The Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-Plus program will expand to the Miami-Dade County area in September, to Texas in October and to Colorado in November, said Gilbert Cisneros, Jr., undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

The program, which began in 2019 in Maryland and Virginia, expanded to Nevada in September 2021, and to Washington state in February.

“We’ll continue our concerted effort to educate states on what Military Child Care In Your Neighborhood-Plus can do and encourage their participation, especially in those states where our military families are stationed,” Cisneros said during the Military Child Education Coalition’s Global Summit Wednesday. “We are looking forward to more states joining us in the coming days.”

He said DoD officials are in discussions with officials in California, North Carolina and additional counties in Florida.

“It’s certainly no secret that in certain regions and installations around the country we have challenges in meeting the child care needs of some military parents, especially those who would prefer to get their children into child development centers where they know their children will receive expert care and wonderful developmental and early educational support,” he said.

The Military Child Care In Your Neighborhood-Plus initiative started in October 2019 as a two-year pilot program limited to Maryland and five regions of Virginia.

The current long-standing military fee assistance programs offset the cost of child care in the civilian community when child care isn’t available on the installation. It helps those in locations with long waiting lists for child care, as well as those in assignments that aren’t near a military installation.

The program is meant to bring parents’ child care costs in the community more in line with what they would pay for on-base child care. Child care fees on military installations are based on total family income, and the cost of child care is subsidized by DoD.

The ongoing military fee assistance programs pay the subsidy to nationally-accredited child care providers in the community as the first choice.

The difference in the MCCYN-Plus program is that it pays the subsidy to providers in locations where nationally accredited care isn’t available, to help include more centers and family child care providers. However, if they aren’t nationally accredited, the child care providers must participate in that state’s quality improvement program. That’s over and above required state licensing.

As Cisneros noted, the child care providers have to meet DoD’s “standards for quality, and ensure our military children are cared for in safe and supportive environments.”

The fee assistance subsidy for community-based child care is the difference between what the service member would pay for child care in DoD programs, and the community-based child care provider’s rate, up to a provider rate cap for full-time care.

In 2022, the monthly fee assistance provider rate cap is $1,500 per child per month. In fiscal 2023, all of the military service branches plan to increase the monthly provider rate cap to $1,700 per child per month.

The fee assistance programs can make a substantial difference for families.

For example, if a family is in category 5, making between $60,001 to $70,000 a year in total family income, their monthly fee would be $516 for full-time DoD child care. If their approved community child care provider charges more — up to $1,500 a month — the parent would pay $516, and the rest is subsidized by the military service branch in payments to the provider.

The MCCYN-Plus program means more child care centers and family child care providers could participate in the fee assistance program.

In Virginia, for example, MCCYN-Plus meant a possible expansion to more than 800 additional eligible child care centers in regions with military presence. In Maryland, there are more than 4,600 child care programs that can participate.

The fee assistance programs are administered by Child Care Aware, which also helps families find accredited community based child care providers as the first choice. The child care providers in the MCCYN-Plus program who have a quality level of three or higher in their state’s quality improvement program are made available to families as an alternative.

For more information on military child care fee assistance, families should visit ChildCareAware.org.

As of July 19, the stock rates across commissaries in the continental U.S. are hovering around 61%, compared to about 50% in early June. Overseas, the stock rates are about 72%, compared to 55-to-60% in early June, said Kevin Robinson, spokesman for the Defense Commissary Agency.

The availability of infant formula for all commissaries is still fluid, and evolving daily, he said. Patrons may still see some shortages for the time being. But commissary officials are optimistic, Robinson added, noting, “our availability of the limited infant formula products on hand is relatively consistent, and we expect our shelf stockage rates will being to normalize in the next 90 days.”

Commissaries continue to put limits on how much infant formula customers can purchase in order to help provide equal access to all customers, he said. Customers should check with their local commissary for information on limits.

“Until the supply chain provides more product, we will continue to work with our distributors to get what’s available and put it on our stores shelves as fast as possible,” Robinson said. “As always, we will ensure all orders for overseas and remote stores receive priority for infant formula shipments.”

Officials are working with suppliers daily to increase the amount of baby formula products, and the suppliers are working to increase production, he said.

In mid-February, Abbott, the largest U.S. maker of infant formula, to include Similac, announced it was recalling various lots of three powdered infant formulas from their Sturgis, Michigan plant after federal officials began investigating rare bacterial infections in four babies who were fed formula. The company also shut down the plant, triggering the nationwide infant formula shortage, especially with specialty baby formulas. Abbott produces about 40% of the baby formula in the U.S., and that Michigan plant is a big producer. There had already been some supply chain issues with baby formula.

The Michigan Abbott plant reopened June 4 to restart production, but then had to shut down two weeks later because of flooding caused by heavy storms. It reopened July 1, and has been initially manufacturing EleCare. Abbott officials announced July 15 they expect to begin releasing EleCare products in the coming weeks, and will restart the production of Similac at the plant as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, other manufacturers have been ramping up production, including suppliers of the commissary brand formula under the private label name Tippy Toes.

Service and defense officials have taken steps to mitigate the impact of higher costs and are looking at some longer-term solutions.

“Financial strain due to inflation can create stresses on our teammates, and it is our responsibility as leaders at all levels to do everything we can to use available programs and resources to provide relief, and where appropriate, advocate for additional resources,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in announcing help available for airmen and Guardians, as well as some ongoing efforts the service is undertaking with the Defense Department.

The military relief societies have long stepped in to help service members and families with a variety of emergency financial assistance, such as car repairs, travel for unexpected events such as funerals and basic living expenses such as rent and utilities.

But recently, relief society programs have also targeted the cost of shipping infant formula, the costs to get housing in this highly competitive market, and the high cost of shipping pets to and from overseas on permanent change of station orders.

Housing and PCS-related expenses

Installation officials can request extensions of entitlements for temporary lodging expenses beyond the traditional 10 days as service members wait for housing following a permanent change of station move. Under the Joint Travel Regulation, installations can ask for TLE extensions of up to 60 days.

The DoD mileage rate for PCS travel has increased from $0.18 per mile to $0.22 per mile, as of July 1. The mileage rate for TDY travel increased from $0.585 to $0.625 per mile.

Unaccompanied service members who are directed to move out of government quarters, barracks or dormitories are now authorized a partial dislocation allowance of $840.07, according to a recent change in the Joint Travel Regulation. The moves may be required because of a shortage of housing or because of work being done on the barracks, for example.

Previously, this allowance applied only to those directed to move from family housing. It provides partial reimbursement of the expense of relocating the household. It doesn’t apply to a move between unaccompanied housing units.

Defense officials are conducting a one-year pilot program to get additional data for calculating the Basic Allowance for Housing. They’ll accept local market rental data from military privatized housing companies as an additional way to increase the sample size and help ensure a correct calculation. It will be used in the process to calculate the 2023 BAH rates. The process for setting BAH has been criticized by some, including troops, families and the Government Accountability Office.

Coast Guard Mutual Assistance has expanded its housing and PCS assistance in response to the housing and supply-chain issues that persist this year. Coast Guard members can receive an interest-free loan of up to $9,000 to help cover the cost of fees associated with getting a rental home, such as first and last month’s rent and security deposit. Coast Guard members can also get an interest-free loan of up to $9,000 to help with closing costs when buying a new home. Previously, these loans were capped at $6,000. Other PCS-related loan programs include household furnishing loans and utility startup loans.

Like last year, housing prices have been a big concern to many service members searching for homes during a PCS move. “The average closing cost in the United States in 2017 was $4,200. The average closing cost in 2021 was $6,300, an increase of 50%,” said retired CWO2 Sean Fennell, chief operating officer of Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, in the announcement about the expanded assistance.

“It is noteworthy that these averages are based on the entire country. The coastal states where our Coasties live and work generally have much higher rates.”

