A Family's Guide to the Military For Dummies^®

A Family's Guide to the Military For Dummies®

by Sheryl Garrett and Sue Hoppin

Foreword By Tanya Biank

Author of Army Wives

A Family's Guide to the Military For Dummies

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Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2008936637

ISBN: 9780470444726

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Sheryl Garrett, CFP and founder of The Garrett Planning Network, Inc., has been dubbed “The All-American Planner,” possibly because of her zealous mission to “help make competent, objective financial advice accessible to all people.” Sheryl’s fresh approach as a financial advisor working with clients on an hourly, as-needed, fee-only basis has evolved into an international network of financial advisors, the Garrett Planning Network.

As a consumer advocate, Sheryl has been honored to work with the House Subcommittee on Financial Services regarding predatory lending regulation, financial literacy and Social Security reform. She also works as an expert witness in lawsuits against financial advisors who rendered inappropriate financial advice.

She has authored or served as a technical editor on over a dozen books and a couple of monthly magazine columns. These books include Garrett’s Guide to Financial Planning (National Underwriter), Just Give Me the Answer$ (Dearborn Trade), Money Without Matrimony (Dearborn Trade), Personal Finance Workbook For Dummies (Wiley), Investing in an Uncertain Economy For Dummies (Wiley), as well as this book, A Family’s Guide to the Military For Dummies (Wiley).

As vocal advocate for financial education, Sheryl has been frequently interviewed on CNNfn, Bloomberg, ABC World News Now, Fox-TV; NPR’s All Things Considered and Marketplace; and in Business Week, Newsweek, Time, Forbes, Kiplinger Personal Finance, Money, Smart Money, MarketWatch, U.S. News & World Report, the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. For four straight years Sheryl was recognized by Investment Advisor magazine as “One of the Top 25 Most Influential People in Financial Planning” and was honored by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) honored Garrett with the prestigious Robert J. Underwood Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to the development of the financial planning profession.

Sue Hoppin is passionate about quality of life issues for military families because she lives and understands the challenges of the military lifestyle. Elements of her story are shared by any number of other military spouses. She met her husband when he was attending the United States Air Force Academy and finished school while he attended undergraduate pilot training. The couple married shortly thereafter and a son followed. Their transient lifestyle, deployment schedules and other demands kept Sue at home with their son while her husband deployed around the world.

Although she holds multiple degrees, it wasn’t until recently that Sue was able to enter the work force. Before then, she served the military community as a volunteer. Her responsibilities ranged from squadron fundraiser and spouse club membership chair to the presidency of both the Kadena Officers’ Spouses’ Club and of the Ramstein Elementary School PTA. She currently serves as the 2008–2009 President of the Air Force Officers Wives Club at Bolling AFB. Sue was recognized for her volunteer efforts with awards as Volunteer of the Year at McConnell AFB (1999) and as the 76th Airlift Squadron Spouse of the Year (2002).

She joined the Benefits Information Department staff of Military Officers Association of America in 2005 and quickly established herself as an expert in military spouse issues. In 2006, Sue was selected to be MOAA’s first assistant director for spouse outreach. In 2007, Military Spouse Magazine named Sue on their 2007 Who’s Who of Military Spouses list recognizing 12 spouses who have made significant contributions in the military community for all military spouses.

A tireless advocate for improving the lives of military spouses and families, Sue is the consummate connector — bringing together government, corporate, and nonprofit organizations to meet spouses where they live and work. She is the driving force behind the annual Spouse Symposium held in Norfolk, VA that brings key legislative, spouse, community, and DoD leaders together in an interactive forum to achieve real change for military spouses.

In addition to her work at MOAA, she writes a monthly column for Military Spouse Magazine and serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Military Spouse and Family Legacy Association.

Sue holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Oklahoma.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all of our military families. Your support and devotion are essential to the mission, and we all know too well the sacrifices you make.

Our heartfelt thanks to you and your military member for your service to our nation.

Author’s Acknowledgments

From Sheryl: Because of the love and devotion of my family, staff , and colleagues in the Garrett Planning Network, I have the freedom and support to carry out the mission of my life’s work, which involves helping to make competent, objective personal financial advice accessible to all people. But I have a special place in my heart for military families and veterans. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to do a little for those who do so much in service to our country.

This project would not have been possible without the amazing talent and devotion of my co-author, Sue Hoppin. She taught me a lot more than she meant to, I’m sure. I wouldn’t have got to know Sue without the most perfect introduction from the energizer bunny himself, Phil Dyer, CFP, RLP. This book required the talents of a lot of people. Sue and I needed one another and both of us relied on Phil as our Technical Reviewer extraordinaire. We also had great support from the folks at Wiley, specifically Mike Baker and Jennifer Connolly. Thanks for your faith in us and for recognizing the need for this book.

From Sue: Without the love and support of my husband Kevin and my son Garrett, writing this book would not have been possible. Balancing work and writing the book, I missed out on endless regattas, other school events, and any number of social activities with them. I can’t even count the number of times they had to endure frozen dinners or take-out meals, so I thank them from the bottom of my heart for being such good sports. They both really picked up the slack and encouraged me when sometimes it just seemed like too much. Between them and our amazing support system of friends and family, no one could ask for better cheerleaders.

Thanks to Phil Dyer, my colleague, friend, and mentor who introduced me to Sheryl Garrett and started us down the path of writing this book together. Thanks to Sheryl for being such a pleasure to work with and for taking a chance on me. You both had more faith in me than I sometimes had in myself.

Many thanks to Mike Baker, Jennifer Connolly and the other folks at Wiley Publishing who made this experience such a tremendous one. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to create a product to benefit military spouses and families.

There were some sections of this book that were difficult to write and wouldn’t have resonated as well without the guidance of other people. Thank you Phil for your expertise and DeDe for providing your insights.

A final thanks to my friends and fellow military spouses: Tanya Biank, Babette Maxwell, Nicole Alcorn, Krista Wells, and Robin Prior whose words of encouragement remind me daily about all that is best about the military spouse community. When we get it right, we really get it right — I cannot imagine a greater group of friends or role models.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Part I:

Reporting for Duty

In this part . . .

Before you can embrace the military lifestyle, you need to understand the basics. In this part, you’ll get a primer on military protocol and traditions. You’ll also learn the basics of what you can expect on a military installation.