Published January 5, 2025
A Worthy Fight: Nothing Is More Important Than Our Families
By: Michael Schoelwer, USMC, Retired
Issue:
The families of active-duty service members and veterans in Virginia are a foundation of Virginia’s larger success and their problems are becoming significant, but Virginia lacks any singularly responsible office or coordinated response.
Background
Little is more important to us than our families. That is especially true for the families of active-duty service members and veterans due to the unique stresses – frequent family moves, extended overseas deployments, wartime uncertainty, routine extended separation and single-parenting – that military and post-service life place on both the members and their dependents.
For its part, the U.S. military itself is uniquely important to Virginia. Virginia has the second highest active-duty population of any state in the Union and a huge veteran population. Direct Federal military spending accounts for 40% of the GDP of Hampton Roads, DoD spends billions of dollars every day on payrolls, R&D, and equipment purchases in northern Virginia, and is one of the single largest employers in Charlottesville. Too, new veterans are a well-spring of skilled workers for Virginia’s burgeoning business sector.
The equation is simple: families are a cornerstone of military and veteran life, and service members and veterans are essential to Virginia, ergo their families are essential to the growth and prosperity of Virginia. For that reason, the health and welfare of military and veteran families deserve special attention.
Whatever hurts a community also hurts military families. But, due to the unique demands of military and post-military life, it hurts them worse. The ills of the past 4 years – the highest inflation rates in 40 years, 85% rise in gas prices, high consumer and mortgage interest rates, low housing stocks, problematic K-12 public schools, high childcare costs – are magnified into body blows by the demands of military service and shaky finances of new veteran families.
The issues and challenges faced by military and veteran families at each stage are different, but they morph predictably over time. For example, the needs of a young service member and their family will be very close to the needs of the recently-transitioned veteran with a young family who wants to stay and work in Virginia after leaving active duty. Equally important, issues in one stage lead predictably to problems in the subsequent stage. For example, chronically homeless young veterans often suffered from addiction or psychological issues while still on active duty. In other words, their homelessness was very predictable.
Of all the phases, the transition from young service member with family in Virginia to young veteran with family who wants to live and work in Virginia is the most intense period of need and the most predictable. That service member has known skills, which are often of high interest to Virginia employers. They also have predictable family needs, such as job transition assistance, affordable housing, childcare, and health care. Assisting them with these problems helps Virginia. Conversely, job insecurity, food insecurity, and homelessness are leading factors in suicide. Not helping veterans make the transition back to civilian life can carry very heavy costs.
These issues cross social, economic, and political boundaries. As a result, they are difficult for our “stove-piped” State and municipal governments to address in a coordinated manner. These problems share the trait of hampering our families, but each also has separate and distinct causes, which demand separate and distinct – yet coordinated – responses. This flip side of this interconnectivity is that progress in one area can help resolve other problem areas. And, anything that helps military and veteran families also helps the greater community.
Officials in different government departments at different levels of government, each with their own authorities, responsibilities, and funding sources, address these seemingly intractable family issues unilaterally. They act from disparate offices, each with their own limited view of the overall problem or their inter-connections. It also means that no one, single office in the government of Virginia is the overall proponent for military and veteran families in Virginia.
Proposed policy actions
A. Transition from looking at the problems of military and veteran families as discrete issues to looking at them as an integrated problem set to be addressed over entire life cycle of active-duty and veteran families.
B. Designate an office in the Virginia government, most likely in the Department of Veteran Services, to serve as the proponent of active duty and veteran families and liaison with different levels of government. (See Tab A for details.)
C. Conduct a census of military and veteran families, specifically, to create a granular picture of the problem set and provide empirical data to support policy makers. (See Tab B for a detailed discussion.)
D. Mitigate the impact of high inflation by eliminating the State’s personal property tax. (See Tab C for details.)
E. Workforce housing
1. Increase the pool of affordable workforce housing by sponsoring a design contest among architecture schools at Virginia universities to produce plans to convert vacant office buildings, vacant shopping malls, and empty warehouses to housing.
2. Consider a law that cedes municipalities’ responsibility for zoning to the State if a locality fails to grow its housing pool by at least 1.5% per Anum. (See Tab D for details.)
F. Combat sky-rocketing food prices and food insecurity by partnering with the Virginia Farm Bureau and municipal governments to set up farmer’s markets on or near bases. (See Tab E for details.)
G. Childcare
1. Ease the shortage of childcare workers by creating a childcare worker recruitment, training and certification program. In addition to expanding childcare access, it would also set DoD programs in Virginia apart.
2. Consider subsidizing childcare for young veteran families, equal to the benefits that they just lost from DoD, to facilitate their transition into the civilian workforce in Virginia. (See Tab F for details.)