More help on the horizon?

While some efforts are helping military families now, there are also studies, proposals and changes underway that could impact troops’ finances in the future.

DoD has requested a 4.6% pay raise for service members in 2023, but lawmakers are also considering a plan to help troops deal with rising costs. Under the plan, troops who receive less than $45,000 in basic pay would be eligible for monthly payouts of 2.4% of their salary.

Starting in 2023, DoD is authorized to pay a Basic Needs Allowance as supplemental income for military members and their family members whose gross household income falls below 130% of federal poverty guidelines. To deal with issues of food insecurity, military families are encouraged to talk to their leaders and their family centers for information about food-security-related grants and loans, and for referrals to government assistance programs, the Air Force said. Local food banks near military installations and other organizations have also been helping military families.

Later this year, DoD will start the 14th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation to review and assess the military compensation system to strengthen troops’ economic security.

Because of the shortage of infant formula, some military families have been reaching out to relatives and friends around the country, asking them to scour their local stores for infant formula. That means the formula must be shipped to the military family. So Coast Guard Mutual Assistance set up a new temporary grant program to reimburse families up to $750 for any costs for the shipment of baby formula, whether from a retail purchase or a family or friend. The grant program runs through Nov. 30.

Army Emergency Relief activated a loan program that reimburses for the costs of shipping formula, but there are exceptions where soldiers can receive money upfront to pay to ship formula. While the program is set up as a loan, grants will be considered when repayment of a loan would cause financial hardship.

Check with your other military relief societies. While Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society doesn’t have a specific program for this, “it’s something we have always been able to provide assistance for through our quick-assist loans and traditional interest-free loans,” said Gillian Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the society.

Military families have many needs that are exacerbated by the rising costs. The Air Force and the other service branches have been mounting efforts to educate their service members and families about the resources available. Families are encouraged to contact their family centers on base; MilitaryOneSource.mil online, by phone or chat; and their military relief society. The Air Force Aid Society and other military relief societies can provide assistance through grants or interest-free loans for a variety of needs.

They’re cutting back on purchases, settling for cheaper but lesser quality items in some products like diapers, doing more cost comparisons, stretching their food purchases into multiple meals, combining trips and driving less in their efforts to fight skyrocketing inflation. Many said vacations are simply out of the question this year. One wife of a deployed Marine said that among the many things they’ve given up is their international cell phone plan, which they’ve used during past deployments.

Some are seeing their savings dwindle or evaporate — if they had savings to begin with. And whether they’re officers or enlisted, many are worried about how the junior enlisted families are going to make it. A number said they are relying more on the commissary for their food shopping, but some cited continuing problems with shortages on their commissary’s shelves. Some are going to food banks, if they’re available.

Consumer prices were up by 8.6% in the year ending in May. Service members and families are doing what they can to squeeze their own budgets, but some are also offering suggestions to the powers-that-be for helping all troops, such as providing more base housing, higher housing allowances, and a temporary Cost of Living Allowance for all service members, regardless of their location.

Military Times put out a call for service members and family members to tell us how inflation is affecting them.

An Army master sergeant with a family of six said, “our head is above water, but I’m not sure for how long. We will be dipping into our savings at this rate.”

An officer stationed in Hawaii said her family is struggling. “We have blown through our savings already and there is no way we can afford to take a vacation this year….. The cost of living here is insane. With rising rental and fuel costs we are also considering moving on post to cut expenses, even though we PCS in less than a year.”

They spend $200 a week on gas driving to work, medical appointments, school and sports. “We now shop exclusively at the commissary although the shelves are often empty due to supply issues,” she said.

“We would like another child but we just can’t see how we could afford it. We are very stressed out about finances and something needs to change quickly,” said the officer, an O4.

“My husband and I say often, ‘We’ve never earned so much but felt so poor.’ “

Those who responded all cited food and gas prices as a top concern, and there are plenty of ripple effects.

The wife of a Marine sergeant at Twentynine Palms, California, wrote that “thankfully my family is still barely breathing, but I know many that are not making it due to inflation rates and high gas prices.” She said she has started canning, “because we think this inflation is only going to get worse.

“My husband is also looking into getting a bicycle to ride back and forth to work so we can save money on gas… It’s crazy because we are down to $150 to $200 left over in [his] paycheck, when it used to be close to $500,” she said.

Their grocery bill for a family of three has gone from between $400 and $500 a month to between $600 and $700. Two years ago it took about $60 to fill their car’s gas tank; now it’s almost $120.

An Air Force technical sergeant who recently moved to Germany said, “With such a large family to feed we are not purchasing as much healthy foods as before, and unfortunately have been eating more prepackaged foods.”

His family of seven includes three school-age children, and they’re already thinking about the need to purchase school supplies, with prices constantly increasing. Their family also includes two pets, and airlines have increased the cost for transporting “our beloved family members,” he said.

“A PCS in the middle of record inflation, combined with the lowering of COLA (it is nearly gone) in Germany, is a double whammy for my family,” he wrote.

On top of that, jobs are scarce for his wife, a registered nurse, who had been an elementary school nurse for the last eight years in Idaho.

Many of those in the process of making a military move are facing additional financial stressors of high housing prices and shortages of housing in the U.S.. Last year in response to the skyrocketing cost of housing, DoD authorized a temporary increase in Basic Allowance for Housing for 56 housing areas, from October through December, before the new housing allowance rates took effect in January.

Stephanie Trask, the wife of a Marine staff sergeant, said her family is in the process of moving from Fort Worth, Texas, to Jacksonville, North Carolina, and “it has been a nightmare from hell.” Her husband will be stationed at New River Marine Corps Air Station.

Their housing allowance in Texas is manageable, and they are currently paying $179 out of pocket for rent. But the waitlist for base housing in Jacksonville is 12 months, and the rental market is expensive.

“We are basically being forced to buy a house in this sellers’ market AND come out of pocket hundreds of dollars [a month] or be homeless,” she wrote. “On top of this housing crisis is all the inflation we are experiencing, so now we have to come out of pocket hundreds of dollars just to put a roof over our heads, then deal with higher gas prices and food. We won’t have any money left.”

After their first three offers on houses were turned down because other buyers were offering $25,000 or more over the asking price, their fourth offer was accepted. “To make the payment somewhat manageable we had to do a $20,000 down payment and bring almost $6,000 to closing to get a ‘decent’ rate for these days. We will still be coming out of pocket almost $300 a month, all just for our house.

“We will also be farther from town because the houses out there were cheaper, so it will be about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on where we need to go,” she said, which means more money for gas.

During this process, she added, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried about all of this. The fact that the military, DoD, government officials are not doing anything is just absolutely ridiculous.”

An active duty E4 sailor who is a single mother of a toddler said she was on a well-managed budget while stationed in Virginia, but that budget suffered when she moved to Florida in October. “That budget has gotten much tighter. Not only does living in Florida cost more, but the current economy has made it worse.

“I have sought help with WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children), but they claim I make too much, yet I make barely enough. I’ve tried applying for second jobs, but with my active duty hours, no one is willing to hire me,” she said.

She also has to drive her personal vehicle to the various air fields they support, which means more money out of pocket. “Many of us are just feeding our paycheck to the pumps,” she said.

“I wish I had advice for someone, especially new sailors on how to stay afloat, but I don’t. The only thing I’m blessed for during these hard times is being able to spend more time with my daughter outside. Air is free, dirt is free, and enjoying this Florida sun is free,” she said. “As a service member, my advice is utilize your base gyms (free), go to the commissary more, and something that has helped me a lot with gas is downloading gas station apps.”

Being in remote areas can hurt, as well.

One Marine wife at Twentynine Palms, California, said inflation has forced them to stay home. “Any entertainment we can afford, is at least an hour’s drive away,” she said.

“Not including ticket prices, but with gas prices as they are, it can cost much more money just to drive anywhere,” she added.

