Message Center

Keeping a marriage together is hard work, and for military couples the stakes are even higher. The frequent moves, the trauma of the battlefield, and the deployments resulting in long periods of separation have taken a toll on countless military marriages. The U.S. Army is trying to change that. Recently, the Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage resources were approved for use by Army chaplains.

This best-selling DVD seminar series by popular speaker, pastor, and author Mark Gungor is already being put to good use by chaplains ministering to soldiers and their spouses both while they are separated, and before and after deployments. The Army held its first official training event on February 20, 2008, in Rome, Georgia, for a group of thirty-seven chaplains.

For soldiers weary of weekend briefings, this program is a breath of fresh air. Gungor’s trademark style- part stand-up comedy act, part brutal honesty- is so entertaining that even the couples who are typically wary of “touchy-feely” marriage resources have found themselves laughing out loud, nodding in agreement, and looking forward to the next session. Gungor’s astute, mirthful celebration of the fundamental differences between the sexes always sparks lively discussion between husbands and wives, conversation that will lead to a better understanding of one another and, ultimately, a great marriage.

Teleflora and NBC are looking for inspirational military mothers for a primetime television special, “America’s Favorite Mom.” In addition to military moms, the show is looking for mothers in the following categories: working mom, single mom, the non-mom, and the COE (chairman of everything) mom.

As part of this search, Teleflora partnered with USAA, a financial services company serving servicemembers and their families, to raise awareness for the competition and help identify dynamic military moms within its large network of servicemembers.

“Now more than ever, it is important to honor military moms because of their courage and willingness to respond to their individual ‘call to duty’ everyday of their lives,” says Shawn Weidmann, president of Teleflora.

Now through April 25, children and adults can nominate their favorite military mom by uploading videos, favorite photos of mom, and essay testimonials at www.americasfavoritemom.com/usaa.

The top 15 nominees from the five categories will appear on NBC’s Today show, and viewers will have the chance to vote for their favorite mom at the end of each show. The winning mom from each category will be featured on “Teleflora presents America’s Favorite Mom,” a grand finale, one-hour primetime NBC television special airing Mother’s Day, May 11, 2008. The show will include guest appearances from a number of celebrity moms as well as the stories of famous mothers who have made history.

At the end of the program, a celebrity host will crown one mom “America’s Favorite Mom” and name a rose in her honor. She will also receive thousands of dollars in cash and prizes.

As a special gift to the military mom finalist, USAA will reward her with a $2,500 cruise gift certificate from Explore Cruise Travel and a free year-long financial strategies plan with USAA Certified Financial Planner practitioner.

For more information, please visit: www.americasfavoriteMom.com/usaa.

Beginning this Memorial Day, 210,000 red, white, and blue teddy bears inscribed with “We Support and Hug You” will be delivered to U.S. servicemembers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. An additional 90,000 teddy bears will be distributed to soldiers recuperating in VA hospitals across America.

The effort is due in large part to the handiwork of retired businessman David Hamblett and his wife P.J. The couple have committed to the manufacture and delivery of the 300,000 plush, 5-inch teddy bears. The nonpartisan effort is aimed at recognizing our troops for their bravery and personal sacrifice.

The polyester bears come in navy blue with white stitched buttons and a bowtie. Stitched in red on each bear’s chest are the words, “We Support and Hug You.” Each bear will then be secured in a mesh bag with a red ribbon drawstring. In addition to the stuffed bears, each soldier will also receive a thank-you note and a Veteran’s Advantage membership card.

Through donations on their Web site, the Hambletts also expect to raise $1 million for Operation Gratitude and Operation: Care and Comfort.

This grassroots effort gives individuals the ability to sponsor a special “Bear Hug” gift pack for just $1. Additional giving levels are available.

For more information on “Bear Hug a U.S. Soldier,” visit www.bearhugaussoldier.com.

More than 16 million Americans served in uniform during the Second World War, more than 400,000 lost their lives, and millions more supported the war effort on the home front.

The World War II Memorial that honors their service and sacrifice was dedicated in Washington, D.C. in May 2004. While building the memorial, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) introduced an online World War II Registry to document the names of those who participated in history’s largest and most devastating war. The registry is accessible through ABMC’s World War II Memorial Web site at www.wwiimemorial.com. Any American that served in the armed forces or contributed to the war effort on the home front, whether in factories and shipyards or farms and neighborhoods, is eligible.

The registry contains more than two million records, and the public submitted more than 1.5 million of the entries. The database also includes National Archives and Records Administration lists of those killed in service during the war, and the names of those buried in ABMC overseas cemeteries or listed on its Tablets of the Missing.

