By Jan Childs

Want the adventure of a lifetime? Take advantage of the opportunity to do an overseas tour.

According to a December, 2013 Department of Defense report, some 66,000 U.S. military members were stationed in Germany and another 39,000 in Japan. – the two regions servicemembers are most likely to be able to bring their families along for a two- or three-year tour.

About 13,000 military personnel are stationed in Alaska, and 23,000 in Hawaii. While those are not considered overseas, both locations are known as a tour “Outside of the Continental United States,” or OCONUS, and can also be great opportunities to experience different cultures and ways of life.

My husband and I have spent almost 15 years, out of 24 in the Army, living OCONUS – first in Hawaii, then on to Okinawa and Korea. We are on our third tour in Germany, and even lived for a year in Canada.

We’re very lucky to have been offered so many opportunities to live far and wide. It’s an experience not all of us get to have. But if you do get the chance, don’t be afraid. Take the leap!

The military gives us a great advantage when living overseas. We get to see the world, but in most cases we still get to buy American groceries, have American neighbors, bring our American stuff and maintain 24/7 connectivity to friends and family back home thanks to the internet and cell phones.

What more could you ask for?

Yes, it’s daunting. When we moved to Hawaii I was 23-years-old and had never lived more than a few hours from my parents. My husband was gone a lot and I was alone a lot (does that ever end, by the way?). But the lessons I learned in Hawaii and the growing up I did there were invaluable.

I learned to be self-reliant, make friends in a very unfamiliar place, try new foods and reach out to people in the local communities. I made my first lifelong “military” friends there, friends I still keep in touch with today.

Since then, we’ve had adventures too numerous to count. There was the time I was on a train in Thailand and almost got off at the wrong stop in the middle of the night. The time I flew Space-A to Singapore with a friend, just because we could. The time I had a baby in Korea. The time I took my kids to Scotland for spring break, without my husband.

There are challenges to living overseas, no doubt. Language and cultural barriers can be intimidating. Driving is a whole other story. And food? For a picky eater like me, it’s a nightmare.

In the coming months in this blog, I’ll share those adventures and challenges with you, along with lots of advice for living overseas. Welcome to my wandering life!

Samantha Mahon worked as a paramedic in Charleston, S.C. when, in 2011, her husband, a sailor in the United States Navy, got orders to Norfolk, Va.

Because Virginia offered reciprocity, or the ability to practice her job under the license of a different state, she was able to continue working as a paramedic after the move, in Portsmouth, Va., for a private transport company.

But when her daughter started experiencing seizures, and she needed more time off to take care of her and her two young sons, she quit her job in hopes of finding a more family-friendly, flexible career path.

While seeing her daughter through brain surgery, she went through esthetician’s school, finishing in early 2013 and working as a licensed esthetician immediately.

Then her husband got orders for a move to Kings Bay, Ga., in November 2013.

During the move, she contacted the Georgia licensing boards, but they were largely unreceptive to helping her find future employment there until she had a Georgia mailing address.

So she completed the move and inquired into continuing her private esthetician in her state of residence.

She put in her application and application fee - $75 – and was immediately denied a Georgia esthetician’s license because Georgia requires 1,000 hours of cosmetology school, where Virginia only required 700.

“It’s so hard to weed through because there are so many requirements from state to state.  It’s ridiculous.  And no one is at all helpful,” she said.

Not willing to give up yet, Mahon spoke with the state, who agreed that if she worked under a Georgia-licensed esthetician for the additional 300 hours, she would meet the Georgia requirements, even though she had already worked as an esthetician in Virginia for six months after she finished school.

So she found a job working as a receptionist at a salon, paying $8 an hour.  Meanwhile, her childcare costs were $10 an hour, so she was only able to swing that for two months before she quit.

She’s now a certified birth doula, a partner and couch for laboring and delivering pregnant women, because no state licenses doulas, and they can move and maintain a job and income and certification.

Moving is expensive and can be costly, especially for military spouses like Mahon, who do so frequently and often carry a stigma with them when applying for jobs in their new home state.

Which is why the federal government has reviewed and considered some variation of compensation for wives leaving jobs and licenses when PCS-ing to a different state since 2009.

