In sum, some will take a significant impact to their financial bottom line. According to an Army paper acquired by Military.com, a specialist in the 11th Airborne Division deployed in Alaska with one dependent will lose $129 per month. A major with four dependents will suffer a monthly loss of $464.68.
After nearly a year of delay, the Defense Department revealed in May that military members stationed overseas, including troops in Alaska and Hawaii, would face reductions in their cost-of-living allowance, known as OCOLA, on two distinct dates: May 15 and November 15.
In addition, Buddy Check Week has begun on Monday and will go until October 20. The VA also encourages family members, caregivers, and survivors of veterans to engage in the program.On the VA's website, veterans and others can vow to chat to 10 veteran friends or family members.
National Buddy Check Week was authorized as part of a larger bill concerning veterans' mental health care that was passed into law in December.
The project is inspired after a program launched by the American Legion in 2019 in which volunteers from the organization call veterans to check on their well-being and see how they can assist. The Legion claims that its Buddy Check program has reached at least one million people.
And lastly, only two of the five Defense Department service branches reached their active-duty enlisted recruiting targets for fiscal 2023: the Marine Corps and the Space Force, which are by far the smallest and have the lightest recruiting load. The Army, Air Force, and Navy all fell short. With the exception of the Marine Corps, which eked out a squeak, in some cases by just one person, every service missed some element of its target numbers, whether from the reserve, National Guard, or officer goals.
To encourage young Americans to join the military, the military used a range of novel techniques, including resurrecting the Army's 1980s motto "Be All You Can Be," the Air Force relaxing prior tattoo and drug testing restrictions, and the Navy offering record-high cash incentives of up to $140,000. However, those efforts did not result in the services exceeding their recruitment targets.
And that's the way it is for Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
Stay tuned for our next M&G-B, where we will continue to keep you in the loop on all things pertinent to the coronavirus, veterans, active-duty members, guards and reservists, and military family members. Stay happy, and stay healthy!
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