washingtonscene
Legislative Scorecard Coming
■ Next month’s Wash- ington Scene column will feature a scorecard showing specific actions your U.S. senators and representatives have (or have not) taken to support selected MOAA legislative priorities.
served with ground-force units and other formations that have come under attack. In a late-July hearing on the backlog of disability claims before the Senate Vet- erans’ Affairs Committee, VA leaders said the new rule should save money in the long run, because more veterans will get treatment, and reduce incidences of un- employment, homelessness, and substance abuse, which are much more difficult and expensive to deal with over time. MOAA joins the VA in urging veterans
to apply under the new rule if they were denied benefits for a confirmed diagnosis of PTSD or if they never applied but think they have PTSD symptoms from wartime. Applicants should work with a knowledge- able county or veteran service officer.
New MyCAA
Cutbacks Rule changes drop career spouses and degree programs.
M
OAA disagrees with the Penta- gon’s July 20 decision to severely limit military spouses’ eligibility
for the popular Military Spouse Career Ad- vancement Accounts (MyCAA) program. Last year, the new program was offered
to all currently serving military spouses, authorizing up to $6,000 for servicemem- bers’ spouses to enroll in a wide variety of educational, licensing, and credentialing programs to help offset employment dis- ruptions caused by military-ordered moves. Caught by surprise when more than
130,000 spouses applied and fearing the program would run out of money, the Pen- tagon abruptly suspended it without any advance warning in February. Following an uproar from outraged
spouses, the program was reopened March 13 to those already enrolled, pending fur- ther Pentagon review of the program’s fate.
4 4 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R S E P T EMB E R 2 0 1 0 At that time, MOAA strongly urged de-
fense leaders not to disenfranchise spouses of career servicemembers — those who suf- fer most because of multiple military moves. Unfortunately, that advice went un- heeded. Under the new rules that will take effect Oct. 25, only the most junior ser- vicemembers’ spouses will be eligible (E-1 through E-5 in the enlisted grades, war- rant officers in grades W-1 and W-2, and officers in grades O-1 and O-2). In addition, the program will be restrict-
ed to covering licensure and credentialing programs and courses leading to an associ- ate’s degree. Reimbursements will be lim- ited to $2,000 a year, with total payments not to exceed $4,000 per eligible spouse. MOAA thinks restricting eligibility to
spouses of first-term personnel — many of whom won’t stay for military careers — misses the whole point. Covering courses leading to associate’s degrees but not bach- elor’s or master’s degrees that are essential for nursing, teaching, and other portable careers seems equally incongruous. “When the program first kicked off last
year, spouses were grateful DoD was finally acknowledging it had some obligation to help them ease their own personal sacri- fices,” said MOAA Government Relations Director Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret. “That’s why they were so upset when the program was suspended in February, be- cause they saw it as backtracking on the only funded career program they ever had.” “The program restart in March offered
a new ray of hope, but this new restric- tion yanks the rug out from under career spouses yet again,” Strobridge said. MOAA believes longer-serving spouses
deserve fairer treatment, and we’ll be ask- ing Congress to help them get it.
MO
— Contributors are Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF- Ret., direc tor; Col. Mike Hayden, USAF-Ret.; Col. Bob Norton, USA-Ret.; Cmdr. René Campos, USN- Ret.; Capt. Kathy Beasley, USN-Ret.; Col. Phil Odom, USAF-Ret.; Bret Shea; and Matt Murphy, MOAA’s Government Relations Department.
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