1. PLEASE PASS TO ALL PERSONNEL
NFL Football Players Sponsor the Cost of $199 SAT/ACT Prep Program to All
Military Families
NFL players are sponsoring the cost of $199 SAT and ACT prep software for
all military families. The sponsorship waives the $199 retail cost of the
software and military members only pay the shipping/handling costs. The
software contains thousands of actual SAT and ACT exams and questions, in
addition to 11+ hours of instructor led video and 40+ hours of class work.
For more details, please visit MilitaryHOMEFRONT at
www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil/NFLdonation
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Family Matters Blog
The American Forces Press Services launched the Family Matters Blog to
provide resources and support to military families, as well as to
encourage a dialogue on topics ranging from deployments and separations
to the challenges of everyday life. Isabel Hodge is the Military
Community and Family Policy (MC&FP) Special Needs/Exceptional Family
Member Program (EFMP) Family Support Program Manager, a military spouse
for twenty-one years, and a mother of three, including an eighteen-
year-old son with autism. Isabel is a regular blogger for the Family
Matters blog. I her recent blog titled “Spouse Stresses Importance of
Accessibility,” Isabel writes about the importance of accessibility for
families with special-needs members and encourages leaders to evaluate
the accessibility on their bases.
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Family 360 for Military Families
Family Support 360 for Military Families is an initiative of the
Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD), Administration for
Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
ADD provides grant opportunities to create one-stop centers that assist
the families of individuals with developmental disabilities.
These one-stop centers enhance the capabilities of families in
assisting children with DD to achieve their maximum potential; support
the increasing ability of children with DD to exercise greater choice
and determination and to engage in leadership activities in their

2. communities. Each one-stop center establishes its own process and
determines the best way to provide services. Families participate in a
family assessment and work with a “systems navigator” to develop and
individualized family service plan (FSP). Each project assists 20
families in the first year and 40 families in the second year through
the fifth year.
Current Military Family 360 locations:
• Alaska - Fort Richardson and Elmendorf AFB
• California – Camp Pendleton
• Florida - U.S. Army Garrison Miami (serves military families in
southeast Florida)
• Guam – NS Guam and Andersen AFB
• Mississippi - Keesler AFB
• North Carolina – Camp Lejeune
• New Jersey - Fort Dix McGuire AFB and NAS Lakehurst
• Texas - Fort Hood
• Utah – Hill AFB
• Washington - Fort Lewis and McChord AFB
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New Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Publication
The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division has just
published ADA: Know Your Rights; Returning Service Members with
Disabilities. This publication explains service members’ rights under
the ADA and provides information on where to get assistance.
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Military Child Education Coalition
The Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) provides research-based
tools, practical professional development trainings, and partnership
support on behalf of almost two million children whose parents serve in
our nation’s military. The MCEC’s effort directly addresses the
challenges faced by the military child, increases awareness of and
response to these challenges in the military and supporting
communities, and initiates and implements quality, sustainable programs
to meet these challenges. MCEC's Programs serve all active duty,
National Guard and Reserve Component members and their families.
Programs are available in local communities and on military
installations. Information can be found at www.MilitaryChild.org
<http://www.militarychild.org/>.
Upcoming Living in the New Normal (LINN) and Guard & Reserve Institutes
(GRI):
24-25 Mar GRI Oahu, HI
27 Mar LINN Practicum Beckley, WVA
29-30 Mar GRI Rock Hill, SC
9 Apr LINN Practicum Hopkinsville, KY
12-13 Apr LINN Columbia, SC
13-14 Apr LINN Pendleton, OR
14-15 Apr GRI Tupelo, MS
19-20 Apr LINN Madison, WI
27-28 Apr GRI Watertown, SD

