What is it?

Soldiers, veterans and survivors of those whose service was involuntarily extended under Stop Loss between September 11, 2001 and September 30, 2008 can apply to receive $500 for every month, or portion of a month, they served under Stop Loss. The 2009 War Supplemental Appropriations Act established and largely funded the payment for all military services, but dictated that each service process and pay their own applicants. The Army estimates that 136,000 of the approximately 174,000 eligible servicemembers served in the Army.

What has the Army done?

The Army has created an application process for active-and-reserve component Soldiers, veterans, and survivors of Soldiers to process claims for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay. By law, the Army can only accept claims between October 21, 2009 and October 21, 2010. Eligible candidates must submit their request within this time frame, or the Army will not be able to process their request. The Army has set up an email address to field questions people have regarding the benefit.

How can people apply?

Candidates for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay must submit a claim at Retroactive Stop Loss Web site . This Web site is the preferred method for submitting applications; however, other means for doing so, such as by mail or fax, will be available to those without access to computers. Additional communications will provide instructions for alternative forms of submission. During the application process, candidates will be asked to show documentation that indicates the time they served under Stop Loss. The necessary documentation, depending on their type of service, includes the following:

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?

The Army will review, process and pay qualified candidates as they submit their applications at Retroactive Stop Loss Web site. Candidates who meet the criteria and show the required documentation will receive their retroactive payment in a one lump sum. The Army will not accept applications submitted after October 21, 2010.

Resources: Retroactive Stop Loss Web site ]]> http://parentszone.org/2009/10/20/retroactive-stop-loss-special-pay/feed/ 11 http://parentszone.org/2009/07/11/soldiers-have-parents/ http://parentszone.org/2009/07/11/soldiers-have-parents/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:21:29 +0000 http://parentszone.org/?p=729 We are a military family. All three of our sons enlisted while they were single (unmarried) and many of “Our Guys” (soldiers we consider family) have also been single. As a result, I have from time to time done some complaining about how about half of Army soldiers are UNmarried but that “family” resources and information were principally for spouses — parents left out of the loop. (I actually asked what was being done for the “other half” of the Army while participating in a blogger’s roundtable that included the Secretary of the Army…)

New to the Army? Help Keep Your Parents in the Loop

If you’ve just joined the Army and your parents aren’t familiar with military life, keep them in the loop with these materials:

• Resources for Parents of Soldiers
• When Your Son or Daughter Goes Through Basic Combat Training

The “Resources…” page provides links to official and unofficial web sites that you might, as a parent, find useful, but also be sure to check out blogs like ParentsZone.org and other military blogs (“Milblogs” — you can find blogs by branch of service as well as those blogs by parents at www.milblogging.com).

As the parent of a soldier, you should become familiar with some of the other resource information contained on other Army and Dept. of Defense sites for future reference… such as the Army Well-Being site and the Military Homefront page.

I’d really like the Army and the other services to produce content specific to parents (or non-spousal family) with the idea that these people are usually remote (away) from their soldier’s military installation and typically have no idea how to contact the installation or chain of command (or even who that might be) in an emergency… or what resources are available to their soldier/sailor/marine/airman/coastie or to the family member (be that a parent, aunt, uncle, sister or brother…) when faced with serious issues involving their child (for example, post-deployment issues). (And, yes, I know that there are those who actually joined the military to AVOID their parents… but every soldier has a next-of-kin somewhere — that are not “in the loop” but should be!)

I did also find some parent-related information for the other services (some official, some unofficial):

for Parents of Marines
A Parent’s Guide to the Marine Corps
USMC – Recruit Training
Marine Parents.com

For Navy Parents
Navy for Moms
Navy Dads

For Air Force Parents
Parents of the Enlisted

AF — you could do better… information or links for parents could easily be added to AFCrossroads.

For Coast Guard Parents (nice job CG!!)

For National Guard Families

General informational links for all branches, Guard and Reserves at Today’s Military and Military.com

]]> http://parentszone.org/2009/07/11/soldiers-have-parents/feed/ 5 http://parentszone.org/2009/05/11/army-paternity-leave/ http://parentszone.org/2009/05/11/army-paternity-leave/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 21:16:57 +0000 http://parentszone.org/?p=647 I know a bunch of “will-be-daddy” guys and some soon-to-be-moms who will welcome this news!!

Paternity Leave

What is it?

The Army’s new paternity leave policy gives fathers additional time to be with their families when a new child is born. The policy, which was signed into law under President George W. Bush on Oct. 14, grants married Soldiers up to 10 consecutive days of non-chargeable administrative leave after the birth of a child. Paternity leave must be taken within 45 days of the child’s birth; deployed Soldiers must take the leave within 60 days after returning from deployment. Leave not taken within the established time frame will be lost.

Single Soldiers who father a child out-of-wedlock are not eligible for paternity leave.

What has the Army done?

