Kaliyah, three, hugs her father U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Damien Williams, 145th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, during Family Day held at the North Carolina Air National Guard Base, Charlotte Douglas Interantional Airport, Oct. 4, 2014. (Julianne Showalter/U.S. National Guard)
The election is now in the rearview mirror, and the new administration will be taking over in January. The next president and his Cabinet will inherit conflicts around the globe that will need to be addressed. The war in Ukraine rages on, and the precarious situation in the Middle East will be at the forefront of challenges to tackle. Not to mention China, Russia, North Korea and violent conflicts in South America.
All of this strife around the world begs questions that military leaders have been grappling with for years: Just how prepared is our military for the next conflict? How can we ensure our warfighter is prepared to the best of our ability? Will improving military quality of life help our enlisted men and women be mentally prepared for conflict?
The focus on this question has reached the highest levels of our government, as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin published a memorandum in September highlighting the actions being taken to enhance military quality of life.
The memo highlights eight areas for improvement, including economic security; making moves easier; supporting military spouses; affordable and quality child care and education; eliminating sexual assault; suicide prevention and response; quality housing and facilities; and access to quality health care. Organizations like Five & Thrive are also laser-focused on this question to make sure America doesn’t get caught sitting on our hands when conflict comes to our doorstep.
While our leaders are focused on the right questions, there is one “canary in the coal mine” that can help inform each aspect of military quality of life and goes directly to multiple areas of Austin’s directives in his memorandum. Solve this issue, and the model can be implemented across branches to enhance military preparedness.
That “canary in the coal mine” is the Exceptional Family Member Program, better known as EFMP.
The program was instituted by the Army in 1979 to help military members who had a child, spouse or other dependent who had medical (physical, developmental or mental health) or educational needs. The program was enshrined into law with the 1985 Military Family Act. Since that time, the program has hardly lived up to its intent, sometimes leaving families with special-needs children or spouses with few resources and little support, despite some of the best efforts of those in the military apparatus.
Why is EFMP the canary in the coal mine?
These spouses and dependents represent the highest users of many of the military’s combined quality of life and resilience programs through EFMP (think health care, education, PCS needs, etc.). EFMP is a small program that can be fixed, but its use of resources exposes larger problems throughout the quality of life of our service members and families that impact the preparedness of our warfighters. If they are busy coordinating care and worried about their family at home and the care (or lack thereof) that they are receiving, how can they be fully focused on the mission?
I would know, as I’ve lived this experience. In 2007, my daughter, Rebecca, was diagnosed with Rett syndrome when my husband was in the early stages of his Air Force career. The diagnosis meant that she would need constant care throughout her life. Due to her diagnosis, our family was enrolled in the EFMP program, where we encountered some wonderful and dedicated people, yet the program came with many burdens for our family. The system was opaque and the rules were selectively applied, we felt that the burden was on us to find resources and care, and the Tricare databases of providers were often inaccurate. Ultimately, this meant sacrificing my career to become a full-time carer and advocate for our daughter, so that my husband could remain fully ready and mission-focused.
These stressors are not unique to our family, and if alleviated, would significantly reduce the mental burden felt by service members and families with special-needs children, ultimately improving readiness and retention.
The Department of Defense recently released a survey on EFMP that showed military families enrolled in the program are seeing improved results. However, the 2-year-old survey had multiple issues, including the fact that military spouses, who typically coordinate care for children and dependents, were not asked to respond. Any market research expert will tell you this was a major oversight, making the data null and void. The issues with the program have even caught the attention of congressional leaders, such as Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who recently sent a letter to the DOD asking for updates from the Pentagon on the program and how it can be improved.
Though the EFMP program has issues, there are many who are working toward solutions in the DOD and the private sector. Military leaders are aware of the problems with programs like EFMP and are also working toward solutions like never before. It’s obvious why this is so: The preparedness of our warfighters is of the utmost importance with heightened global tensions.
Organizations such as the Military Officers Association of America, Five & Thrive, Military Family Advisory Network and many more are working to solve this issue, understanding that its implications are widespread for the preparedness of our military. There are many private sector companies who are specifically focused on providing solutions for EFMP, to ensure our military members and their families can have peace of mind at home, knowing their children with special needs have the resources available to them to receive the specialized care they require.
The issues with EFMP are well-documented, but the challenges are not insurmountable. It’s time that we listen to the canary in the coal mine and solve this issue to ensure our warfighters have stability for their families so they can focus on the mission. Solve EFMP, and you have a model that can be implemented across military branches to give our soldiers and their families peace of mind.
It’s past time to fix EFMP, and the incoming administration has the unique opportunity to secure the program once and for all, and enhance the quality of life for our service members and their families.
It can be done, and the time to act is now.
Jessica Hulter, an Air Force spouse of 16+ years, has firsthand experience with what the PCS process means for families enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program. She has championed her family through six EFMP PCS moves while advocating for a severely special-needs child across multiple states, Tricare regions and school districts.