And currently the Military Spouse Job Continuity Act of 2015 is before the Ways and Means Committee in Congress, hoping to cushion the financial blow from seeking a new license after a PCS, said Karen A. Golden, deputy director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA).

“The act would credit $500 against your taxable income for spouses seeking a new license or certification following a PCS,” Golden said.

For example, if a dental hygienist moves from Pennsylvania to Tennessee on the military’s orders and incurs a $250 licensing fee to work as a dental hygienist in her state of residence, she can apply for a tax credit of up to $500 on her federal income taxes that year.

This applies to anyone making a stateside move as a military spouse and has a wide range of effect, Golden said.

Bartenders, nail technicians teachers, nurses, social workers, and estheticians like Mahon – plus many others - all could benefit from the Act, Golden said.

According to the 2014 spouse employment report by MOAA, military spouses spend an average of $280 on licensing fees after a PCS, and 35 percent of all working military spouses need state licenses or certifications to legally do their job.

“This is impactful to many,” Golden said.

Which is why MOAA has been “making a concentrated effort to visit congressional representative’s offices” to educate them about the importance of the bill for military families, Golden said.

Military spouses who want to lobby congressional representatives themselves can find a message here - http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/?bill=64083976 - which they can personalize.

 

They have endured a decade of war. Collectively they have moved across country and back again, thousands of times. They go years without seeing family members. They lose touch with their closest friends just to repeat the cycle again and again. They often are the victims of abuse as the strain of war weighs heavy on their family. They sometimes live in poverty and for thousands, their parents have been killed or broken in combat.

These are not soldiers. These are their children.

Stop reading this right now, and go hug your military child.

Didn’t that feel great? Military children have always been known to endure lives that were busier and more difficult than their civilian counterparts. But in the last decade as war as ravaged on in Iraq and Afghanistan, military children have suffered longer and greater and stepped into household roles that many American children never imagine.

It has made them resilient. It has made them street smart. It has made them better people.

But the experiences of being children of wartime duty have also left many of them broken, exhausted and traumatized.

Every April military bases around the world celebrate the month of the military child. Purple banners are hung. Free dinners are given out. Events with bouncy houses, balloons and free bowling are held to celebrate all that is awesome about being a military kid.

And there is no doubt those events are great fun. The kids enjoy them.

But what they really want most is probably that hug from the people who mean the most to them, their mom and dad.

So when you are done reading this, go hug them again. And do it every day, every hour that you can.

Spend the month of the military child reminding them how thankful you are for their service. Spend every day after doing it over and over again. They have earned it, they deserve it. 

Kids serve too.

It is that simple.

When mom and dad are home late after training, gone for a year to deploy and miss countless holidays, birthdays, school plays and even playtime after school because of military commitments, their kids feel the effects of military life.

They are military too. They move when the service member moves. They are emotionally changed during deployment. They hurt when their parent is injured.

Military children may not wear the uniform but they enjoy the rewards and carry the pain that comes with serving, just like their parent.

In every April the military pauses to thank them.

April is the month of the military child. According to DOD statistics, there are over 1 million current active duty military children and another 700,000 whose parents serve in the reserve components.

Most bases have free nights of bowling, food and events to celebrate the month. Check your local base paper and websites for all the details.

Here is a round-up of the best websites for freebies, scholarships, contests,  information and celebration of all that it means to be a military kid.

http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2015/0415_militarychild/

http://www.nctsn.org/resources/public-awareness/month-military-child

https://www.myarmyonesource.com/ChildYouthandSchoolServices/MonthoftheMilitaryChild/default.aspx

http://www.dodea.edu/dodeaCelebrates/MilitaryChild/2015.cfm

http://www.militarychild.org/

I was 28 weeks pregnant with my second baby.  I had a 1-year-old.  And, my husband was deployed.

I’m still not sure what happened.  It might have been the lunch we ate out.  The chicken did taste funny.  Maybe we just ate too much salsa.  Or maybe the waitress was carrying a virus.

But the day after that celebratory lunch, mid-deployment, my daughter and I got a stomach virus.  A reeling, violent stomach virus.

We were unable to keep so much as a sip of water down.  We lost liquids and nutrition so quickly I was crawling around my house to get to her.  We slept on the bathroom floor on a pile of rag towels.  There was no end to what kept coming out of both of us.