They also rely on the commissary nearby, because other grocery stores out in town are 15 to 20 minutes away.

But it’s also affecting necessities like medical appointments. Her son has been referred to a medical specialist, but the only audiologist they were able to get an appointment with is about 100 miles away from their home at Twentynine Palms — and that’s a full tank of gas for the round trip.

“I have to save money just to transport my children to their medical appointments,” she said.

The military commissary system is suffering from an identity crisis, according to government auditors. Are military stores a benefit or a business?

The two primary objectives of the Defense Commissary Agency are competing against each other — providing a benefit to service members through savings on groceries, yet operating like a business and marking up prices to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars it requires, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.

Defense Commissary Agency officials agreed there is an “inherent tension” between maintaining customer savings and generating a profit margin, and that “DeCA likely cannot meet both the target of 23.7% savings rate and reduce its reliance on appropriations through margin as intended,” the report stated.

The auditors also raised questions about the way commissary savings are calculated, the amount of savings customers are actually getting, and how reforms have affected those savings. Congress and DoD decision makers “don’t have the assurance that DeCA is meeting its savings target and that commissary customers are reliably receiving their intended benefit,” auditors found.

DoD and Congress need to clarify the benefit the commissary should provide, auditors stated. Savings for commissary customers in the continental U.S. have been consistently lower than the global target of 23.7%. In 2021, the CONUS commissary savings rate was 17.7% compared to commercial retailers outside the gate. And the overall global savings rate missed the 23.7% target in 2021, with an overall savings rate of 22.5%.

“In this time of rising prices and DoD efforts to reduce food insecurity, the ability of DeCA to provide service members, their families and retirees reduced-price groceries is especially important,” the auditors stated.

DeCA also needs to fix the way it calculates savings for commissary customers overseas, auditors said. While the method for calculating CONUS savings is reliable, auditors said, they described the current overseas method as both “unreliable and inaccurate.” Stateside commissary customers account for 81% of commissary sales worldwide, and get consistently less than 23.7% savings overall. But the overseas savings rate has consistently been calculated at 42% or higher, which the GAO says is an unreliable number, Moreover, the global commissary savings average gets propped up by the savings numbers in the overseas commissaries. DeCA only meets its global target by relying on the savings rate in commissaries outside the U.S.

The commissary agency’s calculated customer savings rate for fiscal 2021, with weights:

Commissary officials changed to a savings calculation method using the overseas Cost of Living Allowance in 2017, because a consulting firm hired to support their business reforms, Boston Consulting Group, advised them to do so. So the commissary agency has been relying on data associated with the COLA to calculate the savings rate OCONUS, although the COLA reflects more than just the price of groceries bought in overseas locations, the auditors stated.

Commissary reforms have affected savings

Some reforms DoD started implementing in the commissary agency in 2017 have been in competition with customer savings, auditors noted. Before that time, by law, commissaries sold products at cost plus a 5% surcharge, so that the cost of operating commissaries wasn’t included in the price customers paid. The commissary system received about $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars in 2012 to operate the stores, but over the past several years it’s been about $1.2 billion. The 5% surcharge customers pay is used primarily for renovation and construction of stores.

Since 2017, the agency has used variable pricing, a pricing method used by commercial grocery stores to set prices over the cost of the product, thereby generating a profit margin. The goal is to create some profit margin in order to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars that are used to operate commissaries.

Therein lies the conflict. GAO auditors noted that “lowering prices to increase savings decreases DeCA’s margin, while raising prices to generate a greater margin reduces customer savings.”

Family advocates have questioned the system of marking up commissary prices, noting that in the past, customers could rely on the price of their commissary products across the board to be at the cost from the supplier plus 5%. “Now isn’t the time to try to turn a profit, especially with the high inflation and supply chain issues,” said Kelly Hruska, government relations director for the National Military Family Association.

She said she appreciates GAO’s deep dive into the issue. “Families are struggling. We need to be looking at every area where we can save families money,” she said.

Lawmakers have asked DoD to stop requiring commissaries to generate a profit, in order to provide some relief for military families from rising food prices.

The commissary agency needs to analyze the tradeoffs associated with meeting one of these competing objectives over the other, auditors said. That will help Congress make informed oversight decisions to provide clear direction on how to best provide the benefit. Those tradeoffs would specifically identify the customer savings rate and related benefits, such as the number, location and operating hours of commissaries. They also recommended DeCA improve its strategic plan; the current plan is lacking in key business reform efforts and lacks information needed to implement and measure success, auditors found. In its response to GAO, DoD officials agreed with the recommendations.

A provision passed by the House Armed Services Committee would add another $500 million to the commissary budget for fiscal 2023. It must make its way through the legislative process, but it would help the commissary agency avoid tradeoffs to provide the benefit for the troops, said Steve Rossetti, president of the American Logistics Association, an organization whose members include suppliers to commissaries and exchanges. That congressional action “would solve a key problem identified by the GAO,” he said. “The committee recognized that tradeoffs shouldn’t have to be made, especially in an era of inflation and food insecurity.”

Pointing to the need for more documentation about the success of commissary reforms, GAO auditors noted that commissary sales have fallen by more than $1 billion over the past six years — from about $6 billion in fiscal 2015, to about $4.4 billion in FY 2021 — as those reforms were being implemented. Currently, only 1.5 million out of 8 million eligible customers shop at the commissaries regularly.

“It is clear that the reform efforts imposed upon DeCA have failed to achieve the desired results,” said Tom Gordy, president of the Armed Forces Marketing Council, which represents more than 400 manufacturers who supply goods to military stores. “From the beginning, DeCA was put in a no-win situation, and those most adversely affected in this experiment have been military families who need the savings the most.”

The proposal, an amendment introduced by Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., was approved by the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday.

“We cannot in good conscience fill post exchanges with products created with slave labor and sponsored by and benefiting financially the authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party,” Green said during the markup of fiscal 2023 defense policy bill. In addition, he said, “The Chinese Communist Party believes they can steal our military technology without consequence. We need to show them that isn’t the case.

“The last thing we want to do is financially contribute to their tyranny. They’re laughing at the idea of American soldiers funding their schemes by filling the shelves of our PXs and BXs with their products.”

The proposal would prohibit the sale of goods in commissaries and exchanges that are manufactured in China, assembled in China or imported into the U.S. from China.

At least half of the products sold in exchanges, if not more, are made in China, noted Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif. While the idea of banning these products “sounds good and is patriotic,” he said, “it would have an adverse effect on our military families.” It would mean they would have to go out to stores in the civilian community to find the products they rely on that would no longer be sold in exchanges, he said.

The ban would affect only military stores, not stores in the civilian community. If a ban on Chinese-made products were to apply to civilian retailers outside the gate, industry figures indicate it would likely affect 80% to 90% of all retail goods sold, said Courtney Williams, spokeswoman for the Navy Exchange Service Command.

Walmart spokesman Payton McCormick said nearly two-thirds of the products Walmart sells in the U.S. are made, grown or assembled domestically. The company doesn’t break out sourcing data by country, but Walmart sources from many countries around the world.

It’s not clear whether the proposed legislation would ban any part of an item made in China — or only products made entirely in China.

Navy Exchanges “would face an impact of 50% in direct retail sales, strictly on those prohibited products alone,” said Williams. But in addition to that impact, there would likely be a far greater percentage of loss because the lack of those products would mean fewer customers.

Sometimes there are just no acceptable alternatives to products made in China. The lack of alternatives would also mean the potential removal of entire categories of items from the exchanges, not just one brand, Williams said.

“As a retailer, we offer freedom of choice for customers to purchase merchandise they want or need, and not all products desired by our customers are available from a U.S. manufacturer. The NEX serves a wide variety of military customers and we work very hard to carry a merchandise selection that appeals to this wide customer base,” Williams said.

