New authority in this year’s Defense Department authorization act allows the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps reserves to be called to duty in response to natural disasters or emergencies in the homeland, and also to be mobilized for extended periods to support theater security missions around the world.

Except for a crisis involving a weapon of mass destruction, the reserves historically have been prohibited from providing a homeland disaster response, Army Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, the Army Reserve chief, told reporters this week.

That job was reserved for the National Guard, which state governors could call up as needed to support civil authorities. If additional forces were required – as when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005 – active-duty service members became the federal default force.

That’s long been a frustration to Stultz, who saw no sense in bypassing local reserve members simply because they operate under federal “Title 10″ authority and not state “Title 32″ authority.

“In a lot of cases, there were reserve-component soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who were close at hand with the capabilities needed, but didn’t have the authority to act,” he said. “Finally, we got the law changed. This new legislation says that now we can use Title 10 reserves.”

For these forces to be used, the law specifies that the president must declare an emergency or disaster and a state governor must request the assistance.

Stultz clarified what hasn’t changed under the law. Civil authorities will remain the first responders. And when they need military support, National Guard forces will be the first to step in when called by their state governor. “We are not trying to change any of that,” the general said.

But now, when a situation also demands a federal response, reserve forces can step in to assist for up to 120 days.

Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., commander of U.S. Northern Command, and his staff are evaluating their federal response plan to take advantage of these new capabilities, Stultz said.

Meanwhile, Stultz participated in a recent U.S. Army North exercise that helped to test the concept. The scenario involved two hurricanes hitting the United States almost simultaneously, requiring a federal response.

The exercise helped participants work through the procedures that would be involved in calling Title 10 forces to duty, Stultz explained. “How does the governor and the adjutant general within a state go through the process of asking for federal help?” he said. “How do Army North and Northcom identify what capabilities are close by that they can use? How do we go through alerting these forces to go down and help this natural disaster? And as always, who cuts the order to put them on duty, and who provides the funding?”

Stultz said he’s gratified by almost universal support for the new legislative authority.

“Everybody is on board, from the governors to the adjutants general to Army North to Northcom saying this is going to be a good thing,” he said. “We just have to make sure we have the procedures and processes worked out.”

And now, before the authority is actually needed, is the time to get that resolved, he said. “Let’s not wait until a hurricane hits to say, ‘How do we do it?’ he said.

Another change in the 2012 authorization act allows Title 10 reservists to be called to duty to support unnamed overseas contingencies. The reserves, and particularly the Army Reserve, have a long history of deploying members for medical, engineering and other missions to support theater engagement and security cooperation efforts.

Typically, they did so as their annual training, which generally limits their engagements to 21 to 29 days, Stultz said. That could be particularly limiting when the missions are in far-flung parts of the world, he said, sometimes reducing time on the ground to as little as 14 days before the reservist had to pack up and return home.

“With this new authority, now we can send them down for much longer periods of time,” Stultz said.

As operations wind down in Afghanistan, Stultz said, he hopes reservists will be more available to support combatant commanders’ theater engagement campaigns. Based on the Army force generation model, that means Army Reservists will be ready to deploy one out of every five years. He said the pool of ready reservists could conduct extended theater-support missions.

A hospital unit, for example, could potentially spend three months rather than three weeks supporting a medical mission in Central or South America, Africa or Asia. And at the end of that three-month period, another reserve unit could rotate in to replace them.

This additional capability, Stultz said, would give combatant commanders far more assets to support their engagement strategies across their areas of responsibility, even at a time of dwindling resources.

“It is not going to happen overnight,” he conceded. “But over time, as we are sending an engineer unit to do a project in the Philippines, [we] have to sit with the Pacific Command and U.S. Army Pacific and say, ‘Next year, instead of 29 days, let’s do 60 or 90.’”

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal last month signed into law the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, known in the military community as “the compact.” The compact is designed to help ease the transition of military children as they move between school systems across the country. Because of the mobile lifestyle of military families, military children will attend, on average, six to nine different school systems before they graduate high school.

