officials should establish DoD-wide turnover inspection guidance that includes clear and consistent inspection standards, auditors stated. In her response, Patricia Coury, deputy assistant secretary of defense for housing, agreed with that recommendation.

In a related event, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, accompanied inspectors Wednesday to observe their work in privatized housing at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

Following an eight-month investigation by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs permanent subcommittee on investigations, Ossoff last year received a commitment from the Army to inspect all privatized housing at the post

He announced Wednesday that a Senate hearing will be held April 18 to hear from military families and Army officials about the progress made in the past year to improve conditions.

'Why should we believe your assurances?' Senators grill privatized housing company officials.'

Confusion about advocates

Needham-Cano said her organization have been challenging the effectiveness of tenant advocacy programs.

“We’ve been told we’re incorrect when we say residents are confused. Now, GAO is backing up everything we’ve been talking about — that it is a systemic problem within the housing community,” she said.

While the military services have designated personnel as tenant advocates, they haven’t clearly defined their roles and responsibilities or communicated useful information to tenants about how the advocates can help them, the GAO auditors found.

There are also different philosophies among the services. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps use existing military housing office staff to meet the requirement for tenant advocates, and didn’t establish new positions. The Air Force created a new resident advocate position separate from existing military housing office personnel. But even then, there is confusion about their roles and responsibilities, auditors stated.

Needham-Cano gave an example of the impact of this uncertainty.

“I’ve witnessed a family while on speaker phone be treated very poorly by the director of maintenance, and the resident advocate did not step in to stop that conversation and stick up for that resident,” she said.

It’s not that they are bad actors, she said, but they are not necessarily embracing the full scope of their responsibilities. She also knows of advocates who are fulfilling those roles well.

Her organization recommends a third-party, independent entity providing oversight, “so that the residents feel safe and that they can trust the person or group that’s helping them, and so DoD and the housing company have complete separation as well,” she said.

Needham-Cano noted that she is seeing more informal advocacy groups popping up in military housing neighborhoods to help neighbors deal with problems that they themselves have dealt with previously.

“There are other nonprofits being founded to help residents do the same exact thing that we’re doing,” she said. “If all of us were making this up, none of us would exist.”

In fact, GAO auditors found that at some installations residents are serving as self-appointed advocates, voluntarily helping residents with issues. But DoD and Army officials told auditors that other families are seeking these volunteers’ assistance, “not realizing that these self-appointed advocates may not have a full understanding of housing policies and practices, or access to the appropriate military housing official or private housing company personnel.”

One Air Force resident told auditors “she was confused about which advocate to speak to about a maintenance issue in her home because there are two or three individuals in her neighborhood who identify themselves as tenant advocates,” according to the report.

Some residents in Army and Navy privatized housing said neighborhood representatives had contacted them asking whether they had any issues with their homes. The residents were confused about whether these people were official tenant advocates who could actually help them with maintenance issues.

GAO recommended that defense officials develop a way to collect feedback from residents on the formal dispute resolution process and the tenant advocate position, and to incorporate that resident feedback in housing program initiatives. In the DoD response, Patricia Coury said she will work with the military departments to develop that mechanism.

Dispute resolution issues

In addition to the advocacy issues, Needham-Cano said her organization has for months been raising concerns about the dispute resolution process between military tenants and landlords.

Auditors reported that military housing officials haven’t received adequate guidance or training to help residents with this process, and the guidance given to residents lacks essential details, such as how and when they can file a formal dispute.

The auditors’ 19 recommendations for DoD and the services include improving and clarifying guidance for residents on how and when they can enter into the formal dispute resolution process; developing supplemental training for conducting these processes; and updating policies and tenant brochures to clearly define the role of the resident advocates.

While DoD agreed with 15 of the recommendations, there was only partial agreement on Air Force-needed actions. DoD responded, for example, that the Air Force has “robust existing training and formal guidance on the roles and responsibilities of the tenant advocates.” But the GAO auditors noted they found some disagreement among Air Force tenants, resident advocates and housing officials about just what the advocates’ roles and responsibilities are.

As of December, 18 of the tenant bill of rights provisions had been implemented at all but three installations that have privatized housing. Those three, all Air Force installations, are: Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. The housing companies haven’t fully agreed to residents’ rights to the seven-year maintenance history of their housing unit or the formal dispute resolution process, to include rent segregation during that process.

The law required the secretary of defense to submit a report to Congress by June 20, 2020, that evaluated the shortage of civilian personnel performing oversight functions at DoD’s military housing offices. That hadn’t been submitted as of January 2023. The services are now in the process of analyzing their manpower requirements in privatized housing, according to the DoD response.

It’s part of a broader Defense Department effort, mandated by Congress, to identify the risk of domestic violence at various stages of military service. The overall analysis will identify stages when there is a higher-than-average risk of domestic violence, and stages where implementation of domestic violence prevention efforts could have the greatest impact.

Depending on the response rate, the survey could provide more information about the prevalence of domestic violence in the military.

A scientifically -chosen, random sample of service members and spouses are receiving emails inviting them to participate in the survey, which launched April 10. An access code is included in the email.

The survey is expected to close in May.

The nonprofit Rand Corp.’s National Defense Research Institute is conducting the 2023 Survey on the Strengths and Challenges of Military Relationships. It’s voluntary, and confidential; DoD will never receive information about who responded, and the study team won’t link individual responses with names or identities, according to Rand’s frequently asked questions about the survey.

Researchers note that for most people, there are no risks to participating in the survey. However, they state, “for some people, topics in the survey may cause discomfort or distress. The survey describes serious forms of abuse, and some people might find these descriptions upsetting.”