“This practice of [lawmakers] doing to the exchanges and the troops what they don’t have the will or votes to do to the general citizenry has got to stop,” said Steve Rossetti, president of the American Logistics Association, an association representing companies that supply products to military stores.

The impact this proposal would have on military exchanges “isn’t significant, it’s devastating,” Rossetti said. “We should be feeding this golden goose instead of killing it.”

Rep. Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, and others said they support the concept of buying American products, but are concerned about the impact on the stores, especially making a move so quickly. Kahele said the move would negatively affect military families who depend on this benefit to purchase everyday household items, especially those in remote locations where there are already supply chain issues.

“I believe this would put our commissaries and exchanges at risk,” he said. “I’m all about buying American, but I don’t think we can flip the switch overnight.”

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, chairman of the committee, described the concept as “unworkable,” given the number of products made in China, “even though I’m not unsympathetic to the sentiment behind it.”

It’s not clear what impact the proposal would have on commissaries, although it would affect any over-the-counter health items coming from China, Rossetti said.

At Navy Exchanges, the ban would affect products across the board, especially clothing, footwear and baby items like strollers; housewares and home products made by Ninja, Cuisinart, Shark, Bissell, iRobot and Calphalon; home appliances like washers, dryers and refrigerators; entertainment electronics from Samsung; computers and phones from Apple; video game consoles by PlayStation and Xbox; bicycles and fitness equipment from Schwinn and Nordic Trak;, and seasonal merchandise like Christmas trees and Halloween costumes.

Navy Exchanges, like the other exchange systems, seek to provide quality goods and services at a savings to service members and their families. “Whenever possible, the NEX purchases goods made in America,” Williams said. “In fact, 40% or our Navy Pride products are purchased or assembled in America.”

The proposal will now have to be considered by the full House as part of the 2023 authorization bill. The House and Senate are expected to pass their separate authorization bill drafts sometime in the next month. They will then negotiate on a compromise authorization bill.

“I’d argue it’s not that hard to fill the shelves of our PXs with American-made goods,” said Rep. Mike Walz, R-Fla. “President Biden has put forward a Buy American provision. … If DoD needs to lead the way and be a little more difficult, then let’s do it.

“I’d be willing to bet they could do without some T-shirts or socks or other items if they know we have to stop funding our adversary,” he said.

There’s long been a shortage of military child care, and of child care nationwide.

A Defense Department policy issued just before the pandemic and implemented in September 2020 gave working military families, including Coast Guard families, higher priority for spaces in child development centers and school-age child care programs.

But for the first time, it also allowed officials to supplant, or displace, children who already were in a child development program, whose parents were in a lower priority category, if the military family was expected to be on a waitlist for more than 45 days after the time they need child care.

DoD officials allowed a pause in the supplanting process during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; not all the service branches paused the process.

The Navy announced the restart of its supplanting process on Tuesday. That change comes in the peak of moving season for military families, when many families are searching for child care as they move to a new duty station. Air Force officials restarted the service‘s supplanting policy earlier in 2022. The Army never stopped its supplanting procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June, the Navy has restarted the supplanting procedures at six fleet concentration areas with long child care waitlists: Norfolk, Virginia; San Diego; Naval Base Kitsap and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington; Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Base Mayport, Florida, said Coleen R. San Nicolas-Perez, spokeswoman for Navy Installations Command.

In July, all other Navy installations will restart the supplanting policy.

Across DoD, working active duty families and certain others can’t be displaced from the child development centers. Families who are displaced receive notice at least 45 days in advance if their child or children must leave the child development center, so they can attempt to find child care elsewhere.

Families who are supplanted also are allowed to reapply for space through MilitaryChildCare.com, which is the DoD’s website for military and DoD-affiliated families seeking child care ranging from the centers, school-age care, family child care homes and fee assistance programs for child care in the civilian community.

Navy officials will review all school-age care programs in the fall to determine if any supplanting will be required, San Nicolas-Perez said.

Some military families felt they were at a disadvantage because they move frequently, while others, such as DoD civilians, don’t move frequently, so those child care spots were locked up. The policy allows lower-priority families to be displaced so that there is more room for military children.

For example, the policy change moved DoD civilians down on the priority list. If a military family moving into the area is expected to be on a waitlist for more than 45 days, a DoD civilian family’s child could be displaced from the DoD child care program to make room for that military child, with a minimum of 45 days notice to the civilian family.

The priorities are as follows:

* Priority 1A ― Child development program staff.

* Priority 1B ― Single/dual military members and military members with a full-time working spouse, including active duty Coast Guard.

* Priority 1C ― Military members with a part-time working spouse or those with a spouse seeking employment.

* Priority 1D ― Military members with a spouse enrolled full-time in a post-secondary institution.

* Priority 2 ― Single/dual Department of Defense civilians or with a full-time working spouse.

* Priority 3 ― Space available.

Those who can’t be supplanted are:

• Child development program direct care staff.

• Active duty combat-related wounded warriors.

• Single/dual active duty military/Coast Guard.

• Single/dual Guard/Reserve on active duty or inactive duty training status.

• Active duty military/Coast Guard with a full-time working spouse.

• Guard/Reserve on active duty or inactive duty training status with a full-time working spouse.

• Gold Star spouses (combat-related).

For the full matrix of who can be supplanted, and by whom, visit MilitaryChildCare.com https://www.mcccentral.com/system/files/downloads/training-center/resources/MilitaryFamilyTypes_Supplanting_0.pdf

Have you had to cut back on the amount of groceries you’re buying? Are you giving up some previous indulgences, buying cheaper cuts of meat — or no meat? Scouring for coupons? Doing more comparison shopping? Shopping the commissary more often? Driving less, and combining trips? Changing vacation plans?

If you’re making a permanent change of station move this summer, has inflation had an impact on that move? Or do you expect it to have an impact? In what way?

Tell us about your experience, and include some of your advice and tips that we can share with others in the military community.

Include your rank, branch of service, location and how many people are in your family. We may publish it online or in print.

Email reporter Karen Jowers, kjowers@militarytimes.com.

Whether it was sending boxes of gifts to critically ill children who couldn’t travel to fulfill their Make-A-Wish dreams; flying on volunteer missions to deliver medical supplies to rural areas; bringing healing music to those in need, or helping out home-bound neighborhood parents with child care, they have made a difference.

Those experiences, and the ways they have found to put their abilities to use, also put this year’s recipients of Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year awards in a unique position to offer sage advice to other military teens, their parents and, indeed, all of us on how to rise above difficulties and thrive.

“When I look at all these winners, I’m just blown away by how these military kids take a problem … and they figure how they can help themselves and help others,” said Rebecca Benson, mother of Space Force winner Grant Benson. “They make it better for others. It’s such a selfless way to approach things, especially through COVID.”

Two of this year’s winners approached their parents’ new duty assignments in creative ways. One who, as the child of a National Guardsman had never experienced a permanent change of station, chose to move with his mother — at the family’s expense — to Germany on her unaccompanied tour ; another was able to graduate early so he could move with his family and avoid having to start at a new school in his senior year.

The youth represent the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard and National Guard. An eighth student received the award for innovation.

All told, the eight recipients logged 1,473 volunteer hours in the 12 months before the nominations. They’ve experienced a combined 40 military moves, and a cumulative 115 months of deployments of their parents in their lifetimes.

All eight are honor students. Five of the students are musicians; six have been or are on sports teams in their schools.

And 13-year-old Sophia Jordan made Operation Homefront history, becoming the third child in her family to be named Military Child of the Year for the Marine Corps, following her brothers Michael-Logan in 2014 and Jaxson in 2019.

“Each awardee is a stellar representative of the larger community of two million amazing military kids, all of whom should be tremendously proud of the strength they add to their families, their communities and our nation,” said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. John I. Pray Jr., president and CEO of Operation Homefront.