As they move between educational systems, which vary in requirements regarding things like records transfers, admission ages, testing, and graduation requirements, navigating the different curriculum requirements, grading scales, and course sequencing can lead to gaps in education. Other military-affiliated students will be excluded from extra-curricular activities or be delayed in graduation because of missing an entrance or exit test, redundant testing, or non-recognized coursework completed elsewhere.

These educational challenges often are compounded by anxieties about deployments. More than 2 million military children have had a parent deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, and every school district in the country has military-connected children residing in them. That’s a lot to ask of our nation’s military children. We say that our children serve alongside our service members in their own ways. They miss their deployed parents and worry for their safety; they keenly feel the absence of a parent at birthdays, holidays, first soccer games, parent/teacher meetings, and many other milestone life events. They, without being asked, help shoulder the burden of what it means to be a modern-day military family.

Those of us who advocate on behalf of military families have supported the need to remove barriers to the educational success of our children in the form of this compact. No military child should be penalized or delayed in achieving their educational goals because of inflexible administrative practices. This compact allows for replacing the widely varying treatment of transitioning military-affiliated students into a unified approach that helps provide consistent policy.

As parents, we all want what is best for our children. And, as Blue Star Families’military family lifestyle surveys show, concern for our children continuously is ranked as a top issue for military families. As the impact of family decisions resulting from cost to the family are key considerations in both recruitment and retention, it behooves federal, state, and local lawmakers to work together in ways that facilitate, rather than complicate, the transiency inherent in the military lifestyle.

Georgia is home to one of the country’s largest military populations, with about 90,000 military-affiliated students in Georgia’s school systems. As the Defense Department deems April the “Month of the Military Child,” it was fitting that the compact was adopted last month.

That it was signed a the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning is particularly appropriate, given that the installation resides within the district of Congressman Sanford Bishop, a co-chair of the House Military Family Caucus, who has travelled the country raising awareness of the unique challenges military families face after ten years of war. Later this summer, the Infantry Museum will again be filled with military families as Bishop and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, of Washington state, host a military family symposium there. Ret. Major General Jim Donald, chairman of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, who introduced the governor at the ceremony, also has been a force for military families here in Georgia and is known to ask military spouses and parents to stand and be recognized at meetings. I know because he asked my mother to stand and be recognized when she wore a ‘Blue Star’ pin signifying my husband’s deployment to Iraq a few years ago.

Fewer than 1 percent of this nation currently serves in the armed forces, but it takes 100 percent of the country to support them. State governments stepping up to the plate to enact legislation that addresses issues affecting the military community — veterans’ and military spouse employment and licensing issues, military child education, absentee voting, veterans treatment courts, and predatory lending — is one very tangible way to support our military families.

Being in a military family has enriched and enlarged my life and my children’s lives in ways that are unfathomable and we are, I think, better for the experiences and sacrifices we make as part of something larger than ourselves. However, there are challenges that can be mitigated through the help of others – in this case in the recognition that military-affiliated students shouldn’t have to jump through ever-changing hoops to get a quality education. I applaud Georgia’s leadership for this tremendous accomplishment and thank those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it happen.

According to Greg Long, Executive Director of the Agency, “the Roth TSP option offers an important new tool for Federal civilian employees and uniformed service members in managing their retirement income by providing greater flexibility in the tax treatment of contributions now and in the future.” Long noted that the Agency will continue to provide participants and agencies with educational materials to help them understand this new option but, as with all tax matters, participants should seek the advice of their qualified tax or financial advisers for answers to questions pertaining to their specific tax situation.

The Agency has been sharing Roth TSP planning bulletins with agency and service payroll and personnel representatives since December 2010 to provide them with the information they require to be able to program their payroll systems to accept and transmit pre-tax and after- tax money. The Agency is aware that not all agencies or services have completed the technical and programmatic modifications of their payroll systems required toimplement Roth TSP. These agencies or services will require additional time to modify their payroll systems and will be able to begin participation in Roth as soon after May 5, 2012 as they are able.

