Topics in This Week's News Include:
1. Defense Appropriations Moving Forward
2. What Will the Call Home Act of 2006 Mean to You
3. DODEA Discontinuing Remote Home School Program
4. Helping Teens Talk About Deployment
5. VA and DoD Agree to Partner with Inpatient Record System
6. DeCA is Working Harder For You!
8. NMFA Now Accepting Applications for Military Spouse Scholarships
Here's the News!!!
1. Defense Appropriations Moving Forward? As
reported in previous Government and You issues, some of the 2007
Appropriations bills were not passed during the last session of
Congress. This is a significant issue for military families since the
programs that are authorized for 2007 are currently being funded at
2006 levels through a continuing resolution which is set to expire on
February 15th. In a joint letter from the Senate and House
Appropriations Committees, led by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) and
Representative Dave Obey (D-WI, 7th), there is indication that Congress
recognizes the impending shortfalls.
The letter details the impact of the appropriations bill on a
variety of federal agencies and programs. With regard to military
health care, the letter states: "A continuing resolution, using the
formula carried over from the 109th Congress, would result in a
significant shortfall in the Defense Health Program. This program
provides basic and specialized medical treatment for the American men
and women who have returned from the front lines in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and in other trouble spots around the globe. While the
Military Healthcare System will continue to fully support the care
provided to our deployed forces, this shortfall will have a severe
negative impact on the care provided to active duty members, their
families, and retiree beneficiaries. Non-emergent care, elective
surgeries, pharmacy formularies, facility maintenance, equipment
acquisition, and provider staffing contracts would be reduced or
eliminated.The size of the shortfall would force the Department to
delay payments for claims. Delayed payments to network providers will
have a long term negative impact on their willingness to participate in
TRICARE networks."
The letter also addresses Veteran's Administration (VA) funding and
states: "Medical services to veterans will suffer greatly under an
extension of the current funding formula.The shortage of funding is
exacerbated by the increase in patient demand which alreadyexceeds the
Fiscal 2006 levels." According to the letter "the difference between
the CR and the requested budget is about $3.2 billion (this includes
the $1.225 billion in emergency funding in the FY 2006 Military
Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill) -- a reduction of
approximately $250 million per month. As patient demands increase, this
cut would force as many as 850,000 veterans to wait even longer for the
health care they have earned, and as many as 500,000 could be turned
away entirely."
In addition to the discussion on health care, the letter addresses
the Military Construction Appropriations and states that "military men
and women could see service cutbacks if the current funding levels are
allowed to continue for the full year." The Military Construction
Appropriations bill provides funding for child care centers, medical
facilities, housing maintenance, and other family support activities
critically needed in locations that are absorbing personnel relocating
under the global rebasing initiative.
Yesterday Representative Obey introduced a resolution that would
fund the The Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs
Appropriations Act at the levels authorized for the VA and most DoD
programs for FY2007. We have been alarmed to learn this week that the
draft Continuing Resolution does not include all the funding authorized
to help. DoD initiate all the military construction projects necessary
to support the upcoming Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)
requirements. NMFA urges Congress to fully fund these vital projects
and quickly pass this resolution.
2. What Will the Call Home Act of 2006 Mean to You?
The Call Home Act of 2006 passed Congress and became law late last year
(P.L. 109-459). NMFA supported the efforts of the bill's sponsors,
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), to address
the financial strain placed on service members and their families while
serving overseas in support of our country's military missions.
The bill requires the FCC to implement initiatives to lower service
members' phone bills stationed outside the United States, such as
waiving government fees and/or assessments. The bill requires the FCC
to examine the cost of phone calls and explore alternate ways to lower
prices through the adoption of new technology and provide incentives
for phone companies to offer lower and/or flexible rates for service
members and eligible family members and establish new contracts with
foreign phone companies to provide lower international surcharges. The
law specifies the military service members must be stationed outside
the United States, in receipt of official military orders, or deployed
overseas for training and/or operational purposes in support of
military actions approved by the Secretary of Defense.
The FCC is in the interpretation and implementation stage of the
rules for enacting the new law. Soon a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
will be issued and will seek written comments from military service
members and their families along with other interested parties. They
are looking for first-hand experiences from parties calling to or from
the United States military bases located overseas on methods used to
talk with loved ones residing in the United States, with detailed
accounts of the pros and cons of the current communication systems
being utilized and the their related costs. The FCC has not established
a specific date for the receipt of public comments. So, they will take
into consideration all public comments regardless of their submission
date. Comments may be submitted by mail at Federal Communication
Commission, Pricing Policy Division, Room 5A232, 445 12th Street S.W.,
Washington, DC 20554 or e-mail them to: CallHomeAct@fcc.gov
(Source: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-2A1.pdf).
3. DODEA Discontinuing Remote Home School Program:
On January 24, 2007, the Department of Defense Education Activity
(DODEA) announced that it would discontinue its remote home school
program in school year 2007-2008 due to the expiration of funding and
grants for the program.
