The Marine Corps has announced its new relicensing fee reimbursement program for spouses, authorized by the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  The NDAA allows military branches to reimburse service members for occupational relicensing and recertification expenses incurred by their spouses due to a permanent change of station (PCS) to a new state.

Last week, Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico rang in Military Appreciation Month with the 10^th annual Smucker’s Mission: Breakfast event. Each year, Smucker’s hosts a friendly competition among military installation commissaries for the best in-store display of Smucker’s products. MCB Quantico won the 2019 grand prize for building the most creative display.

As Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) celebrates Military Appreciation Month throughout May, we are proud to honor our military spouses today, May 10, for Military Spouse Appreciation Day. Military spouses support their service members and contribute to their communities in various ways, constantly adjusting to the pressures and challenges of military life. Spouses within the Marine Corps take on various responsibilities, from upholding family readiness standards and balancing a career to volunteering and giving back in their communities, among other things. This video features Marine spouses who have received the President’s Volunteer Service Award describe how volunteerism has impacted them and their communities.

In a brief video message to Marines, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps, Ronald Green, kicked off the Own It! campaign saying, “we are all responsible for our own actions but, protecting the honor of the Marine Corps is a family business, and we all play a role.”  Own It! is a nine-week awareness campaign designed to start a discussion about getting off the sidelines and doing something, if you see something. 

With thousands of Marine Corps children transitioning all over the globe at different times of the year, many states have been working to develop systems of support to ease transitions for military youth through policy action at the state level. 

It can, often times, be pretty easy to define a physically unsafe relationship.  It is a relationship where one or both partners are hit, pushed, or physically harmed in some way.  It becomes more complicated to determine if a relationship is emotionally unsafe.  

The deadline to nominate a military child for Operation Homefront’s 2019 Military Child of the Year® (MCOY) Awards is Wednesday, December 5^th.  Military Child of the Year® is the nation’s premier celebration of the achievements of military children.  The MCOY awards will be presented at a recognition gala on April 18, 2019, in Washington, DC.

Marine Families are the epitome of strength, resiliency, and sacrifice. Our appreciation of Marine Corps Families is year round, but the month of November gives us the opportunity to share with the nation what a valued asset we have in our Families.

"With the launch of DoDEA's Online Registration System (DORS), transitions become easier for families enrolling into a DoDEA school,” explains Jackie Cajina, School Liaison Program Manager, United States Marine Corps Headquarters.

Attending the Welcome Aboard is mandatory for Marines, but did you know spouses are highly encouraged to attend too?