SUPPORTING THE TROOPS
Supporting The Troops Free Storage Program By Brad Hadfield M
any active military members and military families stay on the move. Their service takes them
to different base assignments, on tours of duty, and more. Making these fre- quent moves makes storing personal belongings and vehicles a necessity. Unfortunately for many, the Army has discontinued a years-old policy that gave soldiers who were sent on deploy- ment the ability to store their stuff at no cost while they were away. The deci- sion was made by Army personnel offi- cials in recent months and took effect on the first day of fiscal 2024. Until now, the Army storage service
had offered vouchers for soldiers to store their belongings. During deploy- ments, some troops even ended their apartment leases and rented a storage locker, subsidized by the Army, to save money on rent. Now, according to
Military.com, the Army G-1, which over- sees personnel policy, has decided that current travel policies note only that a soldier’s belongings “may” be stored, meaning the Army doesn’t have to do so.
28 Self-Storage NOW! “HQDA G1, the proponent for [stor-
age] entitlements, recently determined that the Army would no longer support [storage] entitlements because there is no Army policy explicitly authorizing storage in support of soldiers deployed for contingency operations,” Col. Heather Carlisle, director for support operations at Army Sustainment Command, wrote in a memo. She did not return requests for
comment, although Stars and Stripes says the impetus for the change are budget constraints, while noting that the news comes on the heels of reports that the Army, Air Force, and Navy failed to meet their recruiting targets for fiscal 2023. All three were a few thousand recruits short of their goal.
Military Faces Social Media Scorn When word got out about the discontin- uation of the storage policy, the back- lash was swift. “Once again, our sol- diers are being asked to pay the burden
of being deployed,” writes one critic of the new Army policy on social media. The widespread scorn includes this video, in which a former drill sergeant highlights how the military could help soldiers with storage, but since no policy exists stating they have to, they will no longer will. The video has gained nearly 290,000 views and over 2,000 comments. In the meantime, soldiers are autho-
Click Here To See The Video!
rized to store their vehicles in motor pools, however these are often occu- pied by tactical vehicles and frequently are not covered or climate controlled.
An Opportunity For Self-Storage While the discontinuation of the pro- gram is unfortunate, it does give self-storage facilities an opportunity to help service members by offering dis- counted storage. We spoke with one military family who recognizes the ben- efits of self-storage.
SECOND QUARTER 2024 Army Discontinues
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