“These descriptions are included to make sure the survey can accurately measure when these serious forms of abuse have occurred, and to show people who have experienced abuse that these events are included and taken seriously,” they stated.

The survey, which takes about 25 minutes to complete, delves into risk factors associated with domestic abuse and its impact on military housing, children’s education, and the short-term and long-term effects on physical health and mental health of military members and families.

“The survey results will have a direct impact on training and policies that affect service members, spouses, intimate partners and families,” said Patricia Montes Barron, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy, in an announcement of the survey.

“I know time is often in short supply, but I ask everyone who receives the survey to share their perspective and help us improve our support for families and the military community.”

The Defense Department doesn’t currently collect information on a number of family-related topics, according to the Rand FAQ. The survey will provide DoD leadership with the information to develop policies to ensure that service members and spouses get the support, security and resources they need.

Officials are calling for broad participation, to help ensure that all experiences of service members and spouses are understood. “If only some types of people complete the survey, DoD will be in the dark about the views of different types of people in different types of locations,” according to Rand.

Those who receive an email invitation can take the survey from a personal phone or computer. You can also forward the survey invitation to your personal email, to complete it away from work. If there are computer or technical problems, contact the research group at StrengthSurvey@rand.org.

For example, since there weren’t any economic stimulus checks in 2022, you don’t have to worry about tax rules related to that. And service members don’t need to concern themselves with tax forms they received from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service related to Social Security withholding.

Some benefits, deductions and credits that were available in the past few years because of the pandemic have gone away or reverted back to pre-COVID levels, said Susan Mitchell, DoD tax counsel and executive director of the Armed Forces Tax Council. For example, the child tax credit is lower than it was in 2021, and both the child and dependent care credit and the earned income tax credit revert back to pre-COVID levels.

The basics

The deadline for filing, or to file an extension, and pay your taxes, is Tuesday, April 18. (The 15th falls on a Saturday and Monday the 17th is Emancipation Day in some jurisdictions.) There are also some longstanding tax filing extensions available for certain service members. If stationed outside the U.S. and Puerto Rico, troops can qualify for an automatic two-month extension until June 15, both for filing and paying taxes that are due. This extension is designed to help troops overseas who may have trouble getting all the documents they need.

Those overseas who can’t file by that extension can request an additional extension, until Oct. 16.

Remember that any taxes due must be paid by that April 18 deadline (or the June 15 deadline, if overseas) or you could be subject to both interest charges and a failure-to-pay penalty, Mitchell said.

Special rules apply for service members deployed to a combat zone. The deadline for filing and paying taxes is generally extended for their period of service in the combat zone plus 180 days after their last day in the combat zone.

Earned Income Tax Credit

The EITC applies to eligible low- and moderate-income workers, subject to certain qualifying rules. The credit could reduce the amount of taxes owed and perhaps increase your refund. There are special EITC rules and considerations for military members who receive nontaxable pay such as a housing allowance or who are stationed outside the United States. For more information, visit the IRS page on the EITC for military members.

This credit is phased out at certain income levels and number of dependents. It is completely phased out for married couples filing jointly with an earned income of $59,187 or more with three or more children.

You may qualify for the EITC even if you can’t claim children on your tax return. The minimum age for a childless worker to qualify for the credit reverts back to 25, compared to age 19 in 2021. The maximum age of 65 has also been reinstated, after being eliminated for 2021.

Child and dependent credits

Child tax credit: This credit is lower than it was in 2021, when it received a one-year, temporary bump. Tax credits reduce the amount of taxes you owe, dollar for dollar, which is typically better than a deduction, which reduces the amount of your income that is subject to tax, Mitchell notes.

For tax year 2022, the child tax credit is $2,000 per child age 16 or younger. It’s also subject to phase out as income rises, starting at $400,000 for joint filers and $200,000 for single filers.

Child and dependent care credit: You may be able to claim the child and dependent care credit if you paid for the care of a qualifying individual to enable you — and your spouse, if filing a joint return — to work or actively look for work, according to the IRS. Generally, you may not take this credit if you are married and filing separately. However, see What’s Your Filing Status? in IRS Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, which describes exceptions to the rule.

The amount of the credit is a percentage of the amount of you paid to a provider while you worked or looked for work. That percentage depends on your adjusted gross income, but the maximum credit is 35% of your eligible expenses. There are limits, however.

For 2022, you may claim up to $3,000 in expenses if you had one qualifying dependent, or $6,000 if you had two or more. So, when the maximum 35% credit is applied, that puts the top credit at $1,050 for one child; and $2,100 (35% of $6,000) for more than one child. The more you earn, the lower the percentage of employment-related expenses that are allowed. Once your adjusted gross income is over $43,000, the maximum credit is 20% of your employment-related expenses, according to the IRS.

Other notable changes

♦ A number of military spouses are teachers, and the deduction has increased to $300 for out-of-pocket expenses for supplies, books, COVID-19 protective items or other materials. That’s up from $250 in 2021.

♦ The “kiddie tax” takes less of a bite, Mitchell notes. This tax on income-generating assets in a custodial account was enacted to discourage wealthier individuals from transferring assets to their children to take advantage of lower tax rates.

The first $1,150 of a child’s unearned income is tax free for those 18 or younger, or if the child is a full-time student under age 24, up from $1,100 in 2021. The next $1,150 is taxed at the child’s rate. Any excess over $2,300 is taxed at the parent’s rate.

♦ Taxpayers can deduct the cost of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving expense purposes. Taxpayers may use the optional standard mileage rates, but there are two rates for 2022. For the last six months of 2022, the standard rate for business travel was 62.5 cents per mile, up 4 cents from the rate effective for the first six months of the year. The rate for deductible medical or moving expenses was 22 cents for the last six months of the year, also up 4 cents from the first half. Unlike most others, military members can take deductions on out-of-pocket moving expenses.

