The center – and two others like it in the pilot program under contract with the nonprofit Armed Services YMCA – are being opened with “lightning speed,” said Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney, at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the center, expected to open by the end of March. The power of the partnership between Armed Services YMCA and the Defense Department helps empower military families, increasing readiness and resilience, he said.

The Arlington center encompasses the third floor of the St. Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church, located in a civilian area a few minutes from Fort Myer and the Pentagon. It was built out to meet the requirements of the Defense Department, including special ramps on either side of the building to facilitate the evacuation of mobile cribs and buggies.

The first center in the pilot program opened in Norfolk in May 2025 and is at 100% capacity.

The last of the three centers, opening in Virginia Beach this summer, will open just 28 months after the contract was signed. Military child development centers built in the military construction process can take upwards of five years before opening.

Between the National Capital Region and the Norfolk area, the waiting list has grown to about 2,000. The three centers will reduce that waiting list by more than 600, each with a capacity for 216 children. Families can request spots for their children in the centers at www.MilitaryChildCare.com, the portal for requesting all types of military child care. As of publication, 99 families had requested immediate spots at the Arlington center, with 260 requesting care in advance as they plan for the summer moving season.

More than 600 child care slots coming to these military families

Under the pilot program, parents pay the same fee they would at any DOD-run child development center. It’s based on total family income and the same for children of all ages. Armed Services YMCA bills DOD for the difference in what it costs them to provide the care.

DOD provides subsidies for child care in many settings, including their child development centers, where DOD typically covers about 50% of the cost of child care, with family fees covering the remainder.

Care is available for infants up to age 5, with 19 separate rooms featuring age-appropriate learning programs, toys and activities for each. Miniature stationary bikes for pre-schoolers and a sand table with colorful swimming fish and dinosaurs projected from above onto the sand are just two examples.

Among the many features are storage areas for car seats, as well as extra rooms that focus on gross motor skills that can also provide therapy for children.

Diapers, infant formula if requested, meals and snacks, and all other accoutrements, are provided at the child care centers.

The Arlington child development center will be licensed in Virginia and nationally accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Staff members undergo background checks and are trained with the same methods used in DOD child care centers. The center is inspected by local, state and DOD officials on a regular basis.

DOD runs the largest network of child development centers in the world, with 27,000 staff members caring for 172,000 military-connected children every year, said Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. That includes 739 child development and school-age centers, 148 youth and teen centers, and more than 800 family child care homes, he said.

Yet, he said, “We know there’s a gap in child care ... It’s partners like Armed Services YMCA that help close that gap,” Tata said.

DOD is trying to get the persistent 20% rate of spouse unemployment down to the national average of about 4%, he said. “Undergirding all of that is affordable, accessible child care.”

Over the years, DOD and the services have embarked on a number of efforts to increase the availability of child care. Information was unavailable from DOD officials about any other new initiatives underway to address child care shortages, or the number of children on waiting lists overall. There was no timeline available for when DOD expects to decide whether to expand these pilots to other areas.

”There’s no more important time for us to worry about child care than now," said retired Navy Vice Admiral William French, president and CEO of Armed Services YMCA. That 165-year-old nonprofit has a number of different programs focusing on young enlisted families at its 12 branches and 29 YMCA affiliates serving more than 104 military bases.

“But the one program that has the biggest impact on families is child care,” he said.

Some schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity already prohibit the use of cellphones in schools, but the policies aren’t consistent across DODEA, according to a Military Times spot check of some schools’ handbook policies.

The legislative provision requires DODEA to update existing regulations to “prohibit disruption in the learning environment by minimizing the use of such mobile devices to the greatest extent practicable, and to standardize such regulations across all DODEA schools.”

DODEA operates 161 schools in 11 foreign countries, seven states and two territories.

The proposed NDAA has been approved by the House and now awaits the Senate’s vote.

A common policy statement viewed in several schools’ current student handbooks was “Cellphones may be brought to school but must be turned off and stored in the backpack or locker during the school day. In cases of emergency, students may contact their parents by using the phone in the school office.”

Policies about cellphone use are clearly outlined in each school’s student handbook, said DODEA spokeswoman Jessica Tackaberry. “With that guidance already in place, implementation is managed at the local school level based on community needs. Overall, cellphone use is not a systemic issue in DODEA,” she said. “Our focus remains on promoting responsible use through consistent citizenship and helping students make smart, informed choices in today’s connected world.”

States across the country are addressing students’ cellphone use. At least 32 states and the District of Columbia have required school districts to ban or restrict students’ use of cellphones, according to Education Week. There are ongoing concerns about distractions from learning.

When asked about students’ cellphone usage during a recent interview with Military Times, DODEA Director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez cited her recent visit to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when she visited all six DODEA schools at that base.

