The 2023 Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) Open Season is now closed. It ran until December 11, 2023, and after that date, the enrollment period was closed until the same time in the following year. What Is DCFSA Open Season? This is the period of time when you may set up a DCFSA to… Read more »
A military quality of life panel addresses issues impacting military families, including compensation, child care, housing, and health care. Learn more.
The Air Force is going “green” with promotion testing, announcing all Air Force Bases are expected to be ready to switch to an all-digital testing format in early 2024. At press time many overseas bases have issued press releases announcing their readiness for the new testing season, and all bases are expected to administer digital… Read more »
Update 5/27/2025 The Defense Department has acknowledged serious problems with the HomeSafe Alliance household goods contract, and multiple sources report a scaling back of the types of PCS moves assigned to HomeSafe Alliance in the meantime. DoD officials have publicly stated that the problems are “getting worse.” According to Military Times, they have “directed U.S. Transportation… Read more »
If you are active duty military and receive permanent change of station orders to an overseas base, the Overseas Cost of Living Allowance, or OCOLA, is one of the first things you’ll learn about about pay and benefits for overseas troops. But the amount of those OCOLA benefits is shrinking. The DoD, by law, plans… Read more »
The Department of Defense has settled two lawsuits challenging the DoD COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The settlement happened in a federal court in Florida and, according to some sources, spells the “end” of the military’s COVID vaccination mandate. However, the technical end of the DoD COVID-19 mandate actually happened thanks to a 2021 DoD memorandum, which… Read more »
In 2022, the Air Force issued a press release announcing a “THC retest pilot program,” which allows applicants a second chance if they test positive for marijuana use as part of their inprocessing through a Military Entrance Processing Station or MEPS. When the program was first implemented, the Air Force wasn’t facing a recruiting shortage… Read more »
Do military members continue to get paid during a government shutdown? The short answer is no, they do not. But that situation changes if Congress passes a funding resolution for military operations to keep money flowing to the Department of Defense even during a shutdown. It’s happened before and is likely (according to some) to… Read more »
On September 19, 2023, Stars and Stripes reported on a Pentagon statement about a potential government shutdown if the House and Senate cannot reach a deal to approve more money for the federal government by the September 30 deadline when the current fiscal year’s federal funding runs out.“ The U.S. military will keep active-duty troops and a limited number of civilian defense employees at their posts during a federal government shutdown,” Stripes.com reported, adding that troops may have to go without pay until lawmakers reach a deal to end such a shutdown. Learn more.
The military community has seen a massive increase in scams and fraud attempts related to identity theft and digital payments. Learn more.