There is no charge to place a name in the Registry. Registry entries include such information as name, branch of service, hometown, and a brief narrative of the individual’s wartime service. A photo can be submitted to personalize the record. Individuals can be enrolled through the memorial Web site or by calling toll free to 1-800-639-4992. The database is also accessible — for search only — at the World War II Memorial site on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Healthy Habits is one of four new monthly columns that will be featured in Message Center. Look for a new column every Monday.

Is this the year to unveil that six-pack of abs? Having a strong midsection is not just an aesthetic goal — it’s a healthy one. Strong abdominal muscles mean a stronger, less injury-prone back, not to mention that studies show less fat around your middle cuts your risk of heart disease.

A lean, strong torso (often called the “core”) requires a two-tiered attack: a smart exercise plan that targets all the core muscles and a balanced, portion-controlled diet. In fact, you can have the strongest, fittest abs in the world, but no one (including yourself) will know it if they’re covered by a layer of fat. So be sure to carefully monitor your food intake.

The most efficient way to hit all the core muscles is performing an exercise circuit that works the torso from a variety of directions. Here’s a circuit that’s designed to get the job done in minimal time. Perform all the exercises in a row and then, after a brief rest, repeat the circuit again for a total of three times.

Exercise ball crunch: Sit on the ball with your feet flat on the floor, letting the ball slightly roll back. Lie back until your thighs and torso are parallel to the floor, crossing your arms behind your head with your hands gently cradling your head. Raise your torso up no more than 45 degrees and then lower back to the starting position for 15 to 25 repetitions. If you feel off balance, spread your legs wider.

Bicycles: Lie on your back on the floor. Gently cradle your head in your hands, your elbows straight out from your head. Bring your knees up to about a 45-degree angle and slowly pedal them as if you were pedaling a bike. Touch your left elbow to your right knee and then your right elbow to your left knee as you cycle your legs. Don’t rush during this exercise — start with 30 seconds and work up to a full minute.

Exercise ball back extension: Lie face down on the ball, placing the ball under your hips, your knees slightly bent, and your feet against a wall for support. Place your hands either behind your head or back and slowly bend forward over the ball. Lift your chest off the ball, bringing your shoulders up until your body is in a straight line — without hyperextending your back. Repeat eight to 12 times.

Plank: Lie face down on the floor resting on your forearms, your palms flat on the floor. Push up off the floor, raising up onto your toes and resting on your elbows (you also can push all the way up to the top of a pushup position, your hands directly beneath your shoulders). Keep your back flat in a straight line from your head to your heels. Hold for 30 to 90 seconds.

About the author: Wendy Watkins is a personal trainer certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the American Council on Exercise.

More than a million eligible veterans will see their mileage reimbursement more than double for travel to Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities, effective as of February 1, 2008.

While increasing the payment, VA, as mandated by law, also equally increased the deductible amounts applied to certain mileage reimbursements. The new deductibles are $7.77 for a one way trip, and $15.54 for a round trip, with a maximum of $46.62 per calendar month; however, these deductibles can be waived if they cause a financial hardship to the veteran.

The 2008 appropriations act provided funding for the VA to increase the beneficiary travel mileage reimbursement rate from 11 cents per mile to 28.5 cents per mile.

The increase helps veterans — especially those living in rural areas — offset some of the gasoline costs for traveling to VA health care facilities, said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake.

“Increasing the mileage reimbursement is one more step by VA to help veterans access the health care they deserve,” said Secretary Peake. After little more then a month on the job, Secretary Peake used his authority to establish the first increase in the mileage reimbursement in 30 years, fulfilling a pledge he made during his Senate confirmation hearing in December.

Docurama Films 2008 film “OPERATION HOMECOMING: Writing the Wartime Experience” is up for an Oscar award this Sunday for Best Documentary Feature. Directed and produced Richard E. Robbins and Tom Yellin, the film is inspired by a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) project of the same name that gathered the writing of soldiers on the front. In 2004, the NEA sent bestselling authors including Tobias Wolff, Tim O’Brien and John Salter to military bases to teach workshops and in turn, the foundation received thousands of pages of poetry, fiction, memoir, letters, journals, and essays. OPERATION HOMECOMING is the stunning collection of these unfiltered firsthand accounts. It is a unique film offering a profound window into the human side of war and the personal battle that ensues not only on the front, but also when a soldier returns home.