“Honestly, I didn’t see a cellphone in any of the kids’ hands in any of the six schools. We have guidance and our students are great at following that guidance. We want kids engaged in their learning, and that’s what I saw,” she said.

Military school students' test scores lead the nation

Fort Campbell schools are part of the DODEA Americas region, where DODEA operates 50 schools in seven states, two countries and one territory. Their regional policy stated on the DODEA website is that cellphones must be turned off and stored in backpack or locker during the school day.

Others, like Edgren Middle High School at Misawa Air Base in Japan, have variations in their policies. Edgren allows students to use cellphones at their discretion during non-class time.

The new provision requires DODEA to update and standardize the regulation across all its schools no later than 180 days after the law is enacted.

“Cellphones don’t belong in the classroom, and students learn best when these distractions are removed,” said Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., in a statement about the inclusion of the provision in the negotiated agreement between House and Senate lawmakers. “This provision will ensure DODEA students are able to focus on what matters most: their education,” said Banks, who originally introduced the legislation in the Senate in June along with Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.

“Last month, I said we should ban cellphones in all K-12 schools in America, and now we have started down that path by banning cellphones in DoDEA classrooms,” said Slotkin, in an announcement in July about the Senate Armed Services Committee’s approval of the measure.

“With over 65,000 military children attending DoDEA schools worldwide, it’s critical students in DoDEA schools have an environment where they can focus, learn, and build meaningful relationships without the distraction of cellphones.”

Defense Commissary Agency officials have awarded a contract for the delivery to OnPoint, a delivery service previously known as ChowCall, said Todd Waldemar, founder and CEO of the company. The 70 commissaries that are part of the contract include eight pilot locations that have been offering the delivery service since 2022. Waldemar said the remaining 62 stores will be offering the service by Jan. 11.

“These 70 include the largest military markets, so I estimate that they represent over half of the total [U.S.] military population,” Waldemar said.

A spokesman for commissary officials did not immediately confirm the award of the contract, and it had not been published on Sam.gov by the time this article was published.

The contract includes the flexibility to expand to the remaining 108 commissaries in the United States. That expansion to all 178 commissaries is optional and is up to the commissary agency, Waldemar said.

“But we hope to get delivery in all markets as soon as we can. I think it would be realistic to see all markets have delivery by the summer,” he said, emphasizing that he does not speak for the commissary agency.

Commissary officials are not considering doorstep delivery for overseas commissaries because of overseas regulatory constraints.

The initial contract award is for $14 million, Waldemar said. Delivery will be available within a 20-mile radius of the commissaries.

Commissary officials have provided an online, curbside pickup service for customers for a number of years, and have been working to find a way to provide the delivery service, too.

“We need this. Our customers want and need this contract,” John Hall, director of the Defense Commissary Agency, told a meeting in March.

“I’m really excited about this,” he said at the time.

Under the system, customers order groceries online, which are retrieved by store employees who pick the items and hand the orders over to OnPoint. OnPoint then delivers the groceries to the customer’s location. The delivery can occur as soon as three hours after the order is submitted, depending on the location, because commissaries need the time to pack the order.

The commissary agency will not subsidize the delivery costs for customers. The fee will be $17.75 for those within 10 miles and $31.25 for those within 11 to 20 miles. The commissary agency does not have the flexibility in pricing delivery fees that commercial retailers do, because of their limitations in marking up prices, for example.

Customers pay the delivery fee in addition to the cost of their groceries, the usual 5% commissary surcharge, and any tip for the driver.

Nationwide doorstep delivery getting closer for commissary customers

OnPoint has been gearing up for the expansion, and is also hiring delivery drivers in all 70 areas, Waldemar said. About 80% of their employees are affiliated with the military, as spouses or veterans, for example. They are paid according to the wage scale under the Service Contract Act, which varies from area to area, and also receive fringe benefits, he said.

ChowCall/OnPoint has delivered more than 40,000 loads of groceries since beginning commissary deliveries in June 2022, Waldemar said.

Customers using the current delivery pilot program range from active-duty families to troops living in barracks, retirees and disabled veterans and people who want to get a head start on shopping or a bite to eat while at work. The service can be especially helpful to young families of troops who are deployed, such as spouses with young children, Waldemar said.

More than 50% of customers using the delivery are within 5 miles of their commissary, he said.

Those eligible for the commissary shopping benefit include active-duty, Guard and Reserve members, military retirees, Medal of Honor recipients and their authorized family members. Veterans with any Veterans Affairs Department-documented, service-connected disability rating are now eligible for commissary shopping, as well as Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war and those who have been approved and designated as the primary caregivers of eligible veterans by the VA.

