In 2023, Congress authorized economic hardship payments to enlisted troops through the National Defense Authorization Act. Those funds were designed to offset the effects of inflation on the lowest-paid military members and some mid-career enlisted troops. But the money didn’t start flowing as planned, and the program experienced trouble due to delays in passing a… Read more »
Did you know you may be allowed to apply for VA healthcare benefits while serving on active duty? Some vets, especially returning service members deployed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn, can apply for VA health care while still on active duty. This is true after these troops… Read more »
Explore the new national guard VA loans eligibility rules and how they benefit qualifying members of the National Guard.
Military communities have always been the target of scammers, but in 2024, the scams have become more sophisticated. Potential new recruits are the latest victims of “pay-for-free-help” scams around the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB. Military Test Scams And Test Prep Scams In the last five years, scammers have aggressively targeted certain aspects… Read more »
The Senate has released a draft version of the 2025 NDAA which includes a smaller pay increase than the House version. Read more.
Some lawmakers are calling on the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) to be more inclusive about the types of groceries it stocks at stateside and overseas bases. Two U.S. Representatives have called on DeCA to improve access to food that is acceptable to the approximately 15 thousand Jewish and Muslim troops in the United States military…. Read more »
A 19.5% pay increase for junior enlisted military members is included in that draft, which now goes under review in the House of Representatives as the next steps in the NDAA approval process begin. Learn more.
UPDATE: 12/19/2024: The House and Senate have both passed the 2025 NDAA. The act includes a 14.5 percent pay raise for most junior enlisted and a 4.5 percent pay raise for all service members. The act now goes to the President’s desk for signature or veto. We preserve the article below for historical purposes and… Read more »
Once upon a time, when you joined the military in the United States, you were at the mercy of the military medical system as an active duty soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, etc. There was little to no recourse for those who suffered medical malpractice in the military healthcare system. But that has changed. In 2019,… Read more »
The VA cannot confirm the extent to which VA patient information may or may not have been part of the Change Healthcare data breach. Learn more.