With the addition of the Roth TSP option, participants can choose to invest pre-tax or after-tax dollars in any of the TSP funds, up to the Internal Revenue Code limits. TSP participants can currently invest in ten different funds: the five Lifecycle (L) Funds, the Government Securities (G) Fund, and the four broadly diversified stock and bond funds – the Fixed Income Index Investment (F) Fund, the Common Stock Index Investment (C) Fund, the Small Capitalization Index Investment (S) Fund, the International Stock Index Investment (I) Fund.

The TSP is a retirement savings plan for Federal employees; it is similar to the 401(k) plans offered by many private employers. As of March 2012, TSP assets totaled approximately $308 billion, and retirement savings accounts were being maintained for roughly 4.5 million TSP participants. Participants include Federal civilian employees in all branches of Government, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, and members of the uniformed services. Additional information can be found at www.tsp.gov.

Education was front and center in Washington last week and at least two major events directly impact the education of military families’ school-age children.

First, Angela Wilson a 7th grade language arts teacher at a Defense Department school in Vicenza, Italy, spent the week in the nation’s capital representing DoD schools as one of four finalists in the annual National Teacher of the Year competition.

Wilson, accompanied by her husband, Chase, who also is a 7th grade teacher at Vicenza Middle School, shined a light on Department of Defense Education Activity schools for both their quality and also on the unique challenges of their students and teachers.

The week’s packed agenda included a ceremony with President Barack Obama at the White House, a reception at the vice president’s home at the U.S. Naval Observatory with Dr. Jill Biden – a teacher so dedicated she continues to teach three days each week while serving as “second lady” – as well as opportunities to discuss education policy with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The teachers also participated in classes and training of their choice at the Smithsonian, and events with education-focused companies and nonprofits to advance classroom teaching. That, not to mention the discussion these best and brightest had amongst themselves and will no doubt share with their colleagues, should comfort DODEA families.

The knowledge and skills the Wilsons will bring back to the classroom is vast. But even more important, Angela Wilson told American Forces Press Service, will be her message to students that American leaders – all the way to the president – care about them and their education.

“They do value education, you can tell,” she said.

The news got even better when Duncan sent an April 24 letter to all public school superintendents – where 80 percent, or 1.2 million, of students from military families are enrolled — encouraging them to understand and respond to the needs of military students, many of whom change school districts more than a half dozen times in their parents’ military careers.

Duncan asked the superintendents, among other things, to raise awareness of issues related to military children, especially those with disabilities; adhere to the Military Interstate Children’s Compacts, which 42 states have signed to make it easier for military children to transfer credits between states; and review policies, including in extracurricular activities, that may impede military children’s transitions.

“We want all military-connected school children to have an equal and fair opportunity for academic success,” Duncan wrote. “This requires that those individuals who make up our nation’s educational system – our teachers, principals, school nurses, coaches and counselors – understand the unique situations the children of our service members experience.”

Just like the DODEA students who receive Mrs. Wilson’s message, all military children should understand that their school, their community, their nation has their back.

U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program Staff Sgt. Dremiel Byers lifts New York Athletic Club's Russ Davie en route to a 3-0, 4-0 victory April 15 in the 264.5-pound Greco-Roman finale of the 2006 U.S. National Wrestling Championships at Las Vegas Convention Center. Byers added a sixth national crown to his resume that includes the 2002 super heavyweight world championship.Photo by Tim Hipps, USACFSC Public Affairs

 SAN ANTONIO – Twenty-three Soldiers will compete for Olympic berths April 21-22 at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Wrestling at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

Nineteen of those Soldiers train in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program. Three of them – SFC Dremiel Byers, SGT Spenser Mango and SGT Oscar Wood – already are Olympians. The others will continue pursuit of their Olympic dreams this weekend.

“This is a pretty special Olympics because we went from putting one Soldier on the Olympic team back in 2008 to the potential of us putting between three and five Soldiers on the Olympic team from one program,” said Willie Wilson, chief of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program. “If you look at USA Wrestling and the programs across the country, it’s pretty significant if a program can put one person on the Olympic team.

“With us having the opportunity of putting between three and five on the team from one program, that’s actually pretty special. I’m excited about the upcoming trials.”

Wilson also is impressed with the leadership of WCAP wrestling coach Shon Lewis and his staff at Fort Carson, Colo., home of U.S. Army wrestling.