The youth spent two days touring Washington, D.C., before the April gala in their honor. Each received a $10,000 grant, a laptop and other donated gifts.

“It was one of the best weeks of my life,” said Elena Ashburn, Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year for the Army. She enjoyed having her family come to Washington to share the experience and the gala, and she is keeping in touch with the new friends she’s met — the seven other MCOY recipients. “We’ve all led the same lifestyle, but all have different backgrounds and stories,” she said.

INNOVATION: David Lee, 18, South Korea

David Lee realized how people were suffering mentally during the pandemic. And he could see the smiles and soothing effect his music had on his grandparents. He could also see the effects when he volunteered to play his violin for seniors and patients at rehabilitation centers.

Thus, the idea for Music Echoes was born. David, 18, a senior at Osan Middle High School in South Korea, created the project with his 19-year-old brother Ralph, an accomplished pianist. Their goal is to spread their music to the entire world, he said, “so everyone can listen to it.”

“During quarantine and everything, I was thinking of starting something to help the world with my passion … my instrument, my violin,” he said.

Their offerings include some of the brother’s compositions as well as other non-copyrighted music they find on the Internet. They post new selections every couple of months on their website and social media sites.

They’ve delivered their music to about 15,000 hospitals and rehabilitation centers, 1,000 orphanages and 500 nursing homes, David said.

David is the 2022 Military Child of the Year for Innovation. He’s the son of U.S. Army Reserve Warrant Officer 1 James Lee and Jea Park.

One of the experiences that helped spark the idea came in 2019, when a woman approached him in tears after he had played at a rehabilitation center. She asked if he could play at her funeral.

After he moved to South Korea with his family — his ninth military move — he wasn’t able to travel for the funeral because of COVID restrictions. But he sent a video to the hospital for the funeral, where he played “Cinema Paradiso,” by Ennio Morricone.

The accomplished violinist has won awards in competitions in the U.S. and abroad, and has performed in Carnegie Hall. Among his many awards, to name a few:

• 1st prize in American Protege International Concerto Competition
• 1st place in 21st Seoul National Student Music Scholarship Competition
• 3rd place in Charleston International Baroque Competition
• 1st prize in New York Concert Festival Concerto Competition
• Grand Prix winner in New York Concert Festival Spring International Competition
• 2nd prize in European Composers Competition, Austria

He plans to major in both music and psychology in college, he said. He’ll be taking a gap year this year, because he has landed an internship. In the future, he’s considering “becoming an entrepreneur and clinical psychologist and investor,” he said.

Five words describe him, he said: Passion, perseverance, purpose, sharing and caring.

His advice to other military kids: “Find your purpose in your life and your passion. Persevere, and that will make you happy in life. I believe you can take it everywhere you go, even when you PCS.”

His advice to military parents: “Have a plan for everything and everywhere.”

AIR FORCE: Anna Cummins, 16, Colorado Springs

Anna Cummins’ experiences with her family, including her special needs sister, and as a volunteer have helped shape her character and her goals.

“Going with my sister to her appointments, I’ve seen what a doctor’s bedside manner can do,” said Anna, whose goal is to be a physician’s assistant or doctor. She hopes to join the Air Force Reserve.

“I want to give back to my country because it has given me so much,” said Anna, 16, Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year for the Air Force. “I’ve seen with my dad how amazing some of the benefits are.”

Her father, Lt. Col. Matthew Cummins, is a flight commander and evaluator pilot assigned to the Air Force Academy’s 70th Flying Training Squadron. Anna’s mother, Amy, is a registered nurse.

Anna says her most important quality is her compassion. “I like this whole idea of putting others before yourself and helping people,” she said.

She’s a sophomore at Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, where her sister, Maddy, 18, is a senior. Her brother, Luke, is 9. Maddy lives with Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder, and requires around-the-clock care. She is unable to walk, talk or use her hands, and communicates through an eye-tracking device.

Anna has been a voice for those with special needs, but she’s also a voice for siblings of those with special needs. In middle school, she founded Special Siblings, an Instagram-based support community for students with siblings who have significant disabilities.

One of her next goals is to start a program at military installations for siblings of military children with special needs.

Her volunteer work includes a number of efforts along medical lines. During the COVID pandemic, she was a mission assistance volunteer with Angel Flight, flying with her dad, a volunteer pilot for the organization, to deliver critical medical supplies to rural hospitals. “It’s amazing how much they needed things like masks and gloves,” she said. “They were running low, and no one could get new ones.”

Anna also volunteered last summer at Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson.

“Because of COVID, the stress on the nurses was a lot higher than it used to be.” she said. “I really think it was a great opportunity for me to learn, but also for the nurses to get some help — even with small tasks like changing out the sheets, grabbing stuff for a parent or filling up water containers. Those small things saved the nurses some time in their day so they could focus on patient care.”

Between her volunteer work at the base hospital, the Children’s Hospital Colorado and the American Red Cross, she donated 266 volunteer hours in the previous year.

Meanwhile, she’s an aspiring pilot who is a tech sergeant in the Civil Air Patrol and founded the Aviation and Aerospace Club at her school. She’s maintained a grade-point average above 4.0 in high school, and is captain of her junior varsity tennis team.

Her advice to other military kids: “Find someone you can talk to. During the pandemic with quarantine and when school was remote, I was struggling. I’m an extrovert. My math teacher let me vent to her and it really helped.”

Her advice to military parents: “Make sure you emphasize that your children aren’t defined by their parents’ occupation or by the location. Sometimes it can feel like your entire life revolves around the military — where you live, what school you go to, the friends you have — all of that depends on the military sometimes.” Parents need to make sure their child knows they’re more than that military person’s daughter, that they’re their own individual person, she said.

“Just make sure your child knows they’re loved.”

ARMY: Elena Ashburn, 18, Pembroke Pines, Florida

For Elena Ashburn, being named Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year for the Army gives her another opportunity to get the word out to people about how they can help military teens bloom and flourish.

And that goes to the accomplishment she’s the most proud of — co-founding the organization Bloom: Empowering the Military Teen two years ago with her best friend, Matthew Oh.

They started the organization after their families left Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Elena moved to Florida and Matthew moved to South Korea. Struggling with yet another move, they decided they could help other military teens who were going through the same upheavals. “Bloom” is a website produced by, for and about military kids worldwide.

“It’s about connecting them to other military kids and connecting them with others so they know they’re not the only ones going through this,” said Elena, who is the daughter of Col. Matt Ashburn, director of the Commander’s Action Group at U.S. Southern Command, and Katarina Ashburn.

Bloom has gotten attention at the national level, after the National Military Family Association approached them to partner on surveys of military teens in 2021 and 2022, helping them compose and distribute the survey. The Bloom teens have written “The Field Guide to the Military Teen,” with NMFA, for those in communities with military teens.

“Elena’s courage when faced with a new opportunity or challenge has always had us in awe,” said her mother, Katarina. “Whether she was running for class president as a freshman who was new to the area and had homeschooled for the last eight years, formally auditioning for a youth orchestra for the first time, or pursuing her passion for Shakespeare on stage, Elena would always find enough courage to try and would persevere even in the toughest moments.

“We admire her tenacity and know it will take her so far in life,” she said.

She has experienced five military moves in her 18 years, the latest to South Florida, where she attends Cooper City High School and is print editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. Her writing has won several awards, including a first place poem in Chapman University’s Holocaust Art and Writing Competition. She’s pursued her passion for performance in dance, music and theatre; and has acted on competition teams with a Shakespeare troupe. Since first grade, she has played violin, performing with orchestras and at weddings.

Elena, who plans to major in public policy in college, has worked as an intern for the organization Open Primaries, which advocates for all states to allow all voters to vote in a primary election without having to register with a political party.

A congenital heart condition has stopped her from doing some things athletically, but she described herself as pretty active despite it.