3. 28-29 Apr GRI Johnstown, IA
“These events have proven to be vital in bringing awareness to the
unique issues that our National Guard and Reserve component children
experience due to the deployment of Family members. As the global
missions of an operational National Guard continue, it is imperative
that we continue to support our military youth with these institutes.”
– Robert B. Newman, JR Maj Gen, VaANG, The Adjutant General of Virginia
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Coming Together Around Military Families
Coming Together Around Military Families (CTAMF) is an initiative
developed by ZERO TO THREE (ZTT), which strengthens the resilience of
very young children and their families who are experiencing trauma,
grief and loss as a result of a service member’s deployment to
Afghanistan and/or Iraq. This initiative increases parent and
professional awareness of the impact of trauma, grief and loss on very
young children; as well as to build professionals’ knowledge and
capacity to support families in promoting positive development and
emotional health during the course of these stressful experiences. A
core component of the CTAMF initiative is the Duty to Care (DTC)
training series, which is designed to bring together and build
collaboration between a multidisciplinary audience including health,
mental health, family support and early childhood education
professionals to increase the resilience of very young children and
their families and will be provided at 65 installations, JFSAP states,
and medical facilities over the next 30 months.
“Duty to Care I (DTC I): Supporting Young Children through Challenging
Times,” is a training event that provides information about the core
needs of infants and toddlers; explore how stress, trauma, grief, and
loss stemming from complicated deployments, psychological and/or
physical injury, and death of the service member might affect very
young children and their families; give details about existing
resources available to families, as well as to dialogue over creating
new resources; and convene multidisciplinary professionals in an effort
to enhance collaborative relationships and promote systems building,
within both the military and the surrounding civilian communities.
Upcoming trainings are scheduled for the following locations:
7-8 April 2010 JFSAP: California
8-9 April 2010 JFSAP: Pennsylvania
22-23 April 2010 Joint Base Lewis-McChord
28-29 April 2010 Eglin Air Force Base
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States Assisting Military Members and Their Families – Update
Federal law requires a Service member to designate who will be
authorized to direct disposition (PADD) of their remains. The Military
Services contact the PADD designated on the Record of Emergency Data
(DD 93) to direct burial benefits. Unfortunately, most State statutes,
used by funeral directors to determine who is authorized to direct
disposition, require it be determined through state-specific
documentation or by the next of kin, rather than the individual

4. designated on the DD 93. Disconnects can lead to family turmoil during
a time of bereavement and potential for litigation to resolve
disagreements.
The Governors of Idaho and Wyoming signed legislation this week
becoming the second and third states to officially recognize the DD 93
as the way military members designate their PADD.
For more information on this issue and the other nine issues impacting
the quality of life of our Service members and their families which the
Department is working with state governments, visit
usa4militaryfamilies.dod.mil or usa4militaryfamilies.org.
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eSponsorship Application & Training (eSAT) Soft Launch
In response to the positive feedback from the soft launch of the
eSponsorship Application and Training (eSAT)
(http://apps.mhf.dod.mil/esat), materials are now available to aid
installations in their use of the application: Quick Start User Guides
for sponsors and transferees and marketing flyers for use by new
sponsors and unit leaders. These materials are available from the
ReloRAP community on HOMEFRONTConnections and will soon be available on
the MilitaryHOMEFRONT.
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Commissary Benefits. DeCA is delivering the benefit with on-site sales
events at the following Guard and Reserve locations:
Mar 26-28 NG & Army Reserve Chattanooga, TN
Mar 26-28 181st Btn BSB Walla Walla, WA
Mar 27-28 Clarksburg Armory Clarksburg, WV
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AAFES: Checks Go High-Tech.
The "float" on checks written to the Army and Air Force Exchange
Service (AAFES) is going the way of rotary phones and dot matrix
printers as AAFES converts to a paper check conversion (PCC) system.
PCC scans and instantly converts paper checks into electronic debits to
the check writer's account. The technology has been operational in
contingency locations for roughly ten years. Rollout of the PCC
program began in AAFES CONUS locations on March 7 and concurrent
rollouts of Pacific and European exchanges begins early April. Full
implementation of the PCC to worldwide exchanges will be completed by
June 6.
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The Department of Defense Education Activity will celebrate National
Environmental Education from April 11-17, 2010. National Environmental
Education Week (EE Week) is the largest organized environmental