Lewis will receive USA Wrestling’s Coach of the Year award for the fourth time on Friday night during a banquet in Iowa City, where SPC Justin Lester will be honored as 2011 Greco-Roman Wrestler of the Year.

Lester, 28, of Akron, Ohio, is a two-time bronze medalist at the World Championships while wrestling at 66-kilograms/145.5 pounds. A four-time U.S. national champion and five-time U.S. World Team member, Lester won the 74-kilogram/163-pound division at the 2012 U.S. Open, thus he must battle through the challenge tournament in Iowa to reach the finals at 66 kilos, a weight class he is expected to win despite undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery Jan. 17.

Also at 66 kilos, WCAP SSG Glenn Garrison is a two-time national champion in search of his first Olympic berth. WCAP SPC Faruk Sahin, the U.S. World Team member in 2009 and 2010, should also fare well in the weight class. Sahin, a naturalized citizen born in Turkey, finished runner-up to Jake Deitchler at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.

SFC Dremiel Byers, 37, of Kings Mountain, N.C., is a 2002 world champion, a 2008 Olympian, and the only U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler to win gold, silver and bronze medals at the World Championships. He also is the lone American to win open and Military World Championships.

Byers is the only men’s Greco-Roman wrestler at the trials who gets to sit out the challenge tournament and await his opponent for a best-of-three matches at 120 kilograms/264.5 pounds.

WCAP teammate SPC Timothy Taylor, entered as a wild card because of injury last season, could be Byers’ opponent Saturday, as could two-time Olympic medalist Rulon Gardner, who came out of retirement after eight years away from the mat.

SGT Spenser Mango, 25, a 2008 Olympian from St. Louis, Mo., has competed in the past three World Championships for the United States. His best international finishes are eighth at the Beijing Olympics and ninth at the 2009 Worlds. He qualified the 55-kilogram/121-pound weight class for Team USA for London by winning a Pan American Olympic Games Qualifying Tournament March 23 in Kissimmee, Fla.

“I’ve seen all the top guys in the weight class and I’m right there with them,” Mango said. “I want to win the gold in London. To me, it’s all about getting medals.”

WCAP SPC Jermaine Hodge, 30, a 2009 U.S. national champion from Hillsborough, N.C., is one of the toughest opponents in Mango’s weight class. He struck silver at the 2012 Pan American Championships and gold at a 2011 Grand Prix tournament in Spain.

“If it’s going to be a year, it’s going to be this year,” Hodge said. “Regardless of the outcome, it’s going to be a dogfight to the end. … We’re so many steppingstones ahead of everybody in this weight class. I think Shon did the right thing by bringing Mango into the program. One of us is going to get it done at the Olympics.”

WCAP SPC Jeremiah Davis, 27, of San Diego, is a three-time U.S. national champion and two-time U.S. World Team member who must get past Joe Betterman, the 2012 U.S. Open champ and two-time World Team member at 60 kilograms/132 pounds.

“I’ve beaten Olympians and world placers plenty of times,” said Davis, who can’t remember how many times he has wrestled Betterman. “I feel like every time he’s beaten me, it was something I did to lose.”

WCAP SPC Marco Lara, the 2011 Armed Forces champ at 60 kilos, could play spoiler in the weight class.

Byers is confident about all those Soldiers.

“Those guys have so much talent and ability,” he said of Lester and Mango. “I know they’re ready. I know they’re focused. And Hodge is sitting right there, and Davis. Taylor is even trying to pick it up. I just pay attention to everything around me and feed off of it. I still steal moves from the little guys.”

WCAP SGT Aaron Sieracki, at 74 kilograms/163 pounds, could be the primary beneficiary of reigning national champion Lester returning to his original weight class. Lester could wrestle at 74 kilos and sit out the challenge tournament, but he is expected to take the hard road.

Sieracki, coincidentally, wrestled most of his career and finished second at the 2008 Olympic Trials at 84 kilograms/185 pounds. A two-time national runner-up, Sieracki, who dropped a weight class after his brother Keith retired (they refused to wrestle each other), will be the highest finisher from the 2012 U.S. Open at 74 kilograms/163 pounds. WCAP PFC Timothy Bleau and Army Reserve SGT Oscar Wood, a 2004 Olympian, also are entered in that weight class.