H. Facilitate quality K-12 education and reduce the burdens on stressed public schools by supporting home schooling, seamless participation by home schoolers in public school extracurricular activities, and Educational Savings Accounts. (See Tab G for details.)
G. Health care: (See Tab H for details.)
J. Grow Virginia’s pool of workforce talent by establishing dedicated centers of workforce training in skills needed by defense industries, specifically ship-building, aviation, and cybernetics industries. Coordinate training with active-duty forces, reserve and National Guard components and industry. Increase opportunities for reservists, especially in aviation units, to work side-by-side with the private sector. (See Tab I for details.
Tab A: Organize the Dept of Veteran Services to Solve the Problem
Virginia is challenged to address the needs of its military and family families for reasons which have little to do with the substance of the issues. First, these family issues cut across political, economic, and social boundaries. As a result, solutions cut across the organizational boundaries, information flow, legal authorities, and funding of Federal, State, and local governments. Too, the government of Virginia has no single office that is the proponent for military families. Third, it has no single office to interact with the Federal and municipal bodies also affecting the issues. Finally, it lacks a single office to collect and collate the empirical data needed to inform decisions.
Like any military campaign, any program to address the needs of military and veterans’ families must have a single unified goal but will have separate and distinct lines of operation and enablers. It also requires a headquarters that is task organized to accomplish the mission. The Department of Veterans Services (DVS) has offices for veteran benefits, cemeteries, and health care. However, it has no office for overseeing family life issues – despite the importance of them to Virginia. As a result, Virginia’s efforts vis-à-vis our families are scattered among several departments, don’t touch the efforts of local governments, and lack a single, over-arching goal or measures of effectiveness.
At present, they look at individual problems of inflation, schools, workforce training, or housing. However, all of these distinct issues are connected; what affects one will impact the others.
At the Federal level, the House Armed Services Committee’s 2024 Quality of Life Panel made a number of recommendations to increase the pay and allowances of the service members, recommendations to dramatically strengthen DoD childcare (reducing out-of-pocket costs to near zero), and increase the quality and quantity of housing for unaccompanied service members. Virginia and localities can easily mesh in with these programs. However, Virginia lacks any central authority to identify opportunities and manage State, regional, and local efforts.
DVS needs to become Dept of Veterans and Military Family Services. One of their first jobs will be to conduct a veteran and military family census to collect data to inform policy makers. They should also act as a continuous liaison between Federal and municipality.
Tab B: Lack of Data on Active Duty and Veteran Families in Virginia
The government of Virginia doesn’t collect empirical data per se on military and veteran families and their issues. When data is collected, it either doesn’t break out the results by veteran and active-duty families, per se, or the data is collected by localities for their use and not necessarily shared with Richmond. As a result, the Virginia government lacks the empirical data to drive decision making.
Virginia needs to conduct a census of its military and veteran families and develop comprehensive data on military and veteran families in Virginia, their concerns, and their needs. Virginia should also include active-duty members, veterans, and family members self-identifying as part of the registration for other Virginia services, such as driver’s licenses and voter registration. (Identifying military members and their family members who are also Virginia residents but living outside Virginia would also provide data for the Board of Elections on military voting.
Tab C: Impact of Inflation
Even without a large body of empirical data, we know that families are in desperate straits in a number of areas. First and foremost, the high cost of living has dramatically increased the strains on military and veteran families. Means were tight before, but 4 years of record inflation has strained family finances to the breaking point. For example, what cost $100 at the grocery store in November 2019 now costs $123.00. Energy costs (gas), childcare, and rent have also risen far faster than incomes.
Virginia cannot affect the main causes of inflation directly. However, it can ameliorate its impact by reducing taxes and fees and improving municipal services.
A. Although it doesn’t affect out-of-state Virginia residents, eliminating the State’s personal property tax would save Virginia residents between hundreds and thousands of dollars.
B. Supporting home-schoolers and Educational Savings Accounts will reduce transportation and out-of-pocket educational expenses.
Tab D: Housing
Affordable workforce housing is scarce near military bases. Accordingly, service members must live far away from their bases. (50% of service members in Hampton Roads, for example, live in one county and work in another.) That extra commute increases their transportation costs. With extended commuting, more very expensive childcare is required. Housing is often available only in areas with marginal schools. Parents could home-school or use private or local parochial schools. However, Virginia offers little to no help for them. Accordingly, these families must foot the bill for any such effort to improve the education of their children.
The paucity of affordable workforce housing especially affects young veterans and their families, mostly in the first 3 to 5 years after they leave active duty. Virginia does have programs for the chronically homeless. However, they are intended to treat chronic homelessness that is a symptom of other issues, such as substance abuse, mental illness, or unemployability. Young veterans and their families are not broken toys that need treatment. Rather, they need a place to live while they transition to private sector employment.
