Military & Veterans News DoD Announces Five DESI Awards for University-Industry Collaborations The Department of Defense announced the selection of five university-industry teams for the Defense Enterprise Science Initiative (DESI). DESI is a pilot program supporting university-industry research collaboration focused on accelerating the impact of basic research on defense capabilities.
Military & Veterans Life Department of Defense Announces Invictus Games Sydney 2018 Team Members The Department of Defense announced today the names of the 72 competitors who will compete on the United States team at the Invictus Games in Sydney, Oct. 20-27.
Military & Veterans News 2023 NFL Season, College Football, and More on AFN The Defense Media Activity (DMA) and the American Forces Network (AFN) invites its overseas audiences to enjoy the National Football League's 2023 football season. AFN will provide live game coverage through the playoffs and Super Bowl LVIII.
Military & Veterans News Department of Defense-Sponsored Cyber Internship Offers Knowledge, Inspiration for College Students The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering-sponsored Cyber-Spectrum internship program, MAVEN, recently celebrated its second internship graduation.
Military & Veterans News New Benefit Gives Military Families More Flexibility in Paying for Dependent Care In coordination with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has expanded eligibility for a benefit that will provide military families with another financial option for reducing the burden of the cost of dependent care, ultimately bolstering military readiness. The Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) initiative provides accounts that allow eligible service members to set aside up to $5,000 per household in pre-tax earnings for qualified dependent care expenses.
Military & Veterans News New Defense Department Policy Standardizes Exceptional Family Member Program Across the Services The Defense Department has enacted changes to ensure consistency across the service branches for military families with special needs. Previously each service set its own processes and guidelines because there wasn't standard policy guidance from the department.
Military & Veterans News DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office Hosts Sixth Global Information Dominance Experiment The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), in partnership with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, launched its second Global Information Dominance Experiment, known as GIDE. The sixth iteration of GIDE began Jun. 5 and will conclude Jul. 26. The experimentation team is comprised of U.S. military and civilian personnel from all service branches and multiple combatant commands.
Military & Veterans News Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III on President Biden's Nomination of a New Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff I enthusiastically support President Biden’s decision to nominate Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., as the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. Brown is an outstanding joint warfighter and a thoughtful, strategic leader who will bring his trademark skill, talent and judgment to this critical role, if confirmed.
Military & Veterans News DOD Updates Overseas Cost-of-Living Allowance Adjustment Process The Overseas Cost-of-Living Allowance (OCOLA) is an allowance that ensures our Service members who are assigned to a permanent duty station outside the contiguous U.S. (OCONUS) (i.e., foreign countries, U.S. territories, Alaska, and Hawaii) maintain the same level of purchasing power as Service members stationed in CONUS locations — not less purchasing power, but not more either.
Military & Veterans News DOD Produces Climate Assessment Tool, Strengthens Climate Cooperation With Six Allies Two years ago at the Climate Leaders Summit led by President Joseph R Biden Jr., Honorable Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III committed to produce tailored versions of the DOD Climate Assessment Tool (DCAT) for six allies: Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom.
Military & Veterans News Month of the Military Child 2023 – Taking Care of Our Military Children The Defense Department is observing April as Month of the Military Child and will highlight programs, resources and services available to support the overall well-being of military children, youth and teens.
Military & Veterans News DOD Announces Six New Measures to Enhance Well-Being of Military Force and Their Families Today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III unveiled a comprehensive plan aimed at improving the lives of our dedicated military force and their families. The new plan consists of six additional actions that address essential needs in education, childcare, parental leave, and career advancement. The Department of Defense (DoD) is committed to working with Congress and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of these measures.
Military & Veterans News DOD Announces Next Steps on Suicide Prevention in the Military Today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III issued a memorandum on the Next Steps on Suicide Prevention in the Military.
Military & Veterans News DoD Releases Policies to Ensure Access to Non-Covered Reproductive Health Care On October 20, 2022, the Secretary of Defense released a memorandum, “Ensuring Access to Reproductive Health Care,” directing the Department to take a series of actions to ensure Service members and their families are able to access non-covered reproductive health care.
Military & Veterans News DoD Announces 61st Annual United States Senate Youth Program Military Mentors The Department of Defense (DoD) today announced the 17 U.S. military officers selected to serve as Armed Forces ambassadors in support of the 61st Annual United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) Washington Week, which returns to in person in Washington, D.C., March 4-11.
Military & Veterans News DOD Now Accepting Applications for New Military Spouse Career Accelerator Pilot The Defense Department launched a 12-week paid fellowship program to expand employment opportunities for eligible military spouses.
Military & Veterans News DoD Releases 2023 Basic Allowance for Housing Rates The Department of Defense has released the 2023 Basic Allowance for Housing rates. Basic Allowance for Housing rates will increase an average of 12.1 percent when the new rates take effect on January 1, 2023. An estimated $26.8 billion will be paid to approximately one million Service members. The significant increase in average BAH rates is reflective of the unique market conditions experienced across many locations nationwide over the past year. While average BAH rates increased substantially, different rental markets experience different market trends, and the 2023 BAH rates reflect those geographic market condition differences.
Military & Veterans News Department of Defense Releases Annual Demographics Report — Upward Trend in Number of Women Serving Continues While the overall size of our military remained steady, the percentage of women serving on active duty and in the Reserve component continues to grow in both the enlisted and commissioned ranks, according to the newly released 2021 Demographics Profile of the Military Community.
Military & Veterans News DOD Launches Survey to Enhance the Exceptional Family Member Program The Defense Department launched its 2022 Exceptional Family Member Program survey today. The results will help the DOD prioritize solutions that help meet the needs of military families with special needs.
Military & Veterans News The Department of Defense Appoints Dr. Liz Clark as New Director, Defense Suicide Prevention Office Liz Clark, Ed.D., has been appointed to the Senior Executive Service as the Director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office (DSPO), a component of the DoD Defense Human Resources Activity, aligned to the Office of Force Resiliency for policy direction. Dr. Clark will be responsible for the development of DoD non-clinical suicide prevention programs that promote and enhance suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention with the goal of reducing stigma and increasing the awareness to facilitate help-seeking behaviors. In this role, Dr. Clark will oversee non-clinical suicide prevention program development and evaluation, data surveillance, research, and outreach and engagement in support of more than 2 million Service members and over 2.5 million military family members worldwide.
Military & Veterans News Statement by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III on the Passing of Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter I was deeply saddened to learn of the untimely passing of former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Today, the entire Department of Defense mourns the loss of a towering intellect, a steadfast leader, a devoted mentor to countless public servants, and a great patriot who devoted his life to strengthening the security of the country that he loved.
Military & Veterans News DoD Schools Ranked Best in the United States on Nation's Report Card Fourth and eighth-grade students attending Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools led the nation in scoring on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading and Mathematics Assessments.
Military & Veterans News DOD Announces Efforts to Ensure Access to Reproductive Health Care Today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced the Department will take all appropriate action, within its authority and consistent with applicable federal law, as soon as possible to ensure that Service members and their families can access reproductive health care and health care providers can operate effectively.
Military & Veterans News $1 Billion in Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announces the authorization of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $1 billion to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This authorization is the Biden Administration’s eighteenth drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. It is the largest single drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment utilizing this authority, and this package provides a significant amount of additional ammunition, weapons, and equipment - the types of which the Ukrainian people are using so effectively to defend their country.
