This Editorial by The Career Coach was published in The Navy Times, September 13, 1999.

During fiscal 1999, the Defense Department expects to spend over $500 million in recruiting and advertising, and millions more on enlistment/re-enlistment bonuses and other retention incentives. Contrast this with the $150,000 for the Military Spouse Entrepreneurial Readiness Program, a mere pittance [see "Future of Portable Business Program in Doubt, The Navy Times, August 30, 1999].

Analysis of the 1992 Defense Department "Survey of Military Officers and Their Spouses" again affirmed the influence that working spouses have on military members' decisions to remain on active duty. So it is puzzling that the Pentagon can't come up with a mere $150K to continue a program that has supplemented military family incomes not through handouts, but by developing in military spouses the capacity to earn a living.

Geographic instability creates an immense challenge for military spouses who want or need to work. In most states, military spouses are ineligible for unemployment benefits when forced to leave their jobs due to permanent change-of-station orders. It seems reasonable that the Defense Department should make a permanent commitment-- through such programs as MSERP-- to mitigate the negative impact of frequent relocations.

Can the services really afford to lose Chief Mollenkopf, Sgt. Jones and every other member who could increase their family's income two-fold or more by leaving active duty and becoming a stable, two-income civilian household?

Dollar for dollar, spouse employment programs are the best value for improving military family income levels. The Pentagon needs to recognize the importance of spouse employment toward retention, and provide leverage funding to increase military family incomes-- or live with the consequences. And that means expanding its recruiting budget and retention bonus programs for next year and beyond.