WCAP SGT Iris Smith, a 2005 world champion and five time U.S. national champ, will contend in the women’s 72-kilo/158.5-pound division. To make Team USA, she must defeat 2008 Olympian Ali Bernard, who not only qualified the U.S. to compete in London but earned a spot in the best-of-three finals at the Olympic Trials.

USA Wrestling and NBCOlympics.com partnered to provide a live webcast of all four mats of the challenge tournament on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 9 a.m. CT each day. To view the webcast, go to http://www.nbcolympics.com/.

Each of the four mats streamed will feature live commentary by USA Wrestling’s Jason Bryant and Van Stokes, the deputy director of Morale, Welfare and Recreation at Fort Campbell, Ky., The Open Mat’s Willie Saylor, BadgerStateWrestling.com’s Shane Sparks and Ben Hupke of Hupke Wrestling Productions.

NBC Sports Network will present six hours of next-day coverage April 22 from 4 until 7 p.m. on the NBC Sports Network. Final-day coverage will air April 23 from 3 until 6 p.m.

Service members and Defense Department civilian employees who are eligible for the Thrift Savings Plan will soon have a new Roth option for retirement savings under the program, defense finance officials announced today.

The change will allow participants to contribute after-tax dollars to the federal government-sponsored retirement savings and investment plan, according to a Defense Finance and Accounting Service statement released today.

As with traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts, the TSP’s two options will now allow plan participants to invest either before- or after-tax dollars, although limits on annual contributions, catch-up contributions and agency matching funds will remain the same, officials said.

The plan, which is similar to a 401(k), is open to federal civilian employees and military members. For 2012, the maximum contribution is set at $17,000. Catch-up contributions, available to participants 50 or older, are capped at $5,500 over the standard limit.

Agency matching contributions are one percent for all eligible employees, dollar-for-dollar for the first three percent of pay an eligible employee contributes to the plan and 50 cents on the dollar for eligible employee contributions of between three and five percent. Contributions above 5 percent of pay are not matched.

The current plan treats all contributions as pre-tax dollars – participants do not pay taxes on pay they put into the plan, but will pay deferred taxes when they receive those funds in retirement.

The new Roth option will allow contributions that are taxed in the year they are made, but will be tax-free in retirement, TSP officials said.

Greg T. Long, TSP executive director, urged in a letter to participants that they carefully consider whether Roth TSP would be to their advantage.

“As with all tax matters, you should seek the advice of a qualified tax or financial advisor for information pertaining to your specific tax situation,” Long wrote.

He added the plan’s website will soon offer a Roth calculator, and other website content including forms and publications will be updated in May to include information about the Roth feature.

Defense finance officials said the Roth option will be available on a phased basis by military service from June to October. Officials said the schedule will allow service finance employees to complete and thoroughly test the complex changes needed to the various payroll systems.

Defense finance officials said more specific deployment dates on Roth TSP elections will soon be available on www.dfas.mil.

Officials said service members and their families may contact Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 to schedule an appointment with a financial consultant.

The nation has been stepping up in “amazing ways” to support military families over the past year, First Lady Michelle Obama told the audience of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” this week.

From troops to veterans to family members, they’re “the best our country has to offer,” the first lady told host Stephen Colbert.

Obama appeared on the satirical late-night show to mark the one-year anniversary of the Joining Forces campaign, which aims to honor and support troops, veterans and military families.

Over the past year, Americans have hired more veterans, causing veteran unemployment to decrease at “some pretty significant rates,” Obama said to resounding applause.

The nation also is opening doors to flexible employment for military spouses, the first lady said, noting employment is a “key issue” for military families, who move 10 times more often than the average American.

While the progress is encouraging, Obama said, “Until we get to zero, we still have a lot of work to do.”

These employment opportunities are mutually beneficial. Veterans and spouses are able to help support their families, she said, and businesses gain highly trained and highly skilled workers who ultimately improve a company’s “bottom line.”

