MyCaa Update

Hello my fellow military spouses. As most of you know by now the DoD halted the MyCaa program on February 16, 2010. This is a popular military spouse education assistance program that was instituted to enable spouses to receive $6000 towards a degree in a portable career field. I was in the midst of this program when it was halted. I now have until April 1st to find alternate funding for my new term. I had $3000 left in my MyCaa account that I was counting on and 30 days is just not a reasonable amount of time to research or apply for other options.

Like most of the other spouses affected by this I raced to the Internet and started contacting and speaking out to any military affiliated organization I could find. Well, I connected with Blue Star Families of Virginia. This organization has been a huge help to the spouses here in Virginia. They have been working very hard to get the spouses much needed answers. They saw an interview I did with our local channel 3 news here in Virginia, shortly after the news of the MyCaa halt had surfaced, and contacted me. They asked if I would be willing to work with them and Congressman Nye on figuring out what has happened and work towards getting the program reinstated. I of course jumped at the opportunity.

This afternoon Congressman Nye gathered military spouses from our area and had a round table discussion about the MyCaa incident. I want to take just a moment to tell you what an unbelievable gesture I thought this was. I don't see this from many of our government representatives and I have been more than impressed with how hard Congressman Nye is tackling this issue and working for military spouses. It was an excellent meeting. A diverse group of military spouses showed up and together our voice was more than heard! Congressman Nye has sent a formal letter that he submitted last week to Secretary Gates asking what happened, why it was handled as atrociously as it was, and what we need to do to reinstate this amazing program. It felt good to be able to express to a government official just how badly this incident has affected our lives. The DoD continues in their statements to call this an "inconvenience", but like myself and the other spouses that attended the meeting this afternoon, the word should be "life changing". I heard stories of spouses who are now in a financial hardship because they started school and right after starting are receiving tuition bills in the mail because their MyCaa funding is gone. I can't tell you how heartbreaking these testimonies were. But thankfully with Congressman Nye standing behind us, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. His advice to military spouses - continue to contact your representatives and senators. Show them that this is not going to go away and that the DoD will have to answer for this.

I have been in the military for 13 years and being associated with the military that long, I have learned that some things are just messed up but its a part of this military life. At the same token though, there also comes a time when a line is drawn and when it is crossed you have to stand up and say NO! Not this time! I pray this issue will come to a quick resolution and myself and the other 103,000+ spouses this has affected will be able to regain their chance to empower themselves and reach their educational goals!!



HH6 Janet