A Family's Guide to the Military for Dummies (For Dummies Series) - Softcover

Garrett, Sheryl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470386975 ISBN 13: 9780470386972

Verlag: For Dummies, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

Expert advice on all aspects of military life

A Family's Guide to the Military For Dummies is for the millions of military dependents, family members, and friends who are looking for straightforward guidance to take advantage of the benefits and overcome the challenges unique to life in the military. This comprehensive guide covers such key topics as introducing military life to readers new to the armed forces, financial planning, relocation, deployment, raising kids alone while a partner is away, and taking advantage of the available benefits. It offers tips and advice for dealing with emotions that surround events like deployments, deciphering the acronyms used in daily military life, forming support groups, keeping track of a loved one's whereabouts, and surviving on a military base in a foreign country.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sheryl Garrett is a financial advisor, author, and speaker. She founded the Garrett Planning Network and is the author of Personal Finance Workbook For Dummies.

Sue Hoppin is the Deputy Director for Spouse Outreach at the Military Officers Association of America. In 2007, Military Spouse magazine placed Sue on their 2007 Who's Who of Military Spouses list.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Your personal how-tohandbook for living yourbest life as a military family

Looking for a clear, concise guide to military life? Whether you're new to the armed forces or planning your latest relocation, this plain-English handbook has expert tips for overcoming the challenges and taking advantage of the benefits unique to life in the military. From living on a base to financial planning to deployment, you'll see how to find all the support your family needs.

• Grasp the boot camp basics understand rank and military hierarchy, find your way around a base, and connect with others in the community

• Take charge of your finances decipher military compensation, handle your taxes, build credit, and invest for your family's future

• Understand your military benefits obtain health and dental insurance, utilize the family support centers, explore retirement benefits, and more

• Raise a happy family from housing and childcare to education and recreation, take advantage of all the military offers

• Handle deployments prepare for deployment, help children cope, stay connected with your loved one, and manage stress and anxiety

• Transition out of the military assess the financial benefits, retire from service, and plan for your next career

Open the book and find:

• An overview of military versus civilian lifestyle

• Your place in the military structure

• Educational and employment opportunities

• Family support centers, groups, and associations

• The best benefits for military spouses

• How to avoid scams against service members

• A family's guide to military acronyms

• Programs outside the military you can turn to for support

Aus dem Klappentext

Your personal how-tohandbook for living yourbest life as a military family

Looking for a clear, concise guide to military life? Whether you're new to the armed forces or planning your latest relocation, this plain-English handbook has expert tips for overcoming the challenges and taking advantage of the benefits unique to life in the military. From living on a base to financial planning to deployment, you'll see how to find all the support your family needs.

• Grasp the boot camp basics — understand rank and military hierarchy, find your way around a base, and connect with others in the community

• Take charge of your finances — decipher military compensation, handle your taxes, build credit, and invest for your family's future

• Understand your military benefits — obtain health and dental insurance, utilize the family support centers, explore retirement benefits, and more

• Raise a happy family — from housing and childcare to education and recreation, take advantage of all the military offers

• Handle deployments — prepare for deployment, help children cope, stay connected with your loved one, and manage stress and anxiety

• Transition out of the military — assess the financial benefits, retire from service, and plan for your next career

Open the book and find:

• An overview of military versus civilian lifestyle

• Your place in the military structure

• Educational and employment opportunities

• Family support centers, groups, and associations

• The best benefits for military spouses

• How to avoid scams against service members

• A family's guide to military acronyms

• Programs outside the military you can turn to for support

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

A Family's Guide to the Military For Dummies

By Sheryl Garrett Sue Hoppin

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2009 Sheryl Garrett
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-470-38697-2

Chapter One

Living Life As a Military Family

In This Chapter

* Becoming acquainted with military culture

* Maintaining flexibility

* Talking the talk

* Getting to know everyone

* Figuring out if living on the installation is for you

Some people believe that being in the military is no different than working for a major corporation with multiple outlets around the world. But what corporation do you know requires all their employees to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year?

Military service is a demanding way of life and there are very few people willing to sign on the dotted line and add themselves to the 1 percent of our nation's population that makes up this nation's All Volunteer Force.

If your servicemember is part of this All Volunteer Force, welcome to the club. Life in the military is wrought with its own challenges and rewards. But success is 90 percent attitude. Throughout this chapter, we draw a broad picture of what sets military families apart from their civilian counterparts, talk about some of the idiosyncrasies of the military, as well as let you know what you can expect right off the bat.