The Army recognizes the importance of families being together during significant events such as the birth of a child. It has developed a flexible paternity leave policy that allows male Soldiers to support their spouses during the joyous, but possibly stressful, time of adjustment following the arrival of a new family member. It also provides Soldiers returning from deployments uninterrupted time with their child to begin building bonds that will last a lifetime.

The policy allows Soldiers who have taken annual leave in connection with the birth of a child since October 2008 to request up to 10 days of leave be restored/re-credited to their leave account. Soldiers must provide documentation to support their claim (e.g., DA Form 31 or LES) and submit it through the unit S1 or Personnel Administrative Center.

My question is, “Does this apply to adoptions as well?? (It should!)

]]> http://parentszone.org/2009/05/11/army-paternity-leave/feed/ 1 http://parentszone.org/2009/02/27/coffins-and-media-decision-made/ http://parentszone.org/2009/02/27/coffins-and-media-decision-made/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:45:43 +0000 Blog Staff http://parentszone.org/?p=432

They Are Not Alone

As you all probably know, the SecDef has made his decision concerning the media access to coffins of the fallen coming into Dover AFB. The decision is that media will be allowed if the family requests it.

No matter how you or I feel about this (and I’m not going to put my opinion out here), this is now the way it is. Now there is paperwork that will be required, I’m sure there will be a form, and procedures and requirements etc. A question that is definitely out there – WHO is the one who will make that decision. Should it be the wife? the parents? the children (my son is an adult, and would put his 2 cents in). One commentor I saw suggested it should be up to the service member, that this should be something they decide.

As we’ve discussed before (well, I did the talking, hope you did the reading!) most of us have planned funerals for our service member. That’s one of those things that military families do that boggle the minds of the civilians. This is part of that planning. As a spouse, would I want my husband’s family to have any say in this decision? good question. As a mom, would I stand back and let my daughter in law make that decision, if I didn’t agree with it? another good one.

Do YOU guys have any answers? and if you want to let us know how you feel about the decision, feel free. Don’t forget, be polite!

LAW

As you may have read, the Secretary of Defense is reviewing the policy of taking photographs of coffins of the recently fallen soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan arriving at Dover AFB. This is one of those subjects that makes those of us who have family members serving – think, twitch and wonder what would we do.

As Andi on SpouseBuzz said – we plan funerals, in our heads. Yes, I’ve planned my husband’s  (with no help from him, other than a request for Dixie played by bagpipes).  I planned my son’s too.  (the music for that one was difficult too)  I haven’t had to use those plans…and I haven’t thought about the media, other than to hope they will show some respect. That, unfortunately, isn’t what has happened at many funerals. I went to nine funerals last deployment, and the media held back – it could have been that Midwestern reticence, but I’ll figure it was the Patriot Guard!

So how do I feel about it? I don’t honestly know. I’ve read other blogs about it, I’ve always thought that maybe the other 99% of the US population should see the true cost of the war; not just the money, but the lives – the lives lost, the lives shattered, the lives of the children losing a parent, the parent losing a child,  the lives of the friends who mourn. But those same families and friends have the right to mourn in private, to survive the pain without cameras in their faces.

How do I feel? Confused. I know that I understand the families’ point of view that don’t want the pictures taken, I know I understand those that say these coffins, when they arrive, don’t have names on them that can be seen by photographers, that no-one is saying that they want to take pictures of widows and parents receiving the coffins, but is this the slippery slope we hear so much about? If we allow a photograph of a coffin on a plane floor, does that mean we will allow a picture of a woman kissing the coffin, of a child hugging the coffin holding her daddy?

And I want Secretary Gates to ask us. Not the Generals, not the under secretary of whatever, ask us. We are the ones who this will affect, we are the ones who live with this possibility. Please, tell me what you think.

LAW

******

We’re Making History Today

I want to share something very exciting with you.

Today, IAVA is launching a ground-breaking Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign with the Ad Council. This historic, multi-year, national effort is aimed at easing the transition for veterans returning home from combat.

Even if you’re not familiar with the Ad Council, you know their work. They have been behind some of our country’s most iconic PSA campaigns, including Smokey the Bear, “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk”, and “A Mind is A Terrible Thing to Waste”. Now, they’ve teamed up with IAVA to create the largest campaign to date focused on veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

And at the center of this campaign is a new private social network, exclusively for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, at CommunityOfVeterans.org.

Please help us spread the word about this historic campaign. Forward this email to your friends and family members, and tell the veterans in your life to check out CommunityofVeterans.org.

Together, we have the potential to dramatically improve the lives of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families nationwide.

Thank you for standing with us, and Happy Veterans Day.

I am currently working with the executor of Hunter’s foundation to get a list of what Hunter may need and to setup a fundraiser for him.