Waldemar said he has received positive feedback from customers about the delivery, including some disabled veterans who said they depend on the commissary delivery. One veteran who cannot drive called it a lifeline, Waldemar said.

“Our mission is to really solve this problem, and really make a big impact across the whole military for quality of life,” Waldemar said. His company has made over 2 million deliveries of food and merchandise to military bases for 15 years, he said.

“The problem as we see it, is that the delivery of goods and services is either nonexistent or minimal in most military markets,” he said. So those who live and work on military bases do not have as many options as everyone else does, he said, partially because access to military bases is harder.

“We want to solve that problem by giving more options to the military, more options to the dependents in family housing, more options to the young service member who doesn’t have a vehicle, stuck in the barracks.

“My son, for example, just enlisted in the Air Force. He’s living in barracks. He told me the other day, totally unsolicited, ‘Dad I finally understand what your company does,’ because he’s on a base where all he can get is pizza from the gas station down the road.

“That’s it. We want to totally change that. We want to have options, we want to have convenience for everybody that’s on bases.”

Alabama

• Fort Rucker (formerly Fort Novosel)

Arizona

• Davis-Monthan AFB
• Fort Huachuca
• Luke AFB

California

• Camp Pendleton MCB
• Miramar MCAS
• San Diego NB
• Ord Military Community
• Travis AFB

Colorado

• Fort Carson
• Peterson SFB

Connecticut

• New London NSB

Florida

• Eglin AFB
• Hurlburt Field
• Jacksonville NAS
• MacDill AFB
• Patrick SFB
• Pensacola NAS

Georgia

• Fort Benning (formerly Fort Moore)
• Fort Gordon (formerly Fort Eisenhower)
• Fort Stewart

Hawaii

• Hickam JBPHH
• Kaneohe Bay MCBH
• Pearl Harbor JBPHH
• Schofield Barracks

Illinois

• Scott AFB
• Great Lakes NS

Kansas

• Fort Leavenworth
• Fort Riley

Kentucky

• Fort Campbell
• Fort Knox

Louisiana

• Fort Polk (formerly Fort Johnson)
• Barksdale AFB

Maryland

• Andrews AFB
• Fort Meade

Mississippi

• Keesler AFB

Missouri

• Fort Leonard Wood
• Whiteman AFB

Nebraska

• Offutt AFB

Nevada

• Nellis AFB

New Jersey

• McGuire AFB

New York

• Fort Drum
• West Point Military Academy

North Carolina

• Camp Lejeune MCB
• New River MCAS
• Fort Bragg North & South locations (formerly Fort Liberty North & South locations)

North Dakota

• Minot AFB

Ohio

• Wright Patterson AFB

Oklahoma

• Fort Sill
• Tinker AFB

Puerto Rico

• Fort Buchanan

South Carolina

• Shaw AFB

Texas

• Fort Bliss
• Randolph AFB
• Fort Sam Houston
• Lackland AFB
• Fort Hood-Clear Creek location (formerly Fort Cavazos-Clear Creek location)

Virginia

• Fort Eustis
• Langley AFB
• Little Creek JBLCFS
• Norfolk Naval Station
• Oceana NAS
• Fort Belvoir
• Fort Myer
• Fort Lee (formerly Fort Gregg Adams)
• Quantico MCB

Washington

• Fort Lewis Main
• McChord AFB
• Whidbey Island NAS

If you’d like to share your thoughts, email kjowers@militarytimes.com. Include your service branch, rank, age, marital status, family size, the name of your installation and phone number if we can contact you for more information. Let us know if it’s okay to use your name; anonymity can be granted upon request.

“We and you and soldiers and families can fix almost everything,” Driscoll said Tuesday during a forum on military families at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army.

“We just have to get human stupidity out of the way. You will be the ones to help us do that. You will be the ones on your bases and your communities pushing every single day to improve the foxhole. And we will try to do that, too.”

In a session that lasted over an hour, Driscoll, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer said they were working to improve quality-of-life measures for soldiers and their families. The improvements could help soldiers and military families focus on their physical and mental wellbeing, as well as help soldiers rest and recover from their primary mission of training to fight, they said.

Driscoll said the Army has let down families, whom he described as “the absolute backbone” of the Army.

“The civilian leadership for a very, very long time has not put the soldier first. They have not put the family first,” he said. “They have done all sorts of sinful acts that have harmed you.”

One example is cost, Driscoll said.

“We spend a lot of money on you and your families and the things we give you, but it just doesn’t go far enough,” he said. “We have incredibly passionate, wonderful people who are civilians and soldiers trying to work and care for you, but the system has for far too long just gotten in their way.”

The cost of building on Army bases is 68.5% more expensive than construction outside the fence line, Driscoll said. And the Army “pays double what everybody