Oh, the pain.  The new baby in my belly flipped and flopped, and I was so sick and so nauseous and so pained.

And I had nothing.  No medicine.  No extra diapers.  Nothing to hydrate us.  No easy foods that followed the BRAT diet when and if we survived.

I couldn’t muster the strength to get us into the obstetrician’s office for me.  And I had just fired our pediatrician due to a rather large difference in opinion.

I was stuck.

Luckily, we survived.  A phone call to a friend when it was all said and done brought applesauce and peppermint tea to my doorstep, along with diapers and wipes and a huge bottle of bleach.

We managed to see the other side and live to tell the tale.  Though I’ll never laugh about it.

However, I learned.  I realized that, during deployments, sometimes, you are truly alone.

No friend can risk exposing themselves to Vomit-Fest 2015 to help you.  And so, you have to be able to take care of yourself.

I swore from that day forward, I wouldn’t be caught so unaware during a deployment again.

And I made my own little checklist that we accomplish before each deployment to make sure that, when the poop starts to fly, literally or figuratively, we are ready.

1. Stock your pantry and your freezer

I am a bulk shopper by nature.  I don’t enjoy frequent trips to the store, and I can save money if I buy en masse.  But navigating a Costco or Sam’s or any other big-box wholesale shop with children, on a weekend, alone? Well, it may rival my husband’s job in intensity and danger.  So before he leaves, we go.  He comes, too, mostly to kid-wrangle. And I buy everything we could possibly need or want.  

I buy ready-made meals that save us on the busy days when we have soccer practice till late in the evening or activities planned out of the house all day.  I buy dry goods we use constantly – rice, beans, oil and butter – in large quantities.  I buy meat; one family we know actually buys a whole cow and has it butchered and saved in their freezer.  I buy a ton of canned soup, tuna fish, plenty of loaves of bread (which can live in our freezer till they need to be eaten), and pasta.  

I also triple or quadruple meals I make the month prior to my husband leaving.  That way, I can freeze the leftovers for full meals that can be easily re-heated, and I don’t have to handle work, life, kids and the dreaded dinner prep every day of the week.  I love cooking, but there simply isn’t time for it every day when I’m going at it alone, and often times, it’s not worth the stress.

2. Prepare for emergencies

Before my husband leaves, I acknowledge the upcoming weather.  I buy canned goods and bottled water if he’s going to be gone during hurricane season.  I set up a store of extra blankets and a camping stove and heat sources if winter is coming.  I’ve lived without heat in January. I won’t make that mistake again.

If our computer is being wonky or the air-conditioning has had some glitches, we fix them before they become a problem at midnight, on a Saturday, during a holiday weekend, while I’m alone

I keep a ready supply of medicines for all manner of typical illnesses.  If it’s a good treatment for a cold, cough, sinus infection, rash, or stomach virus, I’ve got it.  Up above my stove, in a cabinet where it takes a little effort to get to, I store paper plates and cups and plastic silverware.  During the current deployment, when my hot water heater exploded, we had to spend a day without water.  Those paper plates came in very handy.  

3. Review all your family’s “business”

My husband and I share the financial burden of the household.  We both pay bills and deal with filing and paperwork.  So before he leaves, I make sure I know where everything is. We review the filing system and any changes he’s made to it.  I make sure I know the password to every account we have, and I go over how and when every bill is paid.  I make sure bills that are auto-drafted are set to do so at the right time and frequency.  And, I address a pre-set amount of pre-addressed and stamped envelopes for the bills we pay through the mail.

I buy plenty of stamps and envelopes, printer ink, and packaging materials.  Braving a post office for stamps with children in tow is no small feat.  In general, it’s a good idea to avoid any establishment where they don’t have carts or buggies to help you contain kids while you tend to business.  Buy it before he or she leaves, so you can do it alone.

We review what’s in the fire-safe box that we have at the ready in case we need to leave our home.  In there, we keep all powers of attorney, and we, of course, make sure those are all up to date, along with our wills and all license and tag renewals on things like our vehicles.

4. Accomplish all routine maintenance.

If the car is due for an oil change soon, take it or have your spouse do it before they leave.  The air-conditioner needs to be serviced?  Do it now.  Don’t wait another month till he or she is gone. 