Noting government “can’t do it all,” the first lady issued a call to action to the nation. “Everyone has to step up in ways big and small,” she said.

The nation owes military families a debt of gratitude, Obama said. She recalled meeting military families across the nation while on the campaign trail several years ago. Awed by their sacrifice, the first lady vowed to “be their voice and tell their stories” if she had the opportunity.

Military families often don’t speak up about their challenges, and they don’t complain. Rather, they’ve dealt with a decade of war with grace and courage, Obama said.

This strength also inspires those around them, Colbert said, noting veteran coworkers would help to boost office morale. People most likely would opt not to complain about minor work issues while in the presence of a war veteran.

Obama agreed. “It’s hard to be a whiner around a veteran,” she said.

In honor of April’s Month of the Military Child, I created a Top 10 list of the qualities I most appreciate about children from military families.

Their amazing service and sacrifice deserve a much longer list, but I figured this would at least be a start.

What I most appreciate about children from military families:

10. Their sense of humor. Navy wife Vivian Greentree’s sons pasted pictures of their deployed dad on a stick, dubbed it a “dad on a stick” and took it everywhere with them. Her son, MJ, even asked if “dad on a stick” could help make macaroni and cheese. He carefully placed the following message to his dad under the picture of this mac and cheese preparation: We’ll eat mac and cheese when you get home. You can use my Spiderman bowl.”

9. They selflessly serve their community. Military children possess a strong sense of service — perhaps modeled after their military dads and moms who serve and sacrifice daily. But whatever its origin, they don’t hesitate to step up at school, at home and in their communities. James Nathaniel Richards, the fifth of six children in his military family, took on a host of deployment-related challenges when his Navy father and three of his brothers deployed at the same time. But rather than focus on the separation, the 9-year-old started a blog to help other military kids deal with deployments and separations. He also heads up the anti-bullying committee at his school, and has clocked more than 200 hours as a USO volunteer.

8. They stand by their military parent through thick and thin. I met a high school senior who told me his father would miss his graduation and his departure to college. But this teen wasn’t upset in the least. “He loves to be a soldier, and if it makes him happy, it makes me happy,” he said. “How can I possibly complain that he’s not watching me graduate when he’s out there sacrificing for our nation.”

7. Their sense of patriotism. Zachary Laychak was 9 years old when his father was killed Sept. 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Laychak struggled over the years with anger and confusion over the incident. But as time passed, his initial anger evolved into a deep sense of patriotism – born of resentment against those who dared to attack his nation and his family. “As terrible as this whole situation was, I know he was a very patriotic person,” he said of his father, and that he died serving his country. That’s a way he would have been proud to go.”

6. They support each other. Two California teenagers, Moranda Hern and Kaylei Deakin, were inspired to create the Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs after they dealt with their National Guard dads’ deployments. They didn’t want other military daughters to feel what they did: alone. Their organization is intended to unite, inspire and lead girls with parents in the military.

5. Their adaptability. I attended a high school graduation at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., last year. The class included nine students from Defense Department high schools in Japan who had left with their families in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Although they had entered a new school and a new senior class just a few months shy of graduation, they were all smiles that day as they talked to me in their caps and gowns. A transition that would have thrown the best of us for a loop didn’t seem to phase these teens, who had already been through more changes in their 18 years than most people see in a lifetime. The students in that class had moved, on average, more than six times with one student tallying up a total of 18 moves in the same number of years.

4. Their compassion. A number of kids have military parents who return home wounded, some with visible wounds and others with less-evident injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. These kids immediately step up to help out at home – taking on additional chores, pitching in to babysit — during their parent’s recovery. Taylor Dahl-Sims’ Marine Corps stepfather returned home from his fifth deployment with a traumatic brain injury and she stepped in to help during his recovery. She already was helping her mother with her baby brother’s medical care. Many wounded warriors have told me their children don’t look at them any differently, even if their wounds are severe. They are simply grateful their mom or dad made it back alive.