♦ Employers were allowed to provide more tax-free benefits for parking and transportation, up to $280 per month in 2022.

♦ Itemized deductions haven’t changed much. The deduction for state and local income taxes, property taxes, real estate taxes is still capped at $10,000. The home mortgage interest deduction is still limited to $750,000 of mortgage debt.

What’s that form 1099K?

Mitchell highlights a change affecting military spouses and service members who operate a business selling goods or services, which is resulting in questions from the field. Starting with tax year 2022, third-party payment networks, such as PayPal and Venmo, are required to send you a form 1099K if you have been paid more than $600 during the year for goods and services, regardless of the number of transactions. Previously, that 1099K was only sent to those receiving more than $20,000 in gross payments, with more than 200 transactions.

“Any time you receive income, you are reporting that as income. But the 1099K shows you the third party also reported it to the Internal Revenue Service,” Mitchell said. “The 1099K generally is going to show the amount you owe income tax on, that they count as gross income.”

This only applies to goods and services, and doesn’t apply to payments from family and friends, Mitchell said.

State treatment of military retirement income

Some states don’t have an income tax. Other states have decreased or eliminated state taxes on military retirement income.

For example, in 2022, Virginia enacted a law that gradually phases out taxes on military retirement for retirees age 55 and older, up to a cap of $40,000. It starts with tax year 2022, when the first $10,000 of their retirement pay is tax free. By 2024, up to $40,000 of military retirement pay is tax free. Be sure to check out your state’s laws.

Tax issues from toxic-water relief in Hawaii

Civilians, including military retirees, in Hawaii who were affected by the toxic, fuel-tainted water in Hawaii in late 2021 and early 2022 were sent 1099 forms from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, reporting as income the reimbursements they received from the military.

The Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday that these civilians won’t have to pay taxes on the reimbursements they received from the Defense Department.

Hawaii civilians don’t owe taxes on Red Hill reimbursements, IRS says

This tax issue didn’t affect currently serving military members and their families, who also received reimbursements.

During the crisis, some people chose to leave their homes while officials worked to flush out the fuel. Others remained in their homes but were instructed not to use or drink the water. They were reimbursed for hotels, meals and, in some cases, personal property damage.

Those haven’t already filed their tax returns should not include those payments in their gross income on their tax returns, IRS officials said in the announcement. Taxpayers who have already filed their 2022 tax returns and included the payments in their gross income should file amended returns using Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

The IRS provided additional instructions for these taxpayers:

• If taxpayers already filed their 2022 tax return electronically and included the reimbursements in their gross income, they should electronically file IRS Form 1040X. Officials said most electronic tax software and tax professionals offer an electronic amended return filing option. The “Explanation of Changes” should begin with “Red Hill Relief” in the electronic form.
• *If the form is filed on paper, mark the top of Form 1040-X with “Red Hill Relief” and begin Part III, “Explanation of Changes,” with “Red Hill Relief.” The paper amended return should be mailed to: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service / Austin, TX 73301-0052.

Tax help

Because so many twists and turns may apply to military members and their families, including state tax laws, it’s helpful to get free tax preparation assistance. While the tax preparation services through military legal assistance offices on base aren’t as plentiful as they once were, there are still many installations running these services through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, Mitchell said. You can find information about locations at Military OneSource.

Another helpful resource is the MilTax free software that’s provided on the Military OneSource website for currently serving members, to include active duty, Guard and reserve members. Eligibility extends for to 365 days after a service member leaves the military.

A big benefit of the MilTax program are the military tax consultants, who can answer questions by phone or chat, 24/7.

Tips

♦ Using the MilTax software can help avoid math errors, Mitchell said, because the software does those complex calculations and catches any math errors. She suggests printing out a copy of the return to review before submitting it to the IRS. “People can always amend the return later, but it’s certainly simpler getting it right the first time,” she said.

♦ Use the same name on your tax return that’s on your Social Security card. Check and double check your Social Security number.

♦ The fastest and most reliable way to file taxes is to file electronically and choose direct deposit. Make sure your bank account numbers are correct for the direct deposit.

♦ Getting a refund? Check the status of your refund at the IRS web page, “Where’s My Refund?”

♦ Didn’t receive a tax document? Mitchell advises first contacting the employer or issuing agency. If they can’t get a copy, contact the IRS for help, at 800-829-1040. You’ll provide your information, and your employer’s information. The IRS will contact the employer, but will also send you a substitute form to report the information that’s on the missing document. If the employer sends a document later with different information, the taxpayer may need to file an amended return.

But there have been improvements in the rules for making a permanent change of station move, relating to replacement costs for items lost or destroyed and the handling of lithium batteries, privately owned firearms without serial numbers, gun safes, electronic products and other items, according to officials with the U.S. Transportation Command, the agency responsible for the household goods process.

The shortage of truckers has persisted for years, long before the pandemic.

“Truckers, drivers are a key component of the household goods process. It’s been problematic, and I would say it won’t be any different this summer,” said Dan Bradley, director of government and military relations for the International Association of Movers.

“Moving companies have continued to pay more for labor, pay more for drivers, but it’s an availability issue,” he added. “You’re competing with a lot of people who do a lot of different logistics and transportation jobs. If you find good labor and find good drivers, they’re golden. Those people are gold.”

Service members and families are being moved this moving season under the household goods process that’s been in place for years, not the new Global Household Goods contract.

Officials are focusing on upcoming moves under the current system while starting the transition to implement the new program. No service members will be moved under the reformed process until September, when a phased implementation will begin, said Andy Dawson, director of the Defense Personal Property Management Office.

