Making it in the MilLife

Back in September, the President signed an Executive Order trying to ease the path to federal employment for military spouses.  The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has now posted the new regulations on the Federal Register for a 30-day public comment period that began on December 5th.  After the public comment period and any subsequent revisions by OPM, the new rules will go into effect.

For you policy wonks out there, here is the summary excerpt from the Federal Register:

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

5 CFR Parts 315 and 316

RIN 3206-AL73

Noncompetitive Appointment of Certain Military Spouses

AGENCY: U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing 

proposed regulations that allow agencies to noncompetitively appoint 

certain military spouses to positions in the competitive service. These 

regulations implement Executive Order 13473, 73 FR 56703 (Sept. 28, 

2008), which authorizes noncompetitive appointments in the Civil 

Service for spouses of certain members of the armed forces. These 

regulations facilitate the entry of military spouses into the Federal 

civil service as part of an effort to recruit and retain skilled and 

experienced members of the armed forces and to recognize and honor the 

service of members injured, disabled, or killed in connection with their service.

You can see the entire entry here.  We are one step closer to a potentially better employment outlook for military spouses.

We are fortunate to have Mitja Ng-Baumhackl as a member of our 2008-2009 cohort of the President’s Currently Serving Spouse Advisory Council.   Here he shares his experiences as a male military spouse, particularly the challenges he faced during his wife’s recent deployment to Bahrain when he found himself looking for a way to keep her connected to their young daughter.