Having that heart condition “is normal to me,” she said. “I’ve always been able to make do with the body I have. … Singing and dancing can be strenuous, but it’s a lot about understanding and listening to my body and knowing when it’s time to stop. I also appreciate that my body is working so hard. It’s awesome it’s able to do this at all. … I’m also fortunate to have had great doctors.”

Her advice for other military kids: Elena has no shortage of advice. That is one of the reasons she started Bloom. “Take advantage of the privilege and opportunities that come with being a military child,” she said. “There are a lot of hard things, but so many things you can take advantage of. You’re lucky to travel the world and the country.

“Never forget you’re not alone, especially if you’re the only military kid in the civilian community. So many others are going through this. Even if they’re not in your local community, they’re out there, and are going through it.

Her advice for military parents: “Listen, because we may not always want to talk, but when we do, we have so much to say. It’s hard enough being a teen, and when you put the military life on top of that … Supporting and listening is the best thing you can do for your teen.”

COAST GUARD: Kathryn Alonso, 17, Vienna, Virginia

As the pandemic forced many of the parents in her neighborhood to work from home, Kathryn Alonso began helping them out by babysitting, taking the children out for picnics, conducting sports camps and other activities.

That was a life-changing time for her, she said, as it helped her decide she wants to be an elementary school teacher.

Kathryn, 17, was nominated by one those neighbors for Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year for the Coast Guard.

The senior at George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Virginia, is the daughter of Capt. Ricardo Alonso, chief of the Office of Marine Environmental Response Policy in Washington, D.C., and Michelle Alonso, who is self-employed.

She has a 4.0 grade-point average and is a member of the National Honor Society, and won the “best motivator” award from her track team; she’s been in her school choir all four years in high school.

But the overwhelming aspect of Kathryn is “her big heart and willingness to help others,” said her mother. “Whether in school, in our neighborhood … she’s always been involved and loved all forms of community service.”

Kathryn “always finds the positive in every situation,” her mother said. “Whenever we move, having to leave friends, go to new schools, change sports teams, watch her grandpa decline with Alzheimer’s, be online for over one year of school due to COVID … she always makes the best of the situation she is in and finds a way to make it a positive experience. I love that about her.”

One of Kathryn’s passions is volunteering for the Alzheimer’s Association. She and her grandpa had always been really close, she said. “I got involved with the Alzheimer’s Association after seeing what he went through,” she said. She’s also volunteered for other organizations such as Special Olympics and Best Buddies. She helped a local diner with fundraising for local families and Afghan refugees.

Her advice for other military kids: “Be a part of your community as much as you can, and take part in clubs and sports. Keep in touch with your friends. I’ve kept in touch with friends I met in Puerto Rico when I was in pre-school and kindergarten. It’s really great and amazing to know people across the entire country. We’re lucky to be able to experience that.”

Although they departed Virginia in one of their five military moves, her family would come back to the commonwealth every summer to visit. “That helped a lot when we moved back,” she said.

During all but one assignment, the family has lived in the civilian community, her mom noted. “We’ve always worked hard to help them stay in touch … to give them that sense of stability,” said Michelle Alonso. Also, she said, the Coast Guard is small and “you never know where you’ll end up. We’ve crossed paths with people at different duty stations.”

Her advice for military parents: “Sign up your kids for different things in the community,” Kathryn said. “Especially when they’re younger, it’s hard for kids to get to know people. By signing them up for sports they can meet a lot of people. My mom also met a lot of people through my soccer teams. And my mom volunteered a lot with my school and my brother’s school.” Not only did that help the school, she said, but it helped all three of them get to know what was going on in the community.

MARINE CORPS: Sophia Jordan, 13, Fort Worth, Texas

During the pandemic, Sophia Jordan began thinking about all those critically ill children who weren’t able to travel. So, she created a way to spread some personalized sunshine for these children while they were waiting on for their wishes to be fulfilled through the Make A Wish Foundation.

Through her connections with the foundation, she began making “Sunshine Express” boxes tailored to each child and filled with goodies. She gets her friends — at times, her whole school — involved, and they put together the boxes that are sent all over the country.

“What makes me happy is seeing videos of them opening up their boxes and seeing them smile,” Sophia said.

Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year for the Marine Corps the daughter of Master Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Jordan, regimental operations chief with the 14th Marine Regiment at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, and ReBecca Jordan, a registered nurse who is currently a stay-at-home mom.

Sophia has the distinction of being the third child in her military family to be named Marine Child of the Year, following brother Michael-Logan in 2014 and brother Jaxson in 2019.

When they found out she had won the honor, the family not only congratulated her and expressed their pride, they passed on to her the Operation Homefront hoodie that had been Michael-Logan’s and then Jaxson’s, she said.

Sophia gets lists of children from the Make a Wish Foundation, and generally sends out at least 15 Sunshine Express boxes a month, including more than 100 in 2021. She collects donations, which helps pay for the items and postage. “She knows how to shop smartly,” her mom said. Each box always contains certain things like cake mix and frosting, so the child can make cupcakes with their family, and stuffed animals they can bring to medical treatments. She tailors extra items to each child’s interests, whether they’re age 3 or 18.

“When she takes the boxes in to the post office, the employees say, ‘Oh, the fun boxes! They make us so happy,” said her mother.

Sophia decorates the boxes with her own artwork, also tailored to the child’s interests, and includes a personal note in each box, Her friends write notes, too. She recently created works of art to be auctioned off at a fundraiser for the Make A Wish Foundation.

Of all Sophia’s accomplishments in her short 13 years, the Sunshine boxes are the most important to her, she said. “Dealing with my own health challenges, I know what it’s like waiting for a wish, and thinking it might not come.” As these children wait for their wish, she wants to boost their spirits with a symbol of hope that their wish is coming, she said.

In addition to her work with the Make A Wish Foundation, she volunteers for the American Heart Association; is an ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation, and is a volunteer for the Purple Playas Foundation’s Chronically Caring Kids. She has fought health issues herself — including lupus, juvenile arthritis and kidney disease. Because of her small stature, she’s been bullied a lot, her mother said….but she also just made the girls’ wrestling team at school.

Sophia is always thinking of ways to help others, her mother said. During the pandemic, when students were struggling with remote learning, Sophia was thinking about how difficult it was for teachers. Remotely, she pulled together a video with her fifth grade classmates to show their appreciation, and worked with the principal to set up a Zoom call for the class to surprise the teacher.

She’s maintained a 4.0 grade-point average at Pike Middle School in Fort Worth, and participates in student government, drama, music and cheerleading.

She’s made four military moves with her family, and her father has been deployed a cumulative total of more than three years during her lifetime. He was wounded in Iraq in 2006, before she was born, in an attack that killed a fellow Marine.

Her advice to military children: “Remember we all struggle in some form or fashion. Approach each day with kindness,” she said. “An act of kindness can be as simple as giving someone a smile or an encouraging word. You can build on that kindness by finding a need in your community and filling it through volunteering. To truly be the repairers of the world starts with a simple act of kindness.”

Her advice to military parents: “You’re strong. If one of you is deployed, and you’re the only parent there, know that you’re not alone. You’re doing amazing. You shouldn’t think you’re not doing enough, because you’re doing more than anyone could imagine.”

NATIONAL GUARD: Andrew ‘AJ’ Stone, 16, Germany

Andrew “AJ” Stone is a military kid who had lived in one place all his life — until he made the extra effort to move, when he didn’t have to, with his Air Force Reserve mother on an unaccompanied tour to Germany.

“I’ve always wanted to travel abroad. … I was interested in experiencing a different culture,” said AJ, 16, the son of Col. Andrew Stone, director for joint strategic plans, policy and international affairs for the Ohio Army National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Tanyah Stone, a program manager in Ramstein, Germany.

So when his mother found out she’d be assigned to Germany for a year’s unaccompanied tour, they decided he’d go with her at the family’s expense. He considered it an opportunity to experience the lifestyle so many other military children have.