Industry and TRANSCOM officials have been working to iron out issues to ensure household goods moves are as smooth as possible during this peak season, June and July. Understanding the challenges ahead, they are asking moving companies to only accept the shipments they can service. In recent years, when companies were overloaded, some service members were left stranded when no one showed up to pack and load their household goods. A host of other problems have cropped up as well, notably damaged and lost items.

Meanwhile, changes in regulations and evaluations affecting moving companies have left them uncertain about how much business they will get this year and how the new contract will affect them in 2024. As a result, they may be taking a conservative approach to hiring and prepping equipment, worried that making investments now may be too much of a gamble. Some long-time movers are deciding to shut their doors, Bradley said.

Roadblocks cleared for $6.2 billion reform of household goods moves

“When you execute over 300,000 shipments a year, it’s hard to talk in generalities about the impact of some of the changes,” Dawson said. “Every individual move has its own set of circumstances surrounding it.”

There were 302,731 shipments in 2022, and officials expect about the same number this year, Dawson said. Shipments don’t equate to the number of moves; some service members have multiple shipments.

Some changes implemented last year contributed to a better experience for service members, “not perfect, but better,” he said. For example, the military branches have worked to somewhat ease the number of people moving in the peak season crunch time. TRANSCOM officials also worked with service officials to set a DoD-wide goal of limiting the maximum number of moves to 9,000 per week.

Some rule changes this moving season

♦ Lithium batteries: Movers must properly pack and label lithium-ion batteries of 100 watt-hours or less (lithium metal batteries 2 grams or less) in personal property. Previously there were no clear rules about handling these batteries, and it was handled on a case-by-case basis. More frequently, movers are seeing lithium battery power rather than electric in common items such as vacuum cleaners and lawn equipment, Dawson said.

“That’s one of those things that puts service members in a last-minute predicament,” he said. “We’re trying to clarify what industry can ship in compliance with federal law, so service members aren’t forced to make a decision based on things they’ve procured with their hard-earned money” when a mover isn’t able to take the item.

♦ Privately owned firearms without serial numbers: New rules primarily affect firearms considered to be antique. Any firearm manufactured after 1968 and without a serial number won’t be packed. Those that are made before 1968, but without a serial number, can be packed. For those firearms, a Customs and Border Protection Form 4455 Certificate of Registration is required — or a bill of sale, a receipt or other document adequately describing the firearm, such as special markings — on the household goods inventory. Previously, there was no distinction for shipping firearms without serial numbers, which caused concern about tracking lost or stolen weapons.

♦ Gun safes: Companies must now either weigh empty gun safes separately, or the use the manufacturer’s weight to meet the Joint Travel Regulation requirement to allow 500 pounds of additional weight in personal property shipments.

♦ Replacement costs: For lost or damaged items, the replacement liability for the company must be based on the local replacement cost or cover any shipping or delivery costs — without passing on membership fees, which may be required to purchase the item, to the service member. In situations where a repair estimate can’t be obtained, the moving company is responsible for full replacement value.

♦ Damage to electronic items: Items that no longer work when they arrive at the destination will be assumed to be related to the transit, unless the problem was documented before leaving the customer’s residence.

♦ In-transit visibility: Moving companies must provide shipment updates in the Defense Personal Property System, such as when it enters or leaves storage, arrives or departs from a port of embarkation, or there is a delivery date change. This will allow DoD and service members to track and confirm information about their shipment.

Coming soon — a new moving system

The new Global Household Goods program is expected to be fully in place for domestic shipments by peak season 2024. A phased approach will start later for international moves, to be fully in place by the 2025 moving season.

The new contract, worth a potential $17.9 billion if DoD exercises all contract options over the next nine years, aims to fix military families’ long-standing problems with damaged household goods, missed pickup and delivery times, and other frustrations with movers.

The contract will essentially outsource the management of the process that moves service members’ household belongs, providing complete door-to-door household goods relocation transportation and warehouse services. TRANSCOM will continue to oversee the program. But it’s the first time the Defense Department has consolidated management of the movement of service members’ belongings under one contract.

Dawson said he has spent a lot of time talking with industry representatives and others, including military spouses, in his first months on the job, “to make sure I’m oriented right in making the best recommendations to leadership at TRANSCOM and across the department, so we can get this right for everyone.”

He also speaks from personal experience. Dawson, a retired Army officer, made nine military moves in his 25-year career.

“I remember every single move,” he said. “I come into the job with a sense of empathy for what our service members are going through as they relocate around the world.”

Defense officials plan to change eligibility rules for the Basic Needs Allowance in July, increasing the income eligibility cap to 150% of federal poverty guidelines, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a March 28 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

That’s six months before DoD is required by law to make the change. The higher income cap “will allow us to help more families,” Austin said.

In a related move, two members of the House have introduced legislation to make the Basic Needs Allowance tax exempt.

Mandated in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the allowance serves as a safety net for military families to help combat food insecurity. It went into effect in January, and currently goes to troops whose total family income is less than 130% of federal poverty guidelines, which, in addition to total family income, are based on household size and location.

In the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, lawmakers included a provision raising the income eligibility cap for the allowance to 150% of federal poverty guidelines, which would allow more families to qualify. DoD is required to implement the new provision by 2024, but the law allows them to do it earlier.

Initial screening by the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy found 85 service members who may be eligible. The Army issued its guidance on Feb. 27 and has begun screening its soldiers.

Based on Defense Department estimates, the higher income cap would increase the number of active duty families who might be eligible for the allowance to about 2,400.

Allowance for the most at-risk military families begins to take shape

One sticking point is that the Basic Allowance for Housing is counted as income by DoD when calculating eligibility. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, asked Austin whether he would consider removing BAH from the calculation for the Basic Needs Allowance.

