Medical/Dental Issue: Defense Department Civilian with Exceptional Family Member Scope: Current Defense Department Policy 1315.19 allows DOD civilians an option to bring their family members outside the continental U.S. regardless of gaining installation’s ability to support family member’s special needs. Family members needing care bring undue stress and strain toRead More

Former Marine Kurt Garcia is no different than many of his
contemporaries. In his almost 28 years of military service, he made 13
permanent change of station moves, served in the U.S., Asia and Europe,
endured numerous long separations from his family, and underwent
intense, physically challenging training.  

But he can’t transfer his Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to his 12-year-old son, Dominic, or his 10-year-old daughter, Gabrielle.Read More

It was a bitter cold evening in Prague, Czech Republic. On the main
entrance steps of the Military Church of St. John of Nepomuk, three
members of the Czech army guard of honor stood stoically on each side
of the door with rifles and fixed bayonets. The Prague Castle Guard
regimental band brass sextet — which normally only plays for state
ceremonial events — added to the formal ambiance.Read More

Depression in children and teens has become a serious concern nationwide.

Since the school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999
— a massacre in which two students killed 12 students and a teacher,
injured 24 others, then committed suicide — school systems have
revamped school psychology programs to combat teen depression, bullying
and suicide.Read More

Headquarters, U.S. European Command, recognized its top service members
and civilian employees of 2010 in a ceremony held Feb. 10 on Patch
Barracks

Rear Adm. Charles W. Martoglio, EUCOM chief of staff, praised the 15
service member nominees and 22 civilian nominees in front of their
co-workers, friends and family inside a packed Patch Community Club.
Martoglio praised the nominees for providing quality support to the
Department of Defense during a critical period for the U.S.

Read More

Marine spouse and community volunteer Carmen Carlisle is on the road to increased resiliency.

Carlisle was among the dozen family members and civilians who gathered
Feb. 2 for the first in a series of monthly sessions on resilience
training, offered through U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart Army Community
Service.
Read More

Being fit is more than just lifting weights.

In fact, a person’s total fitness includes their emotions,
spirituality, and the ways in which they interact with their family and
friends, according to the Department of the Army. That’s why the DA
designed the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program: to measure the
overall fitness of Soldiers, family members and DA civilians in the
areas of physical, social, family, emotional and spiritual fitness.Read More

Bewildered and struggling to pay down debt, Spc. Lakeshia Dennis fell
behind in her rent last fall and wasn’t sure where to turn for
assistance in regaining her financial footing.

Dennis, assigned to the 554th Military Police Company, found help
through Army Emergency Relief. AER provides emergency financial
assistance to active duty and retired Soldiers, their family members,
surviving spouses and orphans.Read More

After a record-breaking season followed by a disappointing loss in the
European championship, the Patch High School precision air rifle team
looks to its top shooters to end the year on a high note at the national
level.

The Panthers broke a school system record Jan. 22 when they earned 1,415
out of 1,500 points during their final match of the season and entered
the 2011 Department of Defense Dependents Schools Europe marksmanship
championship “shooting almost 80 points higher than any other team,”
according to team coach Jack Wayne.Read More

Dr. Emmitt L. Brown, the scientist from the movie “Back to the Future,”
had things fairly well devised several years ago, feeding trash to the
“flux capacitor” to power his time machine. Read More