Bring in the yearly carpet cleaners.  Take the pet to the groomer.  Go to your annual check-up or take your kids a month or two early for theirs, as long as you do it before your husband or wife leaves.  

Some of those appointments can seem innocuous, but they are easier to do with the assistance of your spouse, either staying at home with children or going with you to make the process quicker.

If you can’t go before he or she leaves, make sure you’ve at least scheduled them.  Along with help or a baby sitter if need be.  You will forget in the deployment haze to take the dog to the vet if it isn’t pre-scheduled.  

Also, ask everyone you make an appointment with to send you a courtesy call, text, or e-mail.  Last week, I would have missed my chiropractor appointment entirely if they hadn’t texted me the day prior.

5. Prepare a deployment call-book

Make sure you have contact information for his friends and family.  They may have a baby or someone may be ill.  Your spouse won’t be checking on them.  That’s your job.  Know where to send flowers on Mother’s Day and make sure you have everyone’s birthday in line.  Pre-buy birthday cards if you can.  If you plan to attend a rash of birthday parties, order or shop for birthday gifts before hand.  I like to keep a box of gifts I’ve found for various ages and genders; it makes the birthday-party circuit that much easier when you’re doing it alone.

Know what’s coming up soon after the return of your spouse.  Are you planning a trip to see family?  You’ll need to buy the plane tickets before their return.  So make sure you’ve established what he or she wants in terms of travel plans.  

If the worst happens and your car breaks down or your heater bites the dust, who does your spouse want you to call for repairs?  Have someone you can call for plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, and car issues.  Have an emergency babysitter and house cleaner on call, as well.  I keep all these numbers and business cards in my purse.

And make sure you have a physician you can trust on call.  Don’t fire your pediatrician before a deployment.  Not having a doctor when you need one is a surefire way to guarantee you’ll get sick.

7. Prepare for the mental challenge

I never start a deployment without a secret chocolate stash.  Because when the kids are on my last nerve and the house is a wreck, sometimes that chocolate and a cup of tea save me.  I also store plenty of coffee, for when I’m up working into the wee hours and don’t have my husband home to help me in the morning with the kids. 

I keep a box of surprises for my kids – special movies, coloring books, games and toys.  When things are ugly; when I have to accomplish something without the assistance of a little one, I pull out the box and find a distraction for them.  

I ask my husband to download television series and movies he won’t watch, but I want to while he’s gone.  They become my secret little indulgence in the evenings while I fold laundry or work.  I binge-watched three seasons of Downton Abbey one deployment, and I’m dramatically working my way through House of Cards currently.  Those silly television dramas keep me company while he’s gone, and they’re ready and on tap for when a surprise bout of loneliness hits.

On weekends, I’ll treat myself to one of those saved movies, or a book I’ve really wanted to read or a craft project I’ve really wanted to do.  I save all that stored away on my iPad or in a box I keep, and I use those as my reward at least once or twice a week.  I even pre-set my favorite television shows, which my husband hates, to record on my DVR. 

8. Fill your calendar

For my girls and I, the weekends and evenings are the hardest.  So I make sure we have a full calendar before he leaves to keep us entertained and moving forward.  We register for sports, dance, and music lessons.  I buy tickets to figure skating shows, a special train ride, or a music festival.  

If he’s missing holidays, we decide how we’ll spend them before he leaves.  I buy beach gear when it’s summer and hiking gear for the cooler months and fill our open weekends with little local daytrips.  I totally outfit our backyard so I can throw my kids back there when we need some outdoor entertainment instantly.

We have weekly dinner dates with other families whose spouses are gone.  And we try and have certain days we set aside to paint or bake cookies.  

I figure out how I’m going to get my exercise in before he leaves, too.  Whether that means I find a jogging buddy who pushes a double stroller like myself, or another friend who is willing to swap childcare with me so we can each have some alone time at the gym, it’s all arranged so I’m not floundering those first few weeks he leaves.

Everyone has different needs.  So my specifics won’t work for everyone.  But I find the better prepared I am, both emotionally and physically, for a deployment, the faster the days fly by and the less stressful the time is on my children and myself.