“We will do whatever’s feasible or what we’re allowed to do by law,” Austin replied.

Military family advocates have argued that BAH should be excluded when calculating total family income for the nees allowance, but Congress left it up to DoD to determine whether to include it. Defense officials have since agreed to exclude the housing allowance for some service members — but only in high cost-of-living areas as determined by defense officials.

“DoD’s own surveys show that 24% of our service members experience food insecurity,” Gillibrand said. “Last year, I met with military families on Staten Island who spoke about the challenges they face in basically putting food on the table to feed their kids.

“However, very few service members are considered eligible for Basic Needs Allowance … since [the housing allowance] is included in family income calculations.”

Without a change, the needs allowance “will remain out of reach for families who need it the most,” said Eileen Huck, government relations senior deputy director for the National Military Family Association.

Lawmakers call for tax exemption

Meanwhile, two congressmen have proposed legislation that would make the Basic Needs Allowance tax exempt.

“Taxing support meant to help the most vulnerable undermines the purpose,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, who introduced the proposal March 22 with Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Michigan. “BNA should be treated like other military benefits outside of earned income, which is exactly what this bill prescribes.”

Military members “deserve to receive the full value of their military benefits,” said Kildee. “The Basic Needs Allowance, which helps support thousands of service members and their families, is not income and should not be subject to income taxes.”

Family advocates support the efforts to make the BNA tax free.

“Congress’ intent in authorizing BNA was to put more money in low-income military families’ pockets, not to increase their tax burden,” said Huck.

The new benefit is one of six measures announced Wednesday by defense officials to address some needs in parental leave, child care, education and career advancement for military spouses.

The memorandum, signed by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, also expands eligibility for the popular My Career Advancement Account (MyCAA) financial assistance program, to include spouses of service members in paygrades E-6 and O-3. Until now, the program, which provides up to $4,000 for obtaining a professional license, certificate or associate degree, was available to spouses of troops in paygrades E-1 to E-5, W-1 and W-2, and O-1 and O-2.

Austin is also requiring improvements to the Exceptional Family Member Program within 90 days.

Flexible spending accounts

The dependent care flexible spending accounts will allow service members to set aside up to $5,000 in pretax income, through payroll deductions, for eligible dependent care expenses. Defense working groups are in the process of developing procedures to implement those accounts, said Susan Mitchell, tax counsel for the Department of Defense and executive director of the Armed Forces Tax Council.

Officials hope to implement these accounts for service members by this year’s open season, which will start in mid-November. If it’s not ready by then, there will be a special enrollment period so service members can sign up to contribute in the 2024 tax year, Mitchell said.

The most recent DoD survey of active duty spouses found that 38% of all them who have children at home routinely use child care.

Federal government employees, including DoD civilians, already have access to dependent care flexible spending accounts as do a number of private-sector employees. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 43% of civilian workers had access to these accounts in 2021.

A number of military family advocates have been asking for this benefit to help reduce the net cost of child care for military families, many of whom have long faced difficulties finding affordable, quality child care. The pandemic exacerbated the problem and has had lasting effects on availability.

“We are doing back flips here,” said Kelly Hruska, government relations director for the National Military Family Association. “This is a benefit every DoD civilian has access to.”

The association, she said, has been asking for this benefit for military families for well over a decade.

A dependent care flexible spending account can be used to pay not only for home and child center care, but also preschool, summer day camp, before and after school programs for children up to age 13, and for adult daycare, according to Internal Revenue Service regulations. The funds are deducted from the service member’s gross pay and deposited into the account before taxes are calculated. Child care bills are then paid with those funds. The end result is a lower tax bill.

Married service members with one child, who have eligible child care expenses, could receive a tax benefit by contributing $5,000 to a dependent care flexible spending account, according to a recent report from Rand, the federally funded think tank. For these members, the tax decrease ranges from $382.50 to $1,382.50, depending on their overall income, the report stated.

According to a 2021 DoD demographics report, 35% of active duty members have children. Of those, nearly 42% have at least one child age 5 or younger. Another 33% have at least one child in the 6 to 11 age group.

The decision about whether to take advantage of this benefit will be up to parents, Hruska noted, but military personal financial counselors should be available to help them work through those decisions.

Other initiatives

In addition to these new accounts and expanded eligibility for MyCAA, Austin’s memo announced:

♦ Improvements to the Exceptional Family Member Program. Within 90 days, the department expects to establish a standard process for enrolling and disenrolling families, a move to ensure that family members with special needs have access to the care, support and expertise they need. Support personnel will be required to make personal contact with each enrolled family at least once a year, and to better coordinate the available support. Service officials will be required to enhance oversight and evaluation, and submit quarterly data to measure performance and program effectiveness.

Military OneSource will assign a single specialty consultant to each family to provide better continuity of support, complementing the services provided at military installations.

♦ Universal prekindergarten at Department of Defense Education Activity schools. This proposal is dependent on funding from Congress, If lawmakers approve, it would be phased in over five years. DoD has requested more than $90 million in its fiscal 2024 budget for this purpose. Research shows that children who go to preschool are nearly 50% more likely to finish high school and go on to higher education, defense officials have noted.

♦ Professional license portability. Austin noted that President Joe Biden on Jan. 5 signed into law a requirement that professional licenses, except those to practice law, be portable for service members and spouses as they move between states. It marked the first time a federal law has addressed the problems military spouses face trying to obtaining meaningful employment and continue their careers.

“The Department is committed to robust communication with service members and their spouses to ensure there is broad awareness of the new law and will also continue to work with the states to promote the sharing of licensure best practices and the approval of occupational licensure compacts,” the memo stated.