3. Their global knowledge. Many military kids have traveled across the nation and around the world. They have an innate appreciation for cultural diversity and knowledge of world events that most kids who never crossed state lines would be hard-pressed to match. This will serve them well in the future as modern technology and the rise of a global economy increase the likelihood they’ll be exposed to a people of different cultures and backgrounds in their careers. “These children come to us with broadened perspectives and a broad range of experiences,” said Marilee Fitzgerald, director of the Department of Defense Education Activity. “They’re the closest to being a global citizen that this world will have.”

2. Their strength. They’ve dealt with a decade of war and multiple deployments, with the associated worry and fear. But these challenges also have equipped them with a resilience that will prepare them for life’s setbacks and hardships. The first lady summed it up well at an event in June. “A bad grade on a test, a bad day at work, that’s not going to knock you off your game,” she said, “because from a very young age, you all have been dealing with the big stuff, and that’s given you perspective.”

1. They serve too. Their military parent signed on the dotted line; their children did not. Yet, they must deal with deployments, frequent moves and school transitions, and they do so with courage and grace. As a nation, we owe them a debt of gratitude. This month, and year round, we should take time to let military children know how grateful we are for their service, said Barbara Thompson, director of military community and family policy, children and youth. “One of the things that’s disconcerting is we know that 1 percent of our population is in uniform and is serving, and the other 99 percent of the country takes full benefit of that,” she said. “We owe it to our children to honor them and to protect them.”

Children of U.S. service members around the world will be honored throughout April for their contributions to their families’ well-being and sacrifices on behalf of the nation, a Defense Department official said.

Each April, Americans pause to recognize the nation’s 1.8 million military children during the Month of the Military Child.

“It’s really important to recognize that military children also serve,” Barbara Thompson, director of military community and family policy, children and youth, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service.

It’s also important, Thompson said, to take time to let military children “know how proud we are as Americans that they … are supporting mom or dad in uniform, who is making great sacrifices for this country.”

While frequent moves and school transitions can be challenging, Thompson said she believes the most challenging endeavor a military child has to endure is a parental separation due to deployment.

“While we’ve made great strides with technology and Skype … it’s not the same as having your mom or dad at your baseball game or high school graduation or one of your birthday parties,” she said.

These separations can have a “serious impact” on military families’ well-being, Thompson noted, particularly on the children. Younger children may experience separation and attachment issues, while older children may engage in risky behaviors, she explained.

Thompson noted a specific concern for children from Guard and Reserve families. These children, living in every community around the nation, may be lacking nearby support. A military child may be the only student in a school with a deployed parent, she said, and the school oftentimes isn’t even aware.

“School districts are key partners,” Thompson said. “That’s where 92 percent of our school-age kids are located. They need to know they have military children in their schools.”

To combat a sense of isolation, officials have posted information online to educate teachers, school administrators and parents on supporting military children.

On installations, child development centers, youth programs and the New Parent Support Program are geared for providing “safe havens” for military kids, Thompson said.

The department already has made strides by partnering with other agencies and organizations, she said. DOD works closely with Zero to Three’s Coming Together Around Military Families initiative, and with Sesame Street’s military support programs such as Talk, Listen, Connect and Military Families Near and Far.

Officials have partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and 4-H to increase the programs and resources for school-age military children, Thompson added.

The DOD also has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, land-grant universities and the Cooperative Extension System to reach out to military children in communities, she said, noting 70 percent of military kids live off of installations.

While they’re making progress, DOD officials can’t tackle these issues alone, Thompson said. It will take the efforts of an entire nation — from individuals and communities to government agencies and private companies — to accomplish this goal, she added.

Every American can help to support military families, she said, and no effort is too small. A neighbor can help a parent with a deployed spouse by pitching in with a carpool, driving children to an extracurricular activity, or mowing a military families’ lawn.

Schools can set aside special days to honor military kids’ contributions, and communities can sponsor a play or picnic, or simply find the military families in their midst to thank them, Thompson said.

She suggested people visit the White House’s Joining Forces website to find service opportunities that support military families in their neighborhoods.

Taking care of military parents has a positive and direct impact on their kids, Thompson noted.