In the end, it’s important to prepare and keep it as simple as you can.  You don’t want to get too overwhelmed, so be prepared to say “No!” if you can’t commit to another thing and save your sanity.  

And don’t forget to breathe.  Your pantry is stocked, and your calendar is full.  This, too, shall pass.  And while you wait, it may even be fun.

Spring cleaning is time for bringing in the new and tossing the old. For many military spouses, it coincides with PCS season. As families prepare to move on to their next military adventure, they are getting rid of everything from outgrown clothing to household items.

But, if you are staying put or just arriving at a new duty station, spring is also a great time to look for bargain items. Deciding what to sell, donate or how to get the most for your stuff can sometimes be more confusing than moving orders and military acronyms.  

Chris Heiska, The Yard Sale Queen, www.yardsalequeen.com and former Navy wife, shares her tips on how to sort out this most wonderful time of year - the time for bargain hunting.

Over 15 years ago, long before her website was born, Heiska found herself just “going to yard sales for her shopping fix.”

“When you’re military, the base sales are great,” she says.

After a while, she started a small website just for tips, and with time, said it just grew from there.

The Yard Sale Queen’s Best and Worst Seller Recommendations:

• Sell like-new things. “People love new and good quality items,” Heiska says. “Sometimes I even see things with pieces of Christmas wrapping paper stuck to them.”
• Kids clothes sell great, adult clothes, not so much
• Small pieces of furniture sell well. “If people can pay a little and be able to take the item with them right then, it’s attractive. And, so many people are refinishing furniture these days to furnish or re-sell.” She advises reserving the large pieces of furniture for online yard sale advertisement or classifieds “You don’t want to be hauling out your dresser into your driveway for the day and then it doesn’t sell.”
• Costume jewelry sells well. “People love looking through bins of necklaces and earrings, especially if they’re each $1.” She says to take your real items, like gold and gemstones to a jeweler to sell.
• Baby equipment is a great seller. Heiska says to always check for recall information on your item so you are informed or have the additional piece/part when you sell.
• Make sure household items are clean! She says pictures sell well, as long as they are current, and says people like small household things. Often they buy small appliances just to have an extra one on hand or if they are just starting out their households.
• Yard and gardening items, flower pots, lawn mowers and weed eaters are great for yard sales. “Just make sure you test out your equipment before you put it out to make sure it works and that you know how to start it and work it.”
• Children’s bedding: Sells well if it’s clean and nicely folded, maybe with a ribbon. “Presentation helps!”
• Miscellaneous items: Sometimes adult shoes sell well if they are nice and clean. Comforters and afghans, too.

Yard Sale Queen’s What to Donate Guide:

• Things that are outdated in style or color, but are still usable
• Anything that doesn’t sell at your sale, of course! “But remember, everything could sell if you have the right people come by,” Heiska says.
• Adult clothing
• Generic coffee cups and mismatched dishes

You may also have certain items that could bring you more cash than yard sale prices. That’s where eBay comes into play.

“On Ebay, you have people who are looking for a specific size or color, and you have the whole world looking,” Heiska says. “You’ll definitely get more money for certain items but they have to be unique, or a quality brand name.”

Heiska also finds that larger clothing sizes tend to be better eBay sellers. Timing is another factor in how much you can make on ebay. If you own items that are extremely popular, think Disney’s Frozen, circa late 2013, or themed items, they may command a higher price at the time.

And finally, selling items involves interaction with other people either at your home or in other places. Heiska promotes always thinking of safety and protecting yourself and your family for the unexpected.

Yard Sale Queen’s Safety Tips:

• Always have change on you at your yard sale, so you don’t have to go inside your house and look for it.
• Always keep your money on you, in a fanny pack. “I’ve seen too many sales with money just sitting out in a cigar box just tempting someone to take it,” Heiska says.
• Always keep your cell phone handy.
• For online classifieds, don’t post anything expensive. And, if you’re selling a larger piece of furniture, try to move it outside your home if people from online are coming to your house to view.
• When meeting potential sellers, always choose to meet in a well lit public place

Does it seem like a lot? If you get into a rhythm, you can host a yard sale pretty often. Currently, Heiska hosts a yard sale almost weekly at her local fairground.

“I like to just load up the SUV, set up a table on the grounds for a minimal fee and sell there,” she says. “And when I sell at the grounds, I see the same people who come all the time. People just love yard sales.”