OPERATION HOMECOMING combines the voice work of well-known actors like Robert Duvall, Aaron Eckhart, Josh Lucas, and Blair Underwood, with on-the-ground-footage and animation. The film differs from other contemporary war films because of its focus on the writing of soldiers’ poetry, short stories, memoirs, and essays and displays an honesty and intensity that is rarely seen in explorations of the war.

Check out a clip of the movie below:

The OPERATION HOMECOMING DVD is available at http://www.docurama.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-NNVG102401 or wherever DVDs are sold. Check out the 80th annual Academy Awards live on Feb. 24 to see if the film snags an Oscar!

The U.S. Postal Service will begin offering a discount Priority Mail rate March 3 and a larger box for care packages sent to servicemembers overseas.

The new flat-rate box is 50-percent larger than the current Priority Mail package and it will be delivered for $10.95 to an APO/FPO address — $2 less than the cost for domestic destinations.

“This is the first time the Postal Service has offered a special price for our armed forces serving overseas,” Postmaster General John Potter says. “We’re proud that family and friends will be able to use this new larger-sized box to send much appreciated packages from home to our dedicated troops overseas.”

The new Priority Mail Large Flat-Rate Box (12″ x 12″ x 5 inches or 800 cubic inches) will be available in Post Offices nationwide beginning March 3, but customers can begin ordering them Feb. 20 at usps.com/supplies or by calling (800) 610-8734. Some of the new boxes are co-branded with the logo of America Supports You, which is a DoD program that connects citizens offering support to the military and their families.

The $2 discount is applied when the Priority Mail Large Flat-Rate Boxes are shipped to an APO/FPO destination. The two existing flat-rate boxes (11 x 3 x 13 inches and 11 x 8 X 5 inches), which currently retail for $8.95 for U.S. addresses, are not available for the military discount, postal officials said. However, all flat-rate boxes still can be used for international shipping.

Your Next Life is one of four new monthly columns that will be featured in Message Center. Look for a new column every Monday.

Don’t think it could never happen to you. Every day, good employees lose their jobs and immediately are escorted off the property with barely enough time to scoop the memorabilia off of their desks. It might seem harsh, but people who run companies see immediate removal from the property as a reasonable tactic to protect a company’s intellectual property, computer networks, and working environment from being corrupted by a disgruntled former employee.

Even the most seemingly secure — from the big corner office to the tiniest cubicle — can be at risk of sudden job loss due to change in corporate strategy, petty office politics, a strained relationship with the boss, a sudden merger or acquisition, a slowing economy, or a host of other factors. Accordingly, it pays to periodically update your personal files in the event of a sudden job loss.

More importantly, don’t keep all of your professional data, contact information, and e-mail archives exclusively on a company-owned computer. As a minimum, e-mail address books, essential networking and schedule information, contact lists, commendatory correspondence, company directories, and other details of your professional life should periodically be backed-up on portable memory or a personal computer. Refreshing your résumé — including revenue increased, costs reduced, subordinates nurtured, teams led, and problems solved — and intensifying the networking process leading to your next job are especially important. All of this data should reside somewhere else besides your office computer.

Equally important, don’t be lulled into complacency thinking the worst could never happen by overestimating your value to the organization. Take small steps every week to enlarge your professional network, strengthen your résumé, and reconnect with mentors by attending conferences, joining trade groups, publishing professional articles, keeping in touch with former bosses, and seeking expanded responsibilities at work. In short, be ready to execute a job search before you’re executed.

About the author: Jim Carman is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management and a retired Navy captain. He writes and lectures on career transition topics.

Senator Kerry (D- MA) and Senator Bond (R- MO) recently introduced the “Hire A Hero Act.” This legislation would authorize $25 million annually to the National Guard Bureau which would, in turn, award funding on a competitive basis to nonprofit organizations that assist former members of the armed forces in finding jobs.

Hire A Hero is one such nonprofit; a Web-based military community with a mission to help its members network in order to find quality training and career opportunities. Hire A Hero seeks not only potential networkers, but also volunteers who can work in a variety of roles from their hometowns across the country. The program is in need of donations to remain free for all.

Late last week the Department of Veterans Affairs reported that 4.4 million people who have been discharged from active duty since 1990 are facing prejudice in their civilian job search. The report stated that 18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year. According to this report, many veterans lack involvement in civilian networks and need mentors in their desired line of work. Through the Hire A Hero online community network, veterans can develop essential relationships with people who can help them find good jobs.

For more information on the Hire A Hero program, visit http://hireahero.com/.