Although he couldn’t apply to enter the Defense Department school on a space-available basis until arriving in Germany last September, they found out once they arrived that there would be space for him as a sophomore at Kaiserslautern High School, he said.

That’s been the most eye-opening experience: moving to a new place overseas for the first time, moving away from all that was familiar, including his Ohio school and the people he’s known for so many years. Now, he’s met many new friends and is taking advantage of the experience. “I love going and seeing and experiencing new things. Within a day, we can go to three countries,” he told Military Times just after he and his mother had returned from a vacation in Paris.

His mother describes AJ as very independent, mature, driven, a hard worker, and “always willing to help and try to leave the world a better place than when he found it.”

That help has come in a variety of ways. He recently chose to give some of his clothes to teenage refugees from Ukraine, who had to leave their parents and belongings behind and arrived with just their passports.

AJ also has found he can make a difference by speaking up.

Last year, when his school district announced a promotion offering $100 to youth to encourage them to get the COVID vaccine at an upcoming school vaccination clinic, AJ sent an email to the superintendent arguing that the youth who had previously received the vaccine should be eligible for the $100, too.

AJ had already gotten the vaccination, but the extra $100 wouldn’t have benefited him. He was leaving the school district before the clinic, his mother said, but he believed other kids should benefit. The superintendent agreed to give the $100 to every kid who got the vaccine where it was in the clinic or not.

His experience before leaving Ohio led him to one of his most important accomplishments, he said: speaking up and becoming an advocate for a change in state law that would help military children and others moving out of the state. He was enrolled in a community college course through a dual-enrollment program with his Ohio high school, but then found out he would be moving.

Because of the way funding was handled for the dual-enrollment program, the funding stopped because he was no longer a student in an Ohio district. “The college said since there was no funding, he would have to take a “W” (withdrawal), and that stays on the college transcript forever,” said Tanyah Stone. That meant a black mark during his college application process, through no fault of his own, she said.

“Thankfully, the community college worked with us and were able to transfer him to another program where it wouldn’t be an issue for him. So, he could have left it there … but he thought about all those other military kids. Maybe their community college wouldn’t have worked with them. What about those kids?” she said.

So AJ, who is also on the Ohio Teen Military Council, led an initiative, meeting with state representatives and education officials, who didn’t realize there was a problem, she said. Now a legislative change is being considered to allow youth to continue that college course in the dual-enrollment program for that current semester without having to take a “W” if they leave the state.

AJ sets goals and works for them, Tanyah Stone said. The straight A student is driven, she said, “I don’t have to nag him about homework. He knows what his goals are, and what it takes to get to those goals.”

Those goals include going to one of the military academies, AJ said.

“He’s just a leader within his school. His friends and teachers respect him. Everyone looks up to AJ because of the example he’s set and the way he handles himself,” she said.

“He wasn’t the best basketball player a few years ago, but he loves the sport and put in the work,” she said. He came from a small school in Ohio to the larger Kaislerslautern school and tried out for the basketball team as a sophomore. He made it, and became a starter. He’s also on a local German basketball team.

His advice for other military kids: Remain independent and help your parents the best you can. Remember there will be times when one parent won’t be there. Help the other parent as much as possible. While he’s lived in one place most of his life, he’s also lived through many of his parents’ deployments, starting with one when he was born. A few months before AJ and his mother left for Germany, his father returned from a year-long deployment.

His advice to military parents: Talk to your child regularly and make sure they’re doing okay, especially when one parent is on deployment and the other is really busy on the home front.

NAVY: Mitchell Matella, 17, Rockville, Maryland

Mitchell Matella’s drive, motivation and love for his family moved him to finish high school early so he could move with his family to the Washington, D.C., area. He graduated at age 16 from Oceanside High School in California.

“I was grateful that earlier I’d already taken some summer courses,” he said. “I really wanted to stay together with my family and not pull us apart.” Although he could have stayed with some relatives in Oceanside to finish his senior year there, it really came down to starting his senior year somewhere else or graduating early, he said.

“I decided I wanted to graduate early because I already had enough credits,” he said. “I’d taken extra classes during the year and summer courses. I could still feel a part of my high school and graduate with my friends.”

It was special for him to be able to graduate with his older sister’s class in 2021, he said, and they walked one right after the other across the stage.

COVID made it a little easier to graduate early because schedules overall were more flexible, he said, and he was able to get in the courses he needed. It also helped that he finished middle school in two years. He ranked 10th academically in a class of 458.

The 17-year-old is the son of Navy Cmdr. Thomas Matella, chief nurse anesthetist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and Kristen Matella, a healthcare contract manager.

With all his accomplishments, the most important to Mitchell are the relationships he’s had over the years, and he has maintained them during the family’s six moves. And his most important trait, he said, is that “all my life I’ve always tried to step outside the box, learn new things and master new things. I always put my all into everything I do.”

Mitchell is leaning toward a career in either environmental engineering or mechanical engineering.

He played on the varsity golf team for all three years of high school and volunteered as a mentor and assistant coach for underserved youth in the Pro Kids, First Tee–San Diego program, which challenges youth to excel both on and off the golf course.

He was treasurer of the robotics club, co-captain in the Academic League and president of the chess club, which won the Mira Costa Chess Tournament. During the pandemic, he organized chess team meetings on Zoom. He played the trumpet in the concert band and marching band.

During his gap year, Mitchell has been working at a local Panera Bread and volunteers to play the piano for patients, visitors and workers at the Walter Reed National Medical Center. He also plays the guitar in his youth worship band at church and says he loves “to fill the room with sound. I love how it goes together with all the other instruments so well.”

What’s the secret behind Mitchell’s motivation?

“Not being afraid to fail,” he said. “Plenty of times, where starting a new hobby, starting a new sport or a new instrument, you feel like you’re so far behind everyone else who’s already been in it for so many years. It’s important to give it your all,” and not be afraid of what others might think as you’re a newcomer.

“Everyone was at that point at one time in their life. If you want to get better, you have to start somewhere.”

His advice to other military kids: “The most important thing is to know how to deal with change in your life and to adapt. Maintain your prior relationships. It’s easy to do so with digital technology like FaceTime, Zoom and text, whatever you want to do to really keep those relationships strong. And it’s important at the new location to focus on creating new relationships there … so you don’t feel isolated.”

His advice to military parents: “It’s important to know what your kid is going through, and always be there for them and to talk with them frequently. My family has always been really close. We’ve always gotten together every night at the dinner table when we’re able to and talk about our day, our goals, the hardships we’re going through, so we work it out not only individually, but as a family.”

SPACE FORCE: Grant Benson, 18, Burke, Virginia

Grant Benson approaches life in the same calm, steady way he approaches his air rifle shooting competitions, as he aims at a target with a bull’s-eye the size of a pencil tip.

“You learn how to control your reaction to each shot,” said his mother, Rebecca. “It’s a very mental sport. I really see him applying that to life. When things aren’t going well, he’s just very calm and collected. He thinks about what he’s going to say and do.”

Grant is clear-eyed about his priorities in life and his goals. He has accepted a conditional appointment to the Air Force Academy, where he wants to study aerospace engineering. He has his heart set on becoming a pilot, and possibly an astronaut. He’s been recruited for the rifle team at the academy; and his competitive rifle skills have earned him invitations to the Junior Olympics for several years.

The 18-year-old senior at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia, is the son of Col. Todd Benson and Rebecca Benson. Col. Benson is director of requirements for the Space Force at headquarters in Washington, D.C. Rebecca Benson is pursuing a degree as a physical therapy assistant.

The 18-year-old has made seven moves with his family, Rebecca Benson said, but they’ve been able to stay in one spot for the past five years, thanks to Space Force efforts to work with families. He’s been on the rifle team at Robinson for four years and used that experience to get his National Rifle Association Level One certification. That qualifies him to coach, and he volunteers with different organizations such as Adaptive Sports USA and Move United Adaptive Sports, coaching and volunteering in adaptive sports such as air rifle shooting and volleyball.