♦ Promoting new parental leave benefits. DoD has issued new policies to provide 12 weeks of paid parental leave to service members after the birth or adoption of a child, or long-term foster-care placement. Now, Austin is directing DoD public affairs officials to immediately launch a “messaging campaign to publicize the important new benefit now available under the Military Parental Leave Program.”

The Army issued its guidance for implementing the allowance Feb. 27, and Training and Doctrine Command has begun screening soldiers at Advanced Individual Training, said Army spokeswoman Heather Hagan.

As for other soldiers, “Our intent is to send a list of soldiers that should be prioritized for screening to the major commands by the end of the month,” said Army spokeswoman Heather Hagan.

Information was not available on the number of soldiers who have been identified so far.

Mandated in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the allowance serves as a safety net for military families to help combat food insecurity. It goes to troops whose total family income is less than 130% of federal poverty guidelines, which in addition to income are based on household size and location.

Based on November guidance from the Defense Department, the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps issued their instructions about two months ago and completed their initial screening by the end of January.

But they identified just 85 service members who might be eligible. Those sailors, Marines, airmen and guardians represent less than 0.000167% of the roughly 507,800 active enlisted force in pay grades E-1 through E-5. The numbers are far fewer than advocates and lawmakers had hoped.

“I was disappointed to see that so few service members are eligible for the Basic Needs Allowance … we can and must do better,” Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., ranking member of the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee, told the services’ senior enlisted leaders during a hearing Thursday. But Kim said he understands more research is needed to identify the root causes of food insecurity.

“No soldier, airman, guardian, Marine or Coast Guardsman should join the military and then experience food insecurity,” said Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston.

Service members who are identified as possibly being eligible for the BNA are notified, but they must then apply for it and provide documentation to substantiate total household income, including that of a spouse. Once the application is received and certified, service officials have 30 days to determine eligibility and the amount of the allowance, and issue the first payment. Although the Basic Needs Allowance took effect Jan. 1, payments are not retroactive.

Not every service member who is screened as possibly being eligible will qualify, because DoD doesn’t have information on total family income. The services have also developed procedures for service members to apply for the allowance if they haven’t been screened as eligible, but believe they may be.

The allowance makes up the difference between the military family’s income and the amount that meet 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. Here’s an example, based on Military Times calculations:

♦ A family of five has a total gross household income of $42,500.

♦ The applicable federal poverty guideline for a family of that size and in that location, as determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, would be $35,140.

♦ $35,140 X 1.3 (130% of federal poverty guideline) = $45,682.

♦ $45,682 - $42,500 = $3,182.

♦ $3,182 divided by 12 months = $265 per month in Basic Needs Allowance.

In the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, lawmakers included a provision raising the income eligibility cap for the allowance to 150% of federal poverty guidelines, which would allow more families to qualify. DoD is required to implement the new provision by 2024, but could do so earlier.

Based on Defense Department estimates, the higher income cap would increase the number of active duty families who might be eligible for the allowance to about 2,400.

Military family advocates have argued that the Basic Allowance for Housing should be excluded when calculating total family income, but Congress left it up to DoD to determine whether to include BAH as income. Defense officials have since agreed to exclude the housing allowance for some service members — but only in high cost-of-living areas as determined by defense officials.

Bill Moore, who is winding up a 40-year career in government civilian service, has been at the helm of the worldwide chain of military grocery stores for two years and seven months. Just before arriving at DeCA, he served as the Army assistant deputy chief of staff, responsible for Army logistics plans, policy and programming.

“It’s been a true honor to finish my career leading DeCA in what this agency does every day to help military families better serve our nation,” Moore said in a statement announcing his retirement.

The commissary agency, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia, oversees 236 commissaries around the world. Moore outlined some of the strides it’s made during his tenure.

“I was given a mandate by the Department of Defense to bring DeCA into the 21st Century,” Moore said in the statement. “The example the department used was online shopping.”

When he arrived in August 2020, DeCA was running a program called Click2Go at five commissaries. It allows military customers to order groceries online and pick them up at the curb outside the commissary. Within 14 months, that program had expanded to all 236 commissaries worldwide.

Under his watch, the agency also began a pilot program at eight stores in which customers ordered online and the groceries were delivered directly to their doorsteps. By October, online sales at those stores had increased by 60%, according to commissary officials. Customers are typically spending $134 on those orders.

DeCA officials described the pilot as successful at that time, and said they were working to expand the program. However, they have not provided information to Military Times on the status of the pilot or any possible expansion plans. Moore alluded to that pilot program in his announcement.

“We’re working toward delivery,” he said.

During Moore’s tenure, the commissary turned the tide on a 10-year, 5%-per-year decline in sales, seeing a 3.2% increase in sales in fiscal 2022 and a 12% increase so far this year, according to the announcement.

Part of that increase is due to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s announcement in September that DoD would fully fund commissary operations in order to cut customer’s prices at the register, a move to mitigate the effects of inflation on military families.

DoD essentially added more than $255 million to the DeCA’s $1.2 billion operating budget. Part of that was accomplished by eliminating a DoD requirement — at least through fiscal 2023 — that the agency earn a profit of $135 million to help pay for operating costs.

The goal has been to increase customers’ savings by 3 to 5 percentage points and get overall average savings to 25%, compared to local civilian stores.

Customer service satisfaction numbers have increased, to 89%, Moore said. That’s up from 83.2% at the end of fiscal 2020. Moore credits the improvement to a change in commissary culture. There’s now more of a “patron focus, with a disciplined training approach,” he said.

As with other retailers, DeCA has struggled with supply chain issues since the pandemic, but navigating these issues has been the agency’s top priority, Moore said. “We are still struggling with getting the product to the loading dock, but we’re trending up,” he said.