5. education event in the United States. It is designed to inspire
environmental learning and stewardship among students by connecting
educators with environmental resources to promote K-12 students'
understanding of the environment. EE Week increases the educational
impact of Earth Day by creating a full week of educational preparation,
learning, and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos,
museums, and aquariums. By participating in EE Week, students are
encouraged to make a difference in their schools, homes, and
communities. Schools throughout DoDEA will be celebrating EE Week with
different events designed to education and engage students in
environmental awareness.
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DoDEA Director Dr. Shirley Miles and Mr. Charles Toth, Deputy Director,
attended the Quality of Life Conference sponsored by the European
Command (EUCOM) in Germany last week. Admiral James G. Stavridis,
Commander, U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Command,
Europe opened the Conference by stating “Quality of life programs are
critical to readiness and retention and are needed to ensure our
service members stay focused on the mission. Admiral Stavridis further
stated that “No assets are more important than our people and their
families.” During the conference participants advocated for quality of
life improvements that are important to our troops and their families
in ensuring a quality of life in an overseas assignment comparable to
the quality of life found in the United States. These improvements
focused on relocation and housing issues, family deployment support,
military deployment and wounded warrior support, single service member
support, dependent education, and youth and teen programs.
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Landstuhl Elementary/Middle School seventh-grader Alyssa Binosa is this
year’s European PTA Spelling Bee Champion. Alyssa finished first in a
field of 37 contestants at the European Spelling Bee Champions at
Ramstein Air Base this past weekend. Alyssa will travel to the Scripps
National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in June to compete against
finalists from every state.
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Three DoDEA School students were selected to participate in the 2010
Research Science Institute (RSI) Program held from June through August
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Tristan Fitch, from
Brussels American High School, in Brussels, Belgium, Yukino Nagai, from
Kadena High School in Okinawa, Japan, and Kevin Burdge, from Heidelberg
American High School in Heidelberg, Germany were chosen to represent
DoDEA. Twenty-four previous DoDEA students have participated in the
RSI program. All three students are currently in their junior year of
school. Each summer, 80 of the world's most accomplished high school
students gather at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the
Research Science Institute (RSI). Invited students enjoy a six-week,
cost-free program designed to kick-start their careers of leadership in
science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. RSI 2010 will take
place at MIT from June 20 to July 31, 2010. This program provides an
opportunity for academically talented high school to become leaders in
science, engineering, technology and mathematics.

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From AFN-Europe -- Combining reading and rhyming for memorization and
entertainment is an often used and effective tool. SrA Amanda Wowk
tells us how an elementary school puts this into practice. Weblink:
http://www.afneurope.net/itemlink.aspx?itemId=12050
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From AFN-Europe -- Teachers at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, are taking
school education to a new level. They're doing some studying of their
own. A1C Lindsey Nelson explains. Weblink:
http://www.afneurope.net/itemlink.aspx?itemId=12070
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Financial Tip of the Week
Telemarketing fraud is a crime.
• Professional criminals posing as legitimate telemarketers try to
worm their way into your wallet. They are very good at what they do:
their “pitch” is perfect, their tone is friendly and sincere, and their
answers to your questions seem to make sense. It’s no wonder that
consumers, regardless of their age, education or experience, can fall
for telemarketing frauds.
• By learning how to recognize and report telephone fraud, you can
help stop some scams - and if you put your phone numbers on the
National Do Not Call Registry, you can reduce the number of unwanted
telemarketing calls you get.
• Check ftc.gov/phonefraud for information about:
o Buying Club Memberships
o Charities and Fundraising
o Credit & Loan Offers
o Government Grant Scams
o Identity Theft & Telemarketing
o Medical Discounts Plans
o Reloading Scams
o Sweepstakes & Lotteries
o Travel Scams
o Work-at-Home & Business Opportunities
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) works for the consumer to
prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the
marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop,
and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on
consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-
877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters consumer complaints
into the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database and
investigative tool used by hundreds of civil and criminal law
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
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Nutrition Tip of the Week

7. Changes in your eating habits - Make small changes in your eating
habits like drinking three cups of 1 percent milk instead of 2 percent
milk to subtract 60 calories a day. This may help you lose 5 to 10
pounds in a year. For more information on making healthy and
nutritious food choices, check out the Commissary’s website at
http://www.commissaries.com/
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Military Spouse Tip of the Week
Put Your Family on the Path to Lifelong Healthy Eating - You teach your
kids how to swim and ride a bike, but it can be easy to overlook the
task of teaching your children to be healthy eaters. Military OneSource
has articles to help you teach your family about good nutrition. Find
information at www.militaryonesource.com.
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Getting support:
. Commanders can request support and resources from the Joint
Family Support Assistance Program by calling the Joint Family Resource
Center at 1-888-256-9920.
. Military OneSource:
This free 24-hour service, provided by the Department of Defense, is
available to all active duty, Guard, and Reserve members and their
families. Consultants provide information and make referrals on a wide
range of issues, including financial issues. You can reach the program
by telephone at 1-800-342-9647 or through the Web site at
www.militaryonesource.com .
Military OneSource (MOS) continues provide free tax filing services and
free tax consultations to military service members and their families
during the tax season. Visit the website or call the phone number
above for more information.
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Have a great week. Your MC&FP Team!