Department of Defense announces new initiatives to improve quality of life for service members and their families

The latest memorandum includes expanding military spouse employment programs.
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Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Sanders, DOD
Sec. Austin visiting the troops in Hawaii. Photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Sanders, DOD

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On September 13, 2024, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced the latest set of initiatives – which are part of his ongoing “Taking Care of Our People” priority – aimed at improving the well-being of military members and their families.

Titled “Our Enduring Duty to America’s Service Members and Their Families,” Austin’s latest initiatives in the memorandum include:

  • Establishing Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts (HCFASs) for service members.
  • Increasing access to Wifi.
  • Decreasing the cost burden associated with PCS moves.
  • Expanding military spouse employment programs and professional development.
  • Increasing access to quality childcare.
  • Easing uniform costs and improving uniform quality for enlisted service members.
  • Making life easier at remote and isolated installations.

Austin began the initiative three years ago following an assessment of service member experience. 

Previous initiatives under Austin’s commitment to military families have included increases in housing allowances to more appropriately match duty stations, fully funding DoD commissaries, a permanent increase to standard temporary lodging expenses (TLE), extra support for EFMP families, an amendment to SCRA that requires that professional licenses be portable (except law) for service members and their spouses, and implementation of universal pre-kindergarten at Department of Defense Education Activity schools. 

“Early in my tenure as secretary of defense, I made taking care of our people a top priority,” Austin said in the Sept. 13 memorandum. “Doing right by our all-volunteer joint force and their families is a core readiness issue. Taking care of our people is fundamental to the department’s ability to recruit and retain the most talented American patriots and to ensure that the U.S. military remains the most lethal fighting force on the planet — and it is simply the right thing to do.”