Supporting Military Familes (Just Not With Big Pay Raises)

Four days after Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared that military pay and benefits costs "are eating the Defense Department alive" and need to be reined in, First Lady Michelle Obama had a somewhat different message for the families of service members. She announced Wednesday that the president had ordered a 90-day review "to develop a coordinated federal governmentwide approach to supporting and engaging military families."

Specifically, the review aims to:

• Set strategic military family priorities for the next ten years and identify key military family concerns and challenges;
• Review a cross section of public and private programs to identify the most promising ideas and programs that positively support military families;
• Develop options for departments to integrate military family matters into their strategic and budgetary priorities;
• Examine opportunities for Federal policies and programs to stimulate new and support existing state and local efforts achieving military family readiness goals and meeting military family priorities;
• Identify opportunities to leverage the skills and experience of military family members in national and community life; and
• Strengthen existing feedback mechanisms for military families to voice their concerns and views on the effectiveness and future direction of relevant Federal programs and policies.