Also we’re working on setting up a email list of rapid responders when we hear of things like this if you’d like to be included, please sign up at http://www.armyhousehold6.com (left side of page)

To read Hunter’s story click here

I received this email from Julie  with BlueStarMoms who visited with Hunter on Saturday .. so I wanted to pass it along..

Well, we already went today and just got back actually but we wouldn’t mind going again.  When I say we, I took my daughter-in-law and granddaughters too.  One of the staff did go in ahead and asked Hunter if he minded us coming in.  That was Hunters request to be notified ahead of time.

I figured that if he did not want visitors today that we would just leave what we had brought for him there for him to have and I understood his request. He let us come in because I told the nurse about my son serving in Iraq.  That seemed to make Hunter feel better.

We just stopped in for a minute and took a card, a box of See’s lollipops, some other candy and a small fimo clay frog wind chime. (FROG=Freely Rely On God) That made him sorta laugh, the wind chime. He said he didn’t know where to put it so we suggested over the a/c unit or hang it on the window that way he could know if the a/c was working or not.

I figured that he could use the practice in getting his other senses a little sharper while his eyesight was getting some work. The room was pretty warm though, and there was a soldier visiting him as well so I didn’t want to take up too much of his time.  I will call Stephanie later this week and see if he wouldn’t mind having us visit again, without the girls though. I would love to have you come with or meet me there.  I have a map now and it is pretty easy to get to.

He has a DVD player and an i-pod and told me he has all the music he needs, he is still pretty angry inside.  I know that later in life he will look back and think about us going there, it will be just a random thought but I hope it will be a good one.

Also, my granddaughters class is going to make a mobile for his room, that should help him with some eye coordination exercises without him knowing that he is actually doing them.

I did see that he had the DVD Gladiator (great movie!) so he has some vision.  He also had a watch on with a magnifier on it.  Also, the lollipops will help with the muscles in his neck which will in turn help with the face restructuring.

In fact, I am thinking that getting some crossword puzzle books and other items like that as well as some cards for other soldiers who are there would be worthwhile.  There were a couple who had no visitors and looked like they could use someone to visit with.

Thanks,
Household6

I have lots of links etc to share with you.  A new format/page structure will be coming soon on PZ, and they’ll be easy to find. 

But – I am really psyched about vFRG.  One point I checked on with the ArmyOneSource folks -  If your soldier’s unit has a Virtual Family Readiness Group Site - you can click in, and request that you be added – this email goes to your soldier and supposedly all he/she needs to do is click Yes (or whatever the box says) and you will be added to the list. Now the VFRG is only as good as the support from the unit, that’s its one drawback – but it IS a start. So talk to your soldier – tell him to get off his tail and add you!

I collected many many cards from “Family Resource” booths and talked about the need for Parents to be included in that umbrella of “Family”.  And I was heartened by how many groups are realizing this!  Military Family Network even has a portion of their site for Military Parents.. Another group, for the caregiver for a wounded servicemember, is very open to helping Military Parents – they are called Operation Life Transformed .   The Brass – ie Senior military – also talked about Extended Families.  So there is hope out there for Parents – who won’t be relegated as just “some soldiers mom“.

As mentioned above,  we are going to make some changes here, let us know what you want to see, and what you need to see, and what you don’t want to see.

LAW

If you have any problems, you can also listen to the audio by clicking this link:

http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/shows/show_291372.mp3

The actual panel I was on discussed the importance of remembering that the military blog community is NOT just the uniform members, reporting on conditions downrange, or talking about the conditions they are in. The community is held together by the “others”, the parents, the spouses, the volunteers. I won’t be reporting on the other panels, as those are being reported on by the uniform milbloggers – or by other bloggers who could take notes.  I find it amusing that most of the uniform bloggers that I have read so far – didn’t report on our panel!  But from where I was sitting, on the other panels, there is some debate about our “relevance” (if we have to ask whether we are relevant, I’d say we probably aren’t), some debate about how milblogs should be “used” or whether we need some sort of training.

Secretary Geren was on the phone for a while, on a different panel. I met with his assistant, who told me that one of the authors you have been enjoying here – Some Soldier’s Mom – has been on his Roundtables and informing the Secretary of Army (in her own inimitable and no nonsense fashion) that Parents aren’t being heard, and that single soldiers need more from the Army when they are offduty. The assistant told me that SecArmy is very happy to hear from SSM and she was very kind in allowing me to get put on the list for Roundtables as well. This is where I may be able to bring up what YOU – The Parents and Siblings, Aunts and Uncles, grandparents and friends – want him to hear.

At the Milbloggie awards – SOME SOLDIER’S MOM won the Milbloggie for Parent’s sites. CONGRATULATIONS!  As soon as she gets a chance, I’m hoping to get some more posts from her.

We’ll be putting up the survey results soon. I’m still trying to get some rather well known names to answer the survey – if you can think of someone that is in the public eye we should send the survey to, let us know.

LAW