Making it in the MilLife

Remember the Career Advancement Accounts we spoke about earlier? These are the accounts for military spouses that go toward funding education costs at the rate of $3000 per year, renewal for up to 2 years for a maximum of $6000. It’s a program that has come out of a collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor to promote portable career options for military spouses. It’s currently being piloted at 18 demonstration sites in 8 states.

Although a great deal, many of us were very disappointed in that the program was too narrow in its scope. Originally, only spouses married to E-1’s to E-5’s and O-1’s to O-3’s were eligible and you had to be pursuing a course of study in 5 disciplines deemed highly portable. Well, I’m happy to announce that the program has been expanded to include active duty military spouses married to service members of any rank (at the demonstration sites) and they have added several more categories to the areas of study. Check it out.

I’m happy to report that the registration for MOAA’s 2nd Military Spouse Symposium is now live!

Last year’s symposium was a blast. In addition to spouses from Maryland, Virginia, DC and Delaware, we had spouses join us from as far away as Chicago, Illinois and Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. I think everyone felt like they walked away with more knowledge and enjoyed the opportunity to network with other spouses and the speakers.

This year’s event should be even better. The intent of our Symposium is to provide an open forum for military spouses and those personnel working military spouse and family issues by presenting recognized experts addressing thought-provoking topics. This year’s Symposium will consist of a morning panel discussion on Building Strong Military Marriages followed by a Military Benefits Update for Yourself and the Families you Serve. After reading the feedback forms, we found that people enjoyed the informative sessions more than the speakers, so this time around, we’re going to offer breakout sessions delving into: Military Spouse Employment, Family Support or Legislative Affairs. All this will be followed by an afternoon reception.

Should be a great time. The event takes place Thursday, June 19th from 8:45 until 4:00 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. If you’re in the area, come join us. Check out the information on the MOAA website. Feel free to e-mail me at moaaspouse@moaa.org if you have any questions.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll spend some time highlighting the speakers we’ll have at the event.