Blog

Military family life is filled with both opportunities and challenges, and that is never more evident than during moves/PCS season. Families who participated in the 2017 Military Family Support Programming Survey told their stories of dealing with the stresses of moves. They shared great information with us about the number of times they have moved,...

Families are at the heart of MFAN. We strive to represent their interests in everything we do. So, as part of our Military Family Support Programming Survey, we asked military families across the nation about the challenges and opportunities that come with military life. They sounded off on marriage, divorce, and issues that affect children,...

Finances – a big stress for military families. This blog post dives into the types of debts military families have, the effects of financial stress, obstacles to financial assistance that families encounter, and our recommendations for helping families become more financially sound. Debt Military families struggle with debt — more than 90 percent of our...

As promised in our last blog, this post is all about health care! Health care reigns supreme as the most appreciated support program available to the military community, according to our 2017 survey, which asked mostly open-ended questions of service members, veterans, and their families to gauge how they really feel about support programming. However,...

The 2017 Military Family Support Programming Survey results are in! The full survey report — the product of months of compiling and analyzing responses from 5,650 military and veteran families — is out, and you can read it here. You can also watch the webcast from MFAN’s survey release event here. In several blog posts,...

There are two big changes coming to TRICARE on Jan. 1, 2018. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you need to know and what you need to do. What you need to know: Regardless of whether you are overseas or stateside, TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra will be replaced by TRICARE Select. According to TRICARE.mil,...

By now you’ve heard about the impending changes to the military retirement system. We’re here to break down what it means and explain who will be affected — and when. For lots more information about military retirement and financial readiness, including training on the new Blended Retirement System, visit mfan.staging.wpengine.com/milcents Who? Service members who have...

Continued from last week… I didn’t realize how invasive a C-section is until I was getting ready to have one. The way people talk about it, a C-section seemed like no big deal. So, I thought mine would be the same. Boy, my expectations were way off. Things I remember in flashbacks: The coldness of...

Continued from last week… I was so excited to be sent up to Labor and Delivery after a challenging pregnancy. I was over being pregnant. I was huge and incredibly uncomfortable, and with my diagnosis of polyhydramnios, not only was I carrying around a large baby, but I was also carrying around a baby’s Olympic-size...

Hi, again. It’s me, Shannon. After a two-year hiatus, I’m bringing back the blog. For those of you who may be new to reading, welcome! To catch you up: A few years ago, I shared my experience as a new military spouse. I documented my life leading up to that point, my wedding, my first...

When was the last time you took part in an MWR-sponsored activity? Have you checked out MWR rentals lately? What about an MWR-sponsored getaway? During this holiday season, take advantage of everything your MWR office has to offer. Hosting a party? Could you use additional tables or chairs? Check out your MWR. It often has...

Military voters often don’t live in the place they call home — so where do you vote? You can only have one voting residence at a time, and it may not be where you are currently stationed. For example, if you’re now at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, but the last place you registered to vote...

“Your life is insane. You know that, right?” my coworker (and fellow therapist) declared over her cup of coffee. I had just finished outlining my family’s tentative plan for the next two years that included such notable features like PCS, selling or renting a house, a new job (for me), several TDYs for schooling (for...

Something very important is happening tomorrow. Tomorrow is the deadline for commenting on the proposed changes to the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP). The DoD is making some important changes to the EFMP program, and they need YOUR input. So far, there have only been 44 comments received. There is still...

Don’t let the holiday rush get the best of your wallet. Spend smart with these tips from MFAN advisors. 1. Plan ahead via GIPHY If you’re playing host this year, plan out your menu and create your shopping list in advance—that way, as sales start rolling in you can buy items on sale. Check out...