 Heiska’s title as the Yard Sale Queen was born from her love of shopping, but she always finds a deal.

“It can get addicting if you go week after week. You find something good and you think, ‘What am I missing?”

For more tips and insider info, check out Heiska’s website and Facebook pages

http://www.yardsalequeen.com    

https://www.facebook.com/pages/yardsalequeen/138588036165817

Ahhh, say it with me.

For those of you who began your spring break this week, relax. No school lunches. No run to the bus. No dash off to work.

Spring is here and it is about time.

It felt like the longest winter ever. For those of you still shoveling melting snow, the feeling continues. But spring break gives us a chance to stop and breathe. No running, no hustling to events and homework and baseball practice.

For us military folks, it is the last chance for peace before an even longer season begins, PCS. Perhaps it’s your week to get things organized mentally and on paper before beginning that push out the door and to the next duty station.

Just take a moment this spring, stop and breathe.

I’ve long been an advocate of not rushing off on a trip during spring break. Our family stays home. We chill. We sleep in. We don’t do laundry. We sit around the table and take hours to finish our meal and crawl into bed with full tummies and fuller hearts.

We let our kids just be. And it feels great.

We return to work and school re-energized and renewed.

So as you are celebrating the arrival of colorful flowers and warmer temperatures, don’t forget to sit still for at least a moment and soak it all in. Enjoy the break, trust me, the flurry of summer activity is coming soon enough!

By Tiffany Shedd

We made it! It's finally spring, even if we did get another 3 inches of snow on the office first day.

Spring is a season of new beginnings. While it is definitely a season for trees and plants to blossom, it's also the beginning of another season altogether - PCS season. Moving can be stressful under normal circumstances, but moving with a special needs family member can seem like the end of the world. But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are few tips to help make your PCS less stressful.

What can make the situation worse is finding out that your service member is going somewhere that your special needs family cannot accompany them. Sadly, if your family is part of the Exceptional Family Member Program, there will be some assignments that will not have the facilities to take care of your loved one. Separation from your service member is hard, anyone that has gone through a deployment or even long TDY knows this. If you’re PCSing and not currently in the EFMP program (and need to be), go immediately to your EFMP office and get started on the process immediately. This will ensure that your family member’s needs will be taken into account when your service member comes up for reassignment (which could mean a change in orders, and we all know this takes time). Here’s a good overview if you need to know about the EFMP program and how to get prepared for a move if you are on orders.

We have all heard the Boy Scout adage, “Always be prepared.” The same goes for a move. There are so many moving parts that have to stay organized during a move that it can feel intimidating, especially if you’re dealing with a special needs family member. If you are a special needs parents/spouse, then you probably already have many systems in place to keep your days on track. This means you are probably more prepared than you realize. Personally, I am a big fan of notes and cell phone calendar alarms. I also took it one step further in January and added a paper calendar on our wall. We were in the process of weaning my son off his epilepsy medicine and only gave it on certain days. Without the calendar, I would have never have remembered which days it was. Figure out what works for you and go with it. If you are a smart phone addict, there are lots of great free apps to help you get organized with lists and calendar reminders. If you’re low-tech, grab a pocketsize notebook and pen and be sure to have them handy. You never know when you’re going to think of something that you need to remember.

I know one of the things that helps me on a daily basis is having a schedule and sticking to it. I think most parents will agree that when things aren’t chaotic their stress levels are lower. This is especially important with special needs kids. Change can be very difficult for all kids, but especially for special needs kids. Moving is so much change in a short period of time, it can be very overwhelming. Start talking to your kids as soon as you get orders. Let them know that you will be moving soon, talk to them about where you’ll go, reassure them that things will be different, but that it will be ok; and while you can, try to keep their schedule as normal as possible. If you’re able to do something special during your PCS, like a side trip to somewhere fun or even to visit family, tell your kids about that. It will give the something to look forward to, instead of just dwelling on the negative aspects of moving.

Because PCS season coincides with spring, it’s a good time to go through boxes (like the ones in the basement that never got unpacked from the last move) and closets. Instead of thinking of it as spring cleaning, think of it as your pre-move purge. It’s time to go through all the kids’ clothes and figure out what fits and what doesn’t fit. Go through your and your partner’s clothes while you’re at it. I have come to actually love doing this and do it several times a year.

