A Military member's active duty status has always played havoc with their working Spouses career opportunities and development -- and may continue to do so.

The number of military spouses, working outside the home, has grown to about 70 percent and has, in many cases, become an absolute necessity to maintain a desired standard of living.

The military moves active duty members with little regard to their family situation -- except in special cases like Join Spouse, Children Have a Potential (CHAP), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other types of hardship.  The move order is simply to get the most eligible or best qualified military member into a current or projected vacancy -- regardless of where that vacancy may be.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently acknowledged that frequent deployments in support of ongoing combat operations and permanent change of station moves has brought about the highest level of stress on military families since World War II.

It is not only the combat stress factor that impacts military families it is also the loss of income and the interruption of the spouse's career development that comes with many PCS moves.

Many military spouses are professionals in their own right; Doctors, Nurses, Dentists, Lawyers, Business Leaders, Certified Public Accountants, Teachers and Counselors just to name a few. 

Their careers are immediately placed on hold when the PCS notification comes.  Many civilian jobs require advance departure notices and when those are given the employer starts an immediate search for a replacement.  So, while the military move may not be for months, the spouse may lose their job much earlier. 

According to testimony given to the House Committee on Veteran's Affairs, June 19, 2008, if a new military assignment is to a state where income tax is higher, the spouse could lose as much as 10% of their income.  In addition, a RAND Corporation study found the average spouse income shrinks by more than $5,500 annually when compared to a civilian counterpart because of moving.

The Department of Defense is not unsympathetic to the working spouse's situation and tries to improve their circumstance.  There are also avenues for working spouses to get help from their own military service.  All branches have types of "Family Support Centers," both at the losing and gaining bases.  Support centers provide counseling, resume service and job placement assistance.

"The Military Spouse Career Advancement Initiative (Pilot Program) provides assistance to military spouses seeking to gain the skills and credentials necessary to begin or advance their career."

Career Advancement Accounts pay the costs of training and education that enable spouses to earn a degree or credential in in-demand, portable fields in most communities.

Military Home Front is the official Department of Defense website for reliable Quality of Life information designed to help troops and their families, leaders and service providers.

The National Military Family Association is another great site to assist with spouse employment.

There are also other sites designed to help transition military working spouses, such as:
Military OneSource and
Army OneSource

President George W. Bush signed an Executive Order on September 30, 2008, to make Federal Employment easier to obtain for Military Spouses.  The order authorizes noncompetitive hiring of spouses and should make the hiring process easier and faster.

There are numerous directives that provide priority placement for military spouses, including the following:

• Section 10, United States Code 1784, "Employment Opportunities for Military Spouses," January 1997
• Public Law 99-145, Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1986, Section 806, "Employment Opportunities for Military Spouses," November 8, 1985, as amended
• Public Law 99-661, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987, November 14, 1986
• Public Law 100-180, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989, December 4, 1987
• Executive Order 12721, "Eligibility of Overseas Employees for Noncompetitive Appointments," July 30, 1990

Another source for employment preferences is: Priority Placement Program (PPP) Guidance and Information. This site also includes some customer-friendly fact sheets.

Currently, the Military Spouse Preference Program does not apply to:

• Positions in the excepted service
• Positions filled from Office of Personnel Management (OPM) certificates or under agency Delegated Examining Unit or Direct Hire Authority procedures and Non-appropriated fund (NAF) positions
• Positions in foreign areas, whether in the competitive or excepted service
• Positions filled under component career program procedures
• Positions filled at the full performance level that are covered by a mandatory mobility agreement

Despite the efforts of the military departments and DoD, many professionals will lose vesting time for retirement, career progression opportunities, or become unemployed due to accompanying an active duty member on PCS.

Many military spouses are forced to accept employment outside their area of professional expertise.  While this may be better than nothing, it degrades the spouse's professional qualifications, resume and competitiveness when they return to an area where their specialty is in demand.

Civilian Personnel Offices could pave the way for employees in transit from one DoD installation to another by providing advanced applications, qualifications and recommendations to fill any related vacancy -- or projected vacancy, for which the spouse is qualified, at the new location.

Home basing (of military personnel) would provide a better solution to the problem, but would also create larger problems for the military in their equitable distribution of human resources.
 
Unfortunately, there has never been a good answer to the working military spouse riddle.  Their best hope is to take advantage of existing employment preference opportunities and push for their expansion.