Moore noted that commissaries can sometimes provide a kind of insurance during crises, such as continuing to operate during the pandemic and working with suppliers to get infant formula to the shelves during a worldwide shortage.

Information was not immediately available about whether the Defense Department has named an interim or new director to lead the agency, when Moore steps down at the end of the month.

A spokesman for the Academy didn’t provide a specific reason for closing the shop permanently, but stated the installation commander has the authority to do so. The shop will permanently close on March 31.

“After evaluating emerging mission and space requirements and upon review of a request by the Academy Spouses Club to pause operations at their thrift shop, the installation commander exercised his authority to cease thrift shop operations in order to best serve mission needs,” Air Force Academy spokesman Dean J. Miller emailed, explaining the decision by Air Base Wing commander, Col. Christopher J. Leonard.

The abrupt order has sparked hurt and distrust among some military families on base, who relied on the profitable shop to make a little money selling used goods, or picking up gently used items that help make ends meet. The shop donated roughly $20,000 a year in profits to fund scholarships for military family members, according to Patty Landon, wife of an Air Force retiree and the shop’s former assistant manager. Money also went to support charitable causes including a local school and the Air Force Academy’s fire department.

The thrift shop’s parent organization, the Academy Spouses Club, had asked the Academy to pause the shop’s operations, according to a statement from its Executive Board, while they did an overhaul of the policies governing the shop’s operations to comply with changes in Colorado law that apply to private businesses on military bases. Instead, they got the order to close, the executive board emailed Military Times. The board notified the thrift shop of the shutdown on Feb. 23, Air Force spouse Landon said.

The successful non-profit resale and consignment shop has been in operation for more than 50 years, similar to volunteer thrift shops that continue to thrive at other U.S. military bases. “We haven’t heard of this happening anywhere else,” said Kelly Hruska, government relations director of the National Military Family Association.

“The 10th Air Base Wing’s sudden decision to shutter the Academy Spouses Club Thrift Shop is robbing the U.S. Air Force Academy community of a long-standing asset, a place to volunteer, a place to consign items, a place to shop for reasonably priced items in a difficult economic time of high inflation, and a place to donate unwanted household goods,” Landon said. The shop has operated on base in a community center building with a library and other services. It will be hard to find an alternative shop site, as the Academy allowed them to operate with paying rent or utilities, Landon said.

The shop’s customers came from every part of the Academy community, Landon said. They were a mix of cadets, prep school cadet candidates, active duty members, family members, base employees, retirees, and visitors to the Academy.

“We were unique in that we could serve anyone who could get on base, even folks who were visiting the Academy as tourists, or those on a prospective cadet tour,” she said. “Also we were located very near the prep school, so those students were in the shop often.” There were arrangements to bring Academy students’ unwanted items to the shop before they graduated, rather than throwing them in the dumpster.

The imminent closure has sparked a “shocked” reaction in the local community, Landon said. The thrift shop’s Facebook page, which is operated by the spouse club, has been closed for comments about the issue. A petition has been set up on Change.org. As of March 8, there were 154 signatures.

“Most people I’ve talked to have been shocked and saddened” as they found out about the closing, Landon said, especially as base commander Leonard had spoken “very highly of our mission less than a year ago,” when he recognized one of the shop workers as “United States Air Force Academy Volunteer of the Year.”

Another Air Force retiree spouse who contacted Military Times said “people are upset because it was shut down with little notice and no real explanation. We’re hearing different reasons, but nothing makes sense.” She asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the spouse club.

Academy spokesman Miller conceded that there has been “a mixture of comments about the closure.”

The Academy Spouse Club Executive Board expressed “surprise” over the decision to close the shop but struck a conciliatory tone saying it “understands the installation commander’s decision,” and would expand fundraising activities and “try new adventures,” in the board’s response to Military Times’ questions.

The day they received the order to close, the thrift shop’s manager and its remaining three paid staff members resigned and left, along with three of the shop’s volunteers. The shop’s paid employees and its volunteers are retiree spouses, Landon said.

“None of us could imagine helping to close a long-standing community asset for no apparent reason, so our only option was to leave,” Landon said. “We weren’t going to be a part of destroying a community asset.”

The bills, if passed, would amend the Internal Revenue Code to grant employers a hefty tax credit for hiring spouses, roughly equal to 40% of first-year wages, up to a maximum of $6,000. Companies who hire veterans, who the IRS includes in 10 such special categories, are eligible for higher maximum credits.

The program is widely known as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. Military family advocates, including the National Military Spouse Network, have pushed for adding military spouses to this tax credit program since 2019.

“Incentivizing businesses to hire military spouses is an important component of addressing the continued high rates of unemployment within this community that sacrifices so much,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, president and CEO of the Military Officers Association of America.

The military spouse unemployment rate was measured at 21% in the last DoD Survey of Active Duty Spouses, conducted in 2021, and has held stubbornly steady at around that rate since 2015. The rate is two to four times higher than that of their civilian counterparts, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Defense Department, the services, lawmakers and private organizations have implemented a number of programs aimed at helping military spouses in their search for continued, meaningful employment as they move from installation to installation and face barriers to employment.

It remains to be seen whether this legislation will become law, as it makes its way through the legislative process. But the Senate legislation already has 21 senators in support. If it does become law, according to the current provision, it would apply to wages paid or incurred after the date it becomes law.

The Military Spouse Hiring Act legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, and Sen. John Boozman, R-Arkansas, joined by Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota. Another 17 senators co-sponsor the proposed legislation.

Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. Don Beyer, D-Virginia, Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pennsylvania, Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-California.