Why do I love this seemingly tedious activity? Two words: consignment sales. I have found a way to make some money with minimal effort with clothes that would either be thrown away or donated. That is not to say that donating your old clothes isn’t a worthy cause, but if you can make a little money to help you with your upcoming PCS, why not do it. There is a great website called Consignment Mommies that lists sales by state. It is great. I have found many sales in my area for kids’ clothes and I am working on getting my own clothes ready for a women’s sale. I have been using my consignment sale money to do fun stuff with my family, so you could make that side trip extra special with a little extra cash, and, that’s at least one less suitcase or box you have to unpack when you get to your new installation).

Even if you’re a PCS veteran, every move seems to be different for me. I bet that is true for most of you as well. Our next move will be our first in the EFMP program. I am thankful that there are so many resources available and a simple Google search will return tons of sites with hints and tricks to make that move go smoother, because I seriously hate moving. Anything that makes it easier is awesome in my book. Stay calm and PCS on.

Military retirement pay is changing.

This week President Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders signaling support for the 15 recommendations drafted by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission in January.

While the president didn't specifically endorse the changes, change is coming.

Overall, the recommendations would drop military retirement pay by about 20 percent. To close the gap, troops will be offered a traditional retirement account.

The DOD would match the funds a service member deposits into the account, up to 5 percent of basic pay. The service member would own the account regardless of how many years they serve.

Lawmakers have been long calling for drastic change in military budgets. After more than a decade of war, personnel costs such as pay, health care and retirement have skyrocketed. The center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says in the last 10 years the cost per person on active duty rose 46 percent. USA Today reports that, after inflation, personnel costs will eat the entire defense budget by the year 2039.

The recommendations for changes to military retirement as well as other benefits, including healthcare, have been sent to the president's advisers to be refined. The president is expected to bring his changes to Congress by April 30.

Once upon a time, at a college far, far away, a sophomore princess was learning the finer points of line and color in artistic works. Okay, so the princess was just me, and I was taking Art Appreciation 110. But the sophomore part is totally true.

Anyway, the professor started off the semester with, what seemed like, a pretty decent personality. But then, halfway through the semester, she became a terribly unreasonable individual. Now maybe the pod people took her, or maybe she had something really awful happen in her personal life. Either way, she became the world’s most insane grader.

I only had to take one course with her, so I was willing to overlook it, until she gave me an F on my final paper. Fifty flingin’ percent, people. Would you like to know what, aside from that particular paper, I have never, ever written? An F paper. And did I mention that every assignment I’d completed up until that point (including the rough draft of that very same paper) had been returned with a grade of 100 percent?

Oh, I didn’t? Well, now you’ve received an example of a time that it is completely appropriate to contest an unfair grade. In the event you ever find yourself in a similar position, here are a few steps to follow to make sure that you’re heading down the right path:

1. Go back through any feedback you’ve received and double (even triple) check that you followed every part of the instructions for the assignment. The last thing you want is to make a ruckus about being graded unfairly, only to find out that you didn’t follow the syllabus or rubric. Seriously, because it’ll kill your credibility.
2. Find your school’s policy on contesting grades (usually in the student handbook around where they talk about things like plagiarism), and decide if it is a battle you want to pick. If you don’t, stop here. If you do, read on.
3. Begin the process based on your school’s requirements. This typically involves approaching the subject with the professor in an attempt to solve the problem at the lowest level, or submitting a formal packet to the dean of the department in which you are experiencing issues. Even if you can go directly to the dean of the department, if your teacher is a reasonable person, I suggest meeting with them first.
4. Speaking from experience, prepare a packet defending your work whether or not you are submitting it to a department head. It is better to be over prepared than to show up at a disadvantage. This packet should have your work, the directions for the assignment and any kind of correspondence that has been exchanged between you and your professor.
5. Set an appointment with whomever you are going to speak to, whether it is your professor or the dean of the department. When that appointment time comes, make sure you are on time (or even a bit early) and dressed like someone who deserves a better grade than the one they’ve received.

Tally ho! Now you’re ready to go forth and defend your assignment’s honor!