A segment of the veteran population that does suffer from chronic homelessness. However, Virginia lacks the data on veteran homelessness to make the case to philanthropic organizations such as Tunnels for Towers to enlist their very capable assistance in solving this issue.
The long term answer to affordable workforce housing for both young military families and young veteran families is to expand the supply of housing. To help with this, Virginia should take two actions:
A. Sponsor a design contest among Virginia universities with architecture schools to producing plans to convert unused office space, vacant shopping malls, and empty warehouses to housing.
B. Zoning regulations, are strictly the province of municipal governments, often inhibit the growth of the housing supply. To ensure that they are not overly restrictive, Virginia should consider a law that cedes responsibility for zoning to the State if a locality fails to grow by at least 1.5% per anum.
Tab E: Food insecurity
Sky-rocketing food prices make it harder for families to afford nutritious meals. For military families who may already be relying on a single income, feeding their families is now a struggle. Today, a third of families on bases in Virginia receive food stamps. Every large military base in Virginia has a food bank. In many cases, it is the only way for these families to deal with food insecurity.
Virginia should partner with the Virginia Farm Bureau and municipal governments to set up farmer’s markets on or near bases.
Tab F: Childcare
DoD-sponsored childcare programs for active-duty members are commonplace, but currently constrained by insufficient physical infrastructure and staffing shortages. However, DoD is addressing these issues.
For its part, Virginia could help with the staffing issues by creating a childcare worker recruitment, training and certification program. This could be particularly fruitful among the resident legal immigrant communities that are just settling in Virginia, such as the Afghan population. It would also set DoD programs in Virginia apart from many other states.
A first-person concern for Virginia is what happens when the young service member wants to return to civilian life at the end of their service, when they must surrender their access to valuable childcare assistance. Virginia should consider subsidizing childcare for young veterans, equal to the benefits that they just lost from DoD. Such a program would be particularly effective if coupled with a job training or placement program coordinated with local military-oriented industries, such as information technology, aviation or ship building industries.
Tab G: Quality K-12 Schools
Like all parents, active duty and veteran parents seek quality schools for their children. However, the quality of K-12 public schools in Virginia varies dramatically. Often the active duty and young veteran parents must live in marginal school districts because that is where they can find affordable housing.
The two most important factors in creating a quality school are teacher experience and limited class sizes. Today, many schools cannot fill vacant teaching positions because of the paucity of candidates. In addition, the explosion of Individualized Education Plans (IEP’s) has increased the workload of individual teachers many-fold. Instead of one teacher having a class with 25 students, the teacher may now have 10-15 IEP’s – each demanding frequent personal attention – and 10 students. The immediate result is that schools use larger classes with less teacher contact time per student, which severely undercuts learning. The longer-term effect is that teachers get frustrated at their inability to accomplish their tasks and leave the profession, depriving them of the experience vital to being an outstanding teacher. This is especially harmful in the special needs classes.
A serious problem unique to our time, teachers are also dealing with the “COVID” class cohort, with an entire year group of students lacks group social skills and demands extra attention from teachers. That cohort, currently 4th graders, is rising en masse through school systems each year. This exacerbates the issues caused by increasing class sizes, increased demands for individual attention, and loss of experienced teachers.
Access to quality education would be greatly expanded by the State supporting home-school programs, home-school students’ access to public school programs, such as athletics and extracurricular activities (like marching band programs) and Educational Savings Accounts (ESA’s). This would give parents the flexibility to find school programs best for their needs and reduce the class size burden on public schools. (ESA’s in other states have shown that special needs children, particularly autistic children, benefit especially from ESA’s.) However, before that can be accomplished, teachers’ unions and school boards need to stop seeing parents and children as antagonists and, rather, treating parents, schools, school boards, and teachers as allies with common purpose.
Tab H: Health Care
Veteran and military families also have unique health needs, both mental and physical. Many suffer from the impacts of service related-multiple concussions and traumatic brain injuries. Too, the percentage of female veterans is rising; it is now circa 10% in the VA Health system. Their unique health needs, such as breast cancer, impact of menopause, and blowback from any sexual assault must be a consideration for the future. The mental health care system needs to track and treat high divorce rates (female service members have divorce rates three times as high as their male counterparts and twice that of civilian women.)
Homelessness affects some male veterans, but 40% of homeless veteran women are also mothers still caring for their children.
Unique considerations for female veterans; 40% have children, divorce rate is 3 times higher than male counterparts
Screen for TBI
Support to military family caregivers
Tab I: Workforce Development
Employment Transition for young veterans
Active-duty employment, impact on the Reserves, transitioning from active duty to civilian employment.
