Finances Top Concern for Military Families
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Army News Service, Dec. 1, 2003) – Personal financial concerns are this year’s top priority for Soldiers and their families, according to the votes of 103 delegates to the 2003 Army Family Action Plan Conference. All the top five new AFAP issues directly relate to pay benefits and personal expenses.
Survivor Benefit Plan offset headed the list of new issues—ahead of mortgage relief for mobilized reserve-component service members and death benefits for stillborn infants (tied for second), lodging and subsistence for family members of hospitalized service members and weight allowance for permanent change of station moves.
During the 20th annual Department of the Army AFAP conference Nov. 17-21 in Alexandria, Va., delegates representing every demographic segment of the Army worked in eight groups addressing 24 issues in areas such as family support, force support, logistical support, employment, entitlements and medical/dental.
Each work group elected a spokesperson to brief out its top three issues at week's end to an audience of senior Army leaders that included Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and his wife Sheila; Reginald J. Brown, assistant secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs; Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace, director of the Army Staff, and his wife Gail; Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz, director of the Army National Guard; Brig. Gen. James Snyder (who represented Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve) and Mrs. Helmly; and the conference host, Brig. Gen. Robert L. Decker, U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center commander.
After all the issues were briefed, delegates voted for the top five from the conference, the six most critical active AFAP issues and the most valuable community services.
Help for surviving spouses of retirees was the focus of the # 1 issue: Survivor Benefit Plan offset. Spokesperson Tracey Dougherty, Fort Polk, La., explained that SBP, a voluntary, annuity-type plan paid monthly by military retirees, provides 55 percent of the service member’s retirement pay to the surviving spouse when Social Security is not yet payable and a 35 percent benefit when it is (at age 62). The age of receipt for maximum Social Security benefits has increased but the SBP offset remains at age 62. The Entitlements I work group recommended delay of the start of the second-tier level of SBP benefits from age 62 to 72 and increasing the level of benefits from 35 to 40 percent.
Entitlements II spokesperson Capt. Chris Moore, Fort Jackson, S.C. made impassioned pleas for his work group’s issues through compelling storytelling, of which two resulted in a tie for the #2 new issue: mortgage relief for mobilized reservists and death benefits for stillborn infants.
Moore explained that approximately one-third of mobilized reserve-component service members suffer a significant decrease in pay, which impacts their ability to meet mortgage obligations. The work group made the recommendation that the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act be amended to allow Soldiers to defer the difference between the existing mortgage obligation on the family’s primary residence and the Basic Allowance for Housing for the duration of mobilization.
In briefing death benefits for stillborn infants, Moore illustrated the issue with an emotional comparison of two families experiencing the joy of pregnancy and birth but which then undergo the heartbreaking loss of a child. But while a child who dies even shortly after birth is covered under Family Supplemental Group Life Insurance, a stillborn child is not, compounding the Soldier’s and family’s emotional trauma with financial hardship. The work group recommended that this could be addressed by changing the FSGLI to include a death benefit for stillborn infants.
Dougherty also briefed the #4 issue: lodging and subsistence for family members of hospitalized service members. Current policy authorizes transportation costs for two family members when a Soldier is hospitalized. Dougherty explained that Congress has authorized per diem for families of Soldiers injured in Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, but when a Soldier is seriously ill or injured in circumstances other than war, family members must incur the costs of lodging and food expenses. The work group recommended travel and per diem be provided to families of all Soldiers hospitalized with serious illness or injury.
Facilities and Relocation spokesperson Maj. Nora Marcos, Yongsan, Korea, whose husband is an Army lieutenant colonel, briefed the #5 issue: weight allowance for Permanent Change of Station moves. Marcos explained that failure to review and adjust weight allowances has resulted in the application of out-of-date weight tables that have not increased since the 1980s, resulting in Soldiers having to dispose of personal items or paying out of pocket to cover moving expenses. The work group recommended weight allowances periodically be reviewed and adjusted based on modern-day households.
Affordable continuing education for family members continues to remain a hot issue, as delegates voted for the top six critical active issues introduced into the AFAP process in preceding conferences.
Allowing all Soldiers with at least 10 years of service to distribute their Montgomery GI Bill benefits to their dependents was voted the top active issue, followed by in-state college tuition status for military family members, which was the number one 2002 AFAP conference new issue. This would allow for military family members residing in a state on military orders for the last and current duty assignment to be eligible for in-state tuition and to retain in-state tuition status once established.
In-state tuition status tied with pay table reform for second in the top six critical active issues, followed by modification of the Permanent Change of Station weight allowance table, retirement Dislocation Allowances and shipment of household goods.
This year’s delegates identified the most valuable services as medical/dental, the Army Family Action Plan, Army Community Service and the commissary.
The Army Family Action Plan grassroots process has identified issues affecting Soldiers' and families' lives to the Army senior leadership level since 1983. Over the past 20 years, AFAP has raised more than 542 issues resulting in 82 changes to legislation, 130 revised policies and 140 improved programs or services. AFAP successes include the Military Thrift Savings Plan that allows military members to participate in the Federal Thrift Savings Plan; TRICARE for Life, which extends TRICARE eligibility to military Medicare-eligibles; tour stabilization for Soldiers with high school seniors; and uniform DoD reserve-component family member identification cards.
“We find ourselves in the AFAP 20th year, supporting an Army at war,” said Casey. “At no time in my recent memory has a program like AFAP been more important to the overall success of our Army.”
AFAP is a family support program of the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center in Alexandria, Va., and is one of more than 50 programs CFSC provides for Soldiers and families worldwide. Further information is available at the Army MWR Web site at www.armymwr.com.
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