That volunteer work is a clear priority. He started working with the disabled when he was in the fifth grade, when his father was doing coaching clinics for wounded veterans and others in adaptive sports.

“Grant would walk around and ask the veterans for their autographs,” his mother said. “I loved that. Grant just really looked at these guys as heroes, and they are. He didn’t really see their disabilities. He only saw their abilities. That’s something that grew as he participated with the organizations offering adaptive sports,” she said.

“I really see everybody as an equal, and I lend a hand to pretty much anybody,” Grant said, when asked about his most important trait. “I think it all comes from being a volunteer in adaptive sports. Through these experiences as a volunteer coach for these organizations like Adaptive Sports USA and Move United, I’ve been able to see from a young age that people who are different are able. Everybody’s able.”

The focus that helps him in his air rifle competitions also helped during the pandemic.

“In general, COVID was hard for me, not just because of staying home, but my dad was also deployed during that first year of COVID,” he said. “So, that added another layer of difficulties. I was able to create some outlets in my personal time to get myself away from some of the struggles. I took up fishing again.

“I prioritized my fitness and my health,” he said. “I thought it would be a great opportunity during this down time to focus on some of my personal needs, so working out, running was my goal, but it also helped relieve some of the stress and anxiety at the time.”

Word got around.

“Other parents would call Grant and say, ‘My kid is struggling. Can you take him fishing?’ They wanted to know how Grant was doing this when their kids wouldn’t come out of their rooms,” Rebecca Benson said. “He tried really hard to include others.”

His advice for military children: “A lot of military kids, like me, have struggles with moving frequently, and having to start over. … Look at your move as an adventure. For instance, if you lived in Colorado in the last assignment, think of all the fun things you got to do and take that mindset to the next move.

“Also, the people you meet will be your friends and your support network wherever you are,” he said. “It’s all about keeping those friends in touch because they really are your family,” he said.

When they moved to Virginia, they coincidentally moved near a family they had known since Grant was an infant. Grant became best friends with their son, and they had a lot of interests in common, including Civil Air Patrol, where he is a cadet lieutenant colonel. “It was cool to have someone to bond with so quickly. … The military families we’ve met over the years, we keep running into them because it’s such a small world.”

His advice for military parents: It’s important for parents to look at their new assignment as an adventure … and create that sense of adventure for their children, he said. “Encourage your children to get involved in community service, volunteering in any capacity possible and finding something they’re really interested in” to donate their time. “It’s important for your character, living a life of service. My family, we’re really big on volunteering. We really strive to volunteer in any way we can.”

It also affects other trailing federal spouses — federally employed spouses who accompany their spouses on their government assignments overseas.

Two senators have written to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking for clarity about confusing guidance.

“Our understanding is that these recent changes to the policy guidance have had a negative impact on federally employed spouses who are accompanying their spouses on government assignment or military orders overseas,” wrote Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H..

They asked for specifics on the changes, and clarity. “We are concerned that this policy denies all telework requests for federal employees assigned to or near military installations,” they wrote. “We understand that [these agreements] are rare in the federal government due to increased security concerns and costs to employing agencies.”

A number of military spouses who moved overseas with their service member on permanent change of station orders have been denied their requests for approval to work for their federal agency overseas under the Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas program. In other cases, their DETO agreements have been rescinded. It’s costing spouses tens of thousands of dollars in income, and affects primarily younger spouses with three to five years of service with their federal agency, according to one overseas spouse.

The federal agency employers may be supportive of the spouse continuing employment through telework, but the process for getting the required DETO agreement isn’t.

It appears to be related to the fact that more spouses are requesting teleworking agreements, and State Department officials in some overseas areas don’t have the personnel to go out and check houses to make sure security requirements are being met, according to spouses interviewed.

The good news is that the departments of State and Defense “are working to address the issue and will notify all interagency partners through [the Office of Personnel Management] when a resolution is reached,” a State Department spokesman said, in an email response to Military Times. “In the meantime, agencies are encouraged to reach out to the State Department on a case-by-case basis for advice in navigating military spouses’ DETOs.”

Military spouse advocates are pleased to see the questions are being asked, said Sue Hoppin, president of the National Military Spouse Network. “During the pandemic, people were seeing that remote work was viable, and so more people were open to the notion of remote work,” she said. Limiting the DETO agreements “runs counter to the Biden/Harris administration’s goal of making the federal government an ‘employer of choice’ for military spouses,” she said. “We have an opportunity to make things work in terms of military spouses in federal jobs working [overseas] who could work through PCS, and now we’re putting up an artificial barrier?”

Some spouses interviewed said it’s the military family having to foot the bill for security requirements for a DETO, such as bomb- and shatter-proof glass, specific door locks and an alarm system to notify the State Department if there is a break-in. One spouse said she spent $15,000 on security requirements.

“The safety and security of U.S. personnel are among our highest priorities,” the State Department spokesman said. “We can’t speak to any costs incurred by individuals, as the Overseas Security Policy Board — with members from all executive branch agencies stationed overseas — agrees upon standards that must be met, to include residential security standards.”

State Department officials did not provide a number of how many spouses are working under these federal teleworking agreements overseas. But spouses interviewed said they estimate “hundreds” are affected, and some are on leave without pay waiting for a DETO to be approved.

The confusion is related to official communications late last year, including written communication to State Department officials in Germany that no more DETO agreements would be approved, according to military spouses interviewed.

In some other countries, the situation is uncertain. Some spouses are being denied their application or their DETO agreements are being pulled, although there is no written communication about local policy changes.

Spouses interviewed asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, although they noted their federal employers have been supportive in trying to help them get and keep their telework agreements.

They say they’ve been told the reason for the change is the increase in the number of requests for these teleworking agreements. There’s a lack of personnel to go out and check houses to ensure they meet security requirements.

The standards apply whether the spouse lives on a military installation overseas or outside the base. But the houses outside the gate have to meet the military’s security and safety requirements for service members and their families to live there, spouses said.

Under federal law and presidential directive, all DETO agreements, including those of military spouses, fall under the authority and security responsibility of the State Department chief of mission, the State Department spokesman stated. “Spouses of DoD service members assigned to military installations are eligible for DETO arrangements. However, when the sponsoring employee is not under [chief of mission] security responsibility, it is difficult for the relevant U.S. mission (nearest embassy or consulate) to provide adequate security services and ensure required residential security and safety standards are met,” he said in the email response.

“The security standards are already there,” said one spouse. “The logical answer is that we’re under the Defense Department’s responsibility. The security standards are already there. This is redundant.”

In effect, this gives spouses unfavorable options: Stay behind in the U.S. and pay for two separate households, with yet another forced military separation; or be forced to resign from their federal job, losing tens of thousands of dollars or more in income, as well as career progression, years of Thrift Savings Plan and retirement benefits and life insurance.

More roadblocks

Meanwhile, DoD officials have reported to Congress that it’s not feasible to provide telework facilities on overseas military bases for military spouses working for private companies.

In the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress required DoD to establish a pilot program to determine whether the idea was feasible, but no such pilot program was undertaken.

“There are multiple insurmountable challenges involved in the establishment of telework facilities overseas,” DoD officials stated in a report provided to Congress, obtained by Military Times.

Among the challenges: military spouses working for a U.S.-based company may be required to pay both host nation and U.S. taxes. There are also security concerns. “Military spouses would be unable to utilize DoD networks for connectivity. Some companies have expressed hesitancy in having spouses use host nation Internet service providers,” DoD officials stated.

DoD is conducting a study on co-working spaces for military spouses on installations in the U.S., and the Army launched its first co-working space at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in 2021.

Congressional reporter Leo Shane III contributed to this report.