“Our service members and their families make countless sacrifices,” said Kaine, in the announcement. “In turn, we have a responsibility to take care of them — and that must include helping America’s talented military spouses access a wide range of work opportunities.”

“The military spouse unemployment rate has remained too high for too long,” said Besa Pinchotti, executive director and CEO of the National Military Family Association, in support of the bills. “When military spouses can’t find work, it’s a problem for their family’s financial stability and wellbeing.”

Beneficiaries must have pre-authorization from their primary care manager for the Omnipod 5, including the initial kit. The device is covered under the Tricare pharmacy benefit as of Feb. 15. The Omnipod 5 is available only through Tricare retail pharmacies, not through Tricare Pharmacy Home Delivery or military pharmacies at this time, officials said.

“It’s great news,” said Eileen Huck, senior deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. “It’s frustrating it took so long,” she said, adding that she’s heard from military families who are grateful that they have been able to use this benefit since Feb. 15.

The device’s controller continually adjusts and administers insulin as required through pods that are worn as a patch on the body. This newest version of the Omnipod communicates directly with the continuous glucose monitor.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the Omnipod 5 in January 2022. The Department of Defense Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee reviewed the Omnipod 5 at its November meeting and added it to the uniform formulary available at all Tricare retail pharmacies.

If a family is using a nonnetwork pharmacy, they’ll be charged full price for the device up front, and must file a claim with Tricare for reimbursement.

One Navy wife told Military Times her family saw a dramatic improvement in their ability to manage their 7-year-old daughter’s diabetes while using the Omnipod 5, which they had been paying for out of pocket.

The family paid $635 for the starter kit., They received pre-authorization for the pod refills in May 2022, but were later told by Tricare that the pod refills were no longer covered, despite the prior authorization.

Rather than revert to their previous system, which didn’t include the technology for the controller to communicate with the glucose monitor, they paid out of pocket, racking up about $2,500 in costs by the end of September. They were paying $280 for five refill pods in September, and the pods need to be changed every 48 hours.

According to the Tricare Formulary search tool, non-active duty beneficiaries pay $38 for 15 refill pods per 30 days.

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All service members will automatically get the increased coverage, including those who have previously reduced or declined their Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, known as SGLI. The boost in coverage applies to all those eligible for SGLI, including active duty, Guard and reserve members.

Troops will pay a premium of $31 per month for $500,000 worth of coverage, a $6 increase, which will be deducted from their pay. The monthly SGLI premium is the same regardless of the service member’s age or other factors. Currently, troops pay $25 a month for $400,000 of life insurance coverage. The rate hasn’t changed; the cost is still 6 cents per $1,000 of insurance. SGLI coverage is offered in increments of $50,000.

Also on March 1, the maximum coverage for Veterans’ Group Life Insurance, or VGLI, is also increasing to $500,000, up $100,000 from the current $400,000. That is not automatic. Eligible veterans must request it.

The Department of Veterans Affairs will now be providing $1.45 trillion of life insurance coverage, making it the 12th largest group life insurer in the United States, said Daniel Keenaghan, executive director of the VA insurance service. The VA administers both the SGLI and VGLI insurance programs.

This is the first time the SGLI coverage amount has increased since 2005.

“This is going to help support our service members and veterans protect those who matter most,” Keenaghan said during a media roundtable. “As costs have increased, we are increasing our overall life insurance coverage correspondingly.”

All monthly SGLI premiums include $1 for TSGLI. Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Protection provides short-term financial support to help eligible service members recover from a severe injury such as loss of limb or a variety of other injuries. As before, SGLI also includes $10,000 of coverage for the service member’s dependent children at no extra cost. There is no change to the coverage amounts for the separate program called Family SGLI, which provides extra life insurance for spouses and children.

Service members leaving the military on or after March 1 who had the maximum SGLI coverage can purchase VGLI coverage up to $500,000. Veterans under age 60 who currently have $400,000 maximum VGLI coverage will be able to purchase additional coverage, in increments of $25,000, at specified anniversary dates.

Currently, 88% of service members have the maximum amount of SGLI coverage at $400,000, according to Keenaghan. That includes 95% of active duty service members and 73% of reservists.

Automatically including active, Guard and reserve members in the new coverage maximum allows everyone to get the insurance without medical underwriting, even if they previously reduced or declined coverage. If active duty service members want to decline or reduce their new coverage, they can do so starting March 1, using the SGLI Online Enrollment System. Reservists with part-time SGLI coverage who want to decline or reduce their coverage should use Form SGLV 8286 and provide it to their personnel office.

Troops must do this before the end of March in order to avoid paying the monthly premium of $31 for the coverage.

Here's why you need to think about military life insurance

The increase is required by the “Supporting Families of the Fallen Act,” signed into law by President Joe Biden on Oct. 17. The law specifies that the increase to $500,000 in coverage can’t result in the insurance programs operating at a loss.

Unlike the rates for service members, VGLI rates increase every five years as the veteran ages, starting at age 30. For veterans age 29 and younger, the monthly cost for $500,000 of coverage will be $35, Keenaghan said. The full table for the premiums for $500,000 for all ages will be available on the VA website beginning March 1.

SGLI coverage is considered to be a strong benefit for service members at a reasonable cost, but SGLI ends when the service member leaves the military. SGLI can be converted to the Veterans’ Group Life Insurance program within a year and 120 days. VGLI is more expensive than some other insurance programs. Yet it’s important to remember that everyone leaving the military with SGLI coverage qualifies for VGLI, regardless of health. If you sign up for VGLI within 240 days of separation, you don’t need to prove you’re in good health.

Financial experts advise military members to shop around for life insurance before they leave the military. If they can’t qualify for life insurance through another program for some reason, they can sign up for VGLI.