Sue Hoppin, Founder NMSN

Earlier this week, I joined about 70 other military spouses and servicemembers at a town hall with Mrs. Holly Petraeus and Elizabeth Warren, the Treasury Secretary's special advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They met with us to discuss the new Office of Service Member Affairs that Mrs. Petraeus is leading.

While everyone else was there to provide feedback on predatory lending and fiscal responsibility, I attended with a very specific agenda in mind: to share the financial impact on military spouses whose careers require new certifications or licenses with every move. This was a sentiment that was echoed by a number of spouses in the room, so I think they heard the message loud and clear.

While time was limited for those of us who stood up to make remarks, I left them with two things:

1. Military spouses repeatedly articulated their frustration with multiple moves and their financial impact with regard to careers such as: nursing, counseling, teaching, etc.... Even if a spouse does everything right, by the time they've finished re-certifying, fulfilling all the requirements for their new state, gets our there and networks for a new job, they could be halfway through with their assignment before they finally get a job (if at all). Imagine the frustration when they have to PCS a year or so later, just to have to start the process all over again. We encouraged them to work with the DoD State Liaison office to push folks to: "offer alternative certification and credentialing options and streamlined licensing procedures to support the unique needs of working military spouses and separating service members." Though the initiative has been around for years, it's never really taken off. We're hoping that they might be able to interject some new interest. To read more about the issue, read more below:

http://www.usa4militaryfamilies.dod.mil/portal/page/mhf/USA4/USA4_HOME_1?current_id=22.60.30.0.0.0.0.0.0&content_id=242296

2. Even more frustrating, sometimes, we'll do everything right and finally finish our degree program to find ourselves stymied by the internship/experience requirements. It is incredibly challenging for counselors to fulfill requirements when they lack the networks or the time in place to find the opportunities. We asked that they work to ease the path for military spouses who want to intern within the federal government.

Professor Warren was feverishly taking notes and at the end of my comments, her staff came by to collect your remarks and inputs that I had assembled for them, so I think they heard us. Thank you for taking the time to share your stories. We'll continue to keep you updated and let you know if we hear back.