Getting a Grasp on the Military Culture

The military certainly retains its own culture. When your servicemember joins the military, you're exposed to a tight-knit community of people supporting a cause greater than themselves and dealing with issues that the average soccer mom would never encounter. In the sections that follow, we help you understand the military culture by giving you an idea of why servicemembers join and stay in the military as well as how connected you become to your community.

Believing in something bigger than yourself

Ask 100 people why they chose to join the military and you'll probably get about 100 different answers that might include travel, thrills, opportunities, money, and benefits. For those of us with wanderlust, the promise of travel still serves to lure some to military service. Certainly with the temporary duties (TDYs/TADs) and opportunities to be stationed overseas at exotic locations, wanting to see the world is as good a reason to join the military as any other. There are also some thrill seekers who are drawn to the military by the promise of adventure and tough challenges that only jumping out of airplanes or landing on an aircraft carrier can deliver.

Many choose service as a way of upholding family tradition. For some, it's all they know. If they're military brats, they may loath to imagine any other life. Others are looking for job security or opportunities to learn new skills and better themselves. The benefits of the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) still draw people looking for a way to finance a college education. Although there are definite financial benefits to military service, not too many people are going to say that they did it solely for the money. So what keeps people in through the deployments, family separations, and constant moves? Simply said, that belief in something bigger than themselves. Ask 100 people why they chose to stay in the military and you'll probably only get a handful of answers that include honor, pride, and a desire to serve their country. The decision your servicemember made to join the military means that you are now part of this great tradition.

Making lifelong connections

The military seems to draw together a diverse group of people from all walks of life. However, that common bond of believing in something bigger than yourself ensures that you already have a strong tie to the friends you make in the military.

You'd think that the constant moving would guarantee that you are forever saying goodbye to friends and starting over again. To a certain extent, that's true; but in the military, you never say goodbye, just "hope to see you again soon." With a finite number of installations you can be stationed to, chances are good that over the years, you'll keep running into some of the same people over and over again.

TIP

Don't burn bridges because you never know when you'll run into that annoying soccer mom again somewhere down the road.

Civilian friendships are forged over shared experiences such as attending the same schools, vacationing in the same places, and living in the same small town for your entire life. The military's not so different. Think of a culture where you all move in the same circles. Even though you'll move from base to base, you stand the likelihood of living in the same towns (although at different times), vacationing in the same military hot spots, and going to the same base schools. Your best friends become those who served with you on the PTA board, the mother of your son's best friend, or your neighbor on base who watches your kids so you can get a haircut or make a commissary run without your screaming toddler in tow.

So what's different about the military? Well, some of your best friends will also be the ones who help you weather that second, fourth, and fifth deployment. The ones you call at 3 a.m. because the news just reported some casualties in the field. They're the ones who babysit your kids who are running a 101 degree temperature when you can least afford to miss another day of work. They are the same people who cry with you because your spouse is passed over for a promotion or rejoice with you because he or she is chosen for one. They understand without words what you are going through because they have walked in your shoes. Your military friends become an extended family and these are relationships that you will come to count on throughout your time in the military.

Like everything else worth having, these lifelong connections need to be nurtured. There are certain things you can do to develop and maintain these strong connections:

  Meet the other families in your unit or squadron.

  Get involved.

  Be there for your friends and recognize when they might need some extra care and attention.

  Stay in touch.

  Share your milestones (such as promotions, graduations, and new additions to the family).

  Make the effort to send change of address cards.

  Send those annual holiday cards and letters.

  Follow the golden rule: Always write in pencil.

Being Flexible - the Key to a Happy Military Life

If you're the type of person who likes to control your surroundings, you're going to have to let that go. After your servicemember joins the military, you're no longer in charge of your life. Of course, you still have some input, but ultimately, your life is out of your hands.

With all the things you can't control, you may find it easy to start thinking that you have become an unwitting pawn in someone else's life. Don't get sucked into that mentality. True, military life demands that you look at things from a different perspective than civilian life. Moving every 2 to 4 years gives you an opportunity to recreate yourself every time. Think of the opportunities you can have that others can only dream of. While your civilian friends can only look at pictures of the great works of art, you can visit them in Paris, London, or Florence. Your friends at home learn a second language in an academic setting while you have the opportunity...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: For Dummies
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0470386975
• ISBN 13: 9780470386972
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 386
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Wiley-VCH GmbH; product_safety@wiley.com; ; Boschstrasse 12; Weinheim; 69469; Deutschland