The funding for this pilot program, established in school year
2001-2002 through unsolicited allocations and grants from Congress, has
expired. By law, DODEA is not permitted to lobby for funds to continue
the Remote Location Home Schooling Program.
This change affects approximately 400 families who live in the
Pacific Theater. The news of the termination of the program follows a
change in contractors for the 2006-2007 school year which resulted in
confusion regarding curriculum orders and requirements for the program.
Currently the program is administered by WorldWide IDEA. Through the
Remote Home School Program families who are eligible for space required
attendance at DODEA schools in the Pacific, but do not live within
commuting distance of a DoD school, can obtain a computer, internet
access reimbursement, assistance from certified teachers, standardized
testing, and up to $1,600 per student to cover curriculum and
educational aids.
"We truly regret any disruption this may cause students and
families, "said Dr. Joseph Tafoya, DODEA Director, in the recent press
release. "We do not take this decision lightly-it is the result of
careful analysis of the needs of our directed mission". Currently
operating a home schooling program is outside of DODEA's directed
mission.
Spokespersons for DODEA state that they will assist students and
families in any way possible as they transition from the Remote Home
Schooling Based program to locally-DODEA-administered schools or local
public schools. Parents who wish to continue to home schooling may do
so at their expense.
NMFA realizes the unique challenges faced to families who
participate in pilot programs only to have funding run out after a
limited period of time. We urge DoDEA school officials to work with
families who now must find other educational options for their
children.(Source:http://www.dodea.edu/communications/news/releases/012407.htm)
4. Helping Teens Talk About Deployment:
NMFA believes that military families serve alongside their service
members. In Minnesota programs have been developed to help military
kids cope with the issues they face when a family member deploys. At a
recent Speak Out For Military Kids event, sponsored by the Minnesota
National Guard, 4-H, the U.S. Army Reserve and the Minnesota Child Care
Resource and Referral Network, eight teens were brought to Minnesota
State University to let them know they weren't alone. The program helps
military teens express their fears and frustrations. One technique is
to permit the group to ask questions of a pair of soldiers who had been
in Iraq. Their questions ranged from the expected to the unexpected.
They asked about the sand, about what soldiers do with their free time,
if they'd personally come under attack, and if Iraq has a lot of
snakes. Sgt. Ben Schlag, an MSU student who returned from his
deployment a year ago, and retired Staff Sgt. Steve Robbins of
Mapleton, who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, answered them all. But
the typical group of adolescents changed when Schlag started asking
questions back. Like when he asked what the hardest thing was of having
a father or mother serving in Iraq. As the answers came, so did the
sniffles and some tears and a bit of undisguised anger."The hardest
thing is I thought he was going to come back in a couple of months,"
said Nick Seibring, the stepson of a National Guard soldier serving
with the 1st Brigade Combat Team. "Now it's going to be September." The
1st Bridage Combat Team deployment was recently extended to increase
the number of troops in Iraq. Tony Spurling started to offer his
opinion of the extension."It's dumb," Spurling said. "It's ... Oh,
never mind." One of the adult organizers asked Spurling if he wanted to
share the word he used during a smaller group discussion to describe
his feelings. "Rage," he said. Robbins, the retired soldier from
Mapleton, didn't try to dissuade the kids from feeling what they're
feeling. "I don't think anything anyone can say can take away the pain
the extension is causing," Robbins said. "Only time can take that away."
This discussion and the day long program are designed to help give
military teens some tools to cope with the feelings they are
experiencing. Bringing the teens together to discuss and validate the
feelings they are having helps them to realize that they are not
experiencing this alone. Amber Runke, a program specialist for
Operation: Military Kids and a 4-H events coordinator shared that the
idea behind it is to just give the kids a voice, so they can also
interact with other kids who are going through the same things. "You
hear kids say, 'I'm the only one in my school. No one else
understands.'" This was the second Speak Out for Military Kids event
held in Minnesota this winter. There are 12,000 kids in Minnesota with
a parent in the National Guard, said Gail Mossman, the Guard's youth
coordinator. There are 3,700 kids with a parent in the 1st Brigade
Combat Team. Thousands of others have a brother, sister, uncle or aunt
serving in Iraq.The Speak Out events - others are planned for Lanesboro
in February and Duluth in March - bring the kids together and guide
them through a day of figuring out how they feel about what's going on
in their lives and how to express it. In the evening, the kids give
lectures, present skits or show videos they made that day about what
it's like to have a parent overseas. Robbins' daughter Angela, 17, went
through the program. She's since done her speech for other groups and
was there Saturday, talking to the first-timers. Steve Robbins said
it's helped his daughter develop connections with similar teenagers and
to talk about what she went through.
Recognizing the need for the children of deployed service members to
feel that they are not alone, NMFA's Operation Purple Camps fulfill
this same function with younger children in a week long, camp setting.
We will continue to present ways that families affected by the
extensions are being aided as the surge and plus-ups continue.(Source: http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_028002534.html)
5. VA and DoD Agree to Partner with Inpatient Record System: The
Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veterans Affairs (VA) will develop
a joint electronic inpatient health care record. This will allow them
to share inpatient information between the two agencies. Currently, the
DoD's electronic health record AHLTA is used for outpatient health care
and is scheduled to be incorporated into inpatient care. The VA uses
VistA as its electronic inpatient and outpatient health care services.
The two systems were developed at different timeframes and accommodate
each agency's missions. The VA focuses on supporting veterans' health
care and DoD supports military family health care along with combat
missions.
The reason for the partnership is to aid in the transfer of wounded
service members' inpatient health care information between the two
agencies. Wounded service members' health care consists of moving back
and forth between the two agencies. A service member may arrive at the
National Navy Medical Clinic Bethesda during their initial treatment
for combat wounds received in theater and transfer to the VA's
Polytrauma Center in Palo Alto, CA for further treatment and recovery.
Once recovered, the service member may return to the DoD Military
Treatment Facility for any follow-on treatment. It's important for
individual health care information to be easily transferred between the
two agencies in order to maintain the patients' continuity of care.
Both agencies will perform a study to look at their clinical
processes, benefit requirements and the potential impact for each
agency's costs and ability to meet the required timeframes before
embarking on a joint strategy for inpatient electronic health care
recording system.
NMFA applauds this effort by both agencies to examine an effective
method to share inpatient information electronically and note that this
effort is long overdue. This joint venture will go a long way in
assuring the seamless transmissions of wounded service members' health
care information between the two agencies is successful. (Source: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1279).
6. DeCA is Working Harder For You!
The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) is committed to making your
commissary benefit a significant value. Toward that end they have
recently updated their website, http://www.commissaries.com/,
with a brand new look. The new front page features easier to find links
which include a recipe section and the ability to create a personalized
shopping list for your local commissary. Shoppers can also view sale
items and purchase commissary gift certificates on the site.
A new added benefit for commissary patrons is the addition of a
staff dietician at DeCA Headquarters. Maj. Karen Fauber has 16 years
of service with 10 years as an Army Reserve dietitian and six years
active duty, including experience as a certified diabetes educator in
Army medical facilities and public health clinics. She has also
developed, coordinated and evaluated health and nutrition programs in
Virginia and was the Virginia "5 A Day for Better Health" program
coordinator. Major Fauber will be working on outreach programs such as
"Ask the Dietician" and the recently updated "5 A Day For Better
Health".
DeCA is constantly striving to improve their services. The next time
you visit your local store, take a moment to complete a comment card or
go online and complete a customer comment form. Your comments and
suggestions help to make the commissary benefit better for all patrons.
7. Ken Burns New Documentary: On
January 22, 2007, members of the National Military Family Association
attended a preview of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary titled
"The War." The documentary focuses on World War II and it will consist
of seven episodes totaling 14 hours. The film depicts various battles
during the war's Pacific and European theater while weaving 40 to 50
personal experiences during that same time frame. The reason for
producing this documentary was to capture personal stories before they
were lost and educate current generations about the war.
After viewing a short snippet of the film, the audience had the
opportunity to ask the co-producers questions. The film is centered on
four towns, the people who live there and the impact of the war. The
timeframe is 1941-1945. The four towns were randomly selected to
represent a sampling of the United States. They are Waterbury,
Connecticut; Sacramento, California; Mobile, Alabama and Luverne,
Minnesota. Many in attendance were World War II veterans and asked the
co-producers whether certain battles were included. They were assured
that they would be pleased with the time spent on their particular
battle(s). However, not every battle was chosen to be highlighted in
the documentary. The film will air on PBS on September 16th for two
weeks. A member of the Government Relations staff remarked "I'm looking
forward to watching it with my dad, a P-51 fighter pilot during World
War II, and having him share personal experiences with me and his
grandchildren."
8. NMFA Now Accepting Applications for Military Spouse Scholarships:The
National Military Family Association is accepting applications for
NMFA's Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarships.
Scholarships are awarded to military spouses to obtain professional
certification or to attend post secondary or graduate school.
Applications will only be accepted online at www.nmfa.org/scholarship
and must be submitted by midnight March 15, 2007. Spouses of Uniformed
Service members (active duty, National Guard and Reserve, retirees, and
survivors) of any branch or rank are eligible to apply. Scholarships
normally range from $500 to $1,000 and may be used for tuition, fees,
and school room and board. Through a new partnership with the Military
Channel, NMFA has expanded the Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse
Scholarship Program in 2007 to provide additional scholarships to a
larger number of deserving military spouses. NMFA recognizes that
unique challenges like frequent moves and deployments can interfere
with military spouses' ability to complete their education. NMFA's
military spouse education initiative is dedicated to helping military
spouses gain the education they need to reach their full career
potential.
Visit www.nmfa.org/SpouseEd for additional resources. Organizations supporting military spouses are encouraged to provide this link, www.nmfa.org/scholarship, on their website or in other publications.