“It’s important to care for the stay-at-home parent with a deployed spouse,” she said. “They’re the first responders for these children. If the stay-at-home parent isn’t being nurtured, it’s very hard for him or her to nurture those children.”

While military life can be challenging for children, it also offers tremendous opportunities for growth, Thompson said.

“We know that it’s challenging to move every two to three years and uproot and make new friends and adjust to a new environment and a new community,” she acknowledged. “But those are also opportunities for growth and resilience, to learn very quickly how to make friends and adapt and be flexible.”

Thompson said she’s spoken to military children now in college who reflect back to their experiences with a different perspective.

“While challenging in the moment, it really prepared them for being away from home, for forging new relationships and seeking new interests,” she said.

Thompson encouraged people to take time this month to honor military children for their sacrifices, whether it’s with an event or words of gratitude.

“One of the things that’s disconcerting is we know that 1 percent of our population is in uniform and is serving, and the other 99 percent of the country takes full benefit of that,” Thompson said. “As a community, we owe it to our children to honor them and to protect them.”

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 – The military is defined by a bond of trust — between service members, their families and their communities — that must remain unbroken, the military’s top officer said here today.

“If we do that one thing, think about our profession as united with a common bond of trust, and commit … to earning it every day. I don’t care what happens to the budget … I don’t care what happens to the other countries in the world that might want ill to come to us, we’ll be fine,” Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

Taking care of troops is a matter of trust, he added. “If we lose that [trust], it won’t matter how much money we throw at ourselves. That’s a fact.”

After months of discussing budgetary and equipment concerns and fresh off a trip to South America, Dempsey turned his attention to what he called the military’s “human dimension” at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury’s Warrior Resilience Conference. This conference, in its fourth year, is intended to equip service members, units, families and communities with resilience-building techniques and tools.

As he spoke to an audience of nearly 750 behavioral health experts and military leaders, the chairman referred to an image of a squad leader in Afghanistan on the screen behind him. The soldier, his face contorted in a mix of fear and courage, was speaking on his radio with an evident sense of urgency.

Whatever it is the soldier is asking for, he’ll get, the chairman said. “That’s what sets us apart [as a nation]. He’s going to get it — whether it’s kinetic ordnance, whether it’s supplies, or whether it’s what you’re here to talk about today.

“We’re going to get them the life skills, the confidence, the hope, which equals on some level … the resilience you’re here to talk about in our force, in our families,” he pledged.

It took about a decade for the force to regain its sense of pride and clarity after the Vietnam War. That time lapse can’t occur again, the chairman said.

“The world is changing so fast around us,” Dempsey said. “If we wait until 2020 to build the kind of strength you’re working to build into our formation, it will be too late.

“I fear if we wait and don’t address this now, we not only won’t be doing ourselves any favors, we won’t be doing our nation any favors,” he added.

The people gathered for this conference are taking steps on this front, Dempsey noted, “by seeking a deeper, richer understanding of what has happened to us as a force over the last 10 years.

“More importantly,” he added, “what are you going to do about that? What are you going to do about the fact that 10 years of war has put enormous pressure on the force?”

They will be tackling these issues in an environment of challenged resources, the chairman acknowledged, and while ensuring they build and earn trust with their subordinates and coworkers each day. “Keeping faith with ourselves, our communities, our families … that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

Dempsey again referred to the squad leader’s picture, this time pointing out the soldier’s wedding ring. “If you think about this bond of trust, it doesn’t stop in the forward edge or the rear edge of the battle area,” he said. “It’s got to run all the way back to hometown USA where he has a family.”

Dempsey stressed the importance of turning to others for help when needed, calling resilience a “team sport.” The chairman drove this point home with a story about a prior bout with throat cancer. It hit him hard, he said, since he’d always tackled obstacles on his own.

Instead, he said, he relied on his medical team, his family and his friends for help. “I realized for the first time in my life, I can’t do this alone,” he said. “It took cancer for me to figure that out. We can’t let our young men and women figure that out the hard way.”

Dempsey thanked the audience for their unwavering commitment to troop and family wellness. “What you’re doing here has an absolute direct correlation with who we are today, but more importantly, has an even greater correlation to who we will be in the future,” he said.