How the Brass See It

Here's some  more from the article "When the Troops Come Home," which I started discussing yesterday in this blog.  From the perspective of military leaders, the well being of military families is an essential consideration, because the unhappiness and stress that loved ones experience is a great incentive to quit. "You recruit and train a soldier, but you retain the family," said Denis McDonough, chief of staff for the National Security Council, which is finishing up a major review of how every Cabinet department can support military families. In the long run, the stability of the military can only be achieved when service members believe that have left their family in good shape when they deploy and will have the help they need to reenter family life on their return. 

Speaking of the attitude of the Obama administration, McDonough says, "In a lot of ways, it's kind of an emotional thing here. The first lady is raising the bar on this." Michelle Obama has made military families a White House priority, working alongside Vice President Biden's wife, Jill.  Their son served in Iraq. At one meeting, McDonough says that President Obama looked over 2011 spending proposals and said, "This is easy.... Here's the deal: I'm not going to go home tonight and tell the first lady of the United States that I had an opportunity to ensure that our budget meets the investments that she's been telling me about, but that I didn't take it."

That is good news, but budgetary considerations often trump good intentions. Since 9/11, the Defense Department has invested heavily in military family support initiatives, but as people perceive the wars winding down, as the recession lingers, and as deficits mount, funding for these initiatives at the same, or the higher levels that are needed, may not be possible..

The Pentagon's budget estimates it will spend about $10.7 billion in both fiscal 2010 and the 2011 on services to  military families, including on-base schools, youth programs, and subsidized grocery stores.However, that figure does not include military housing allowances, a total of $19.7 billion requested for 2011; or military health care at $50.7 billion, so the competition with the financial demands of combat operations and weapons procurement is growing ever stiffer.

"People are looking at health care costs as a component of Pentagon spending," McDonough said. "By the same token, we've made clear that a mission-critical effort is keeping our force healthy, keeping our families healthy, making sure that they get a good education." 

"We know cuts are coming down the road," said Kathleen Moakler, government-relations director at the National Military Family Association.  Let's hope eliminating waste and duplicative efforts will be all that is needed, so we don't take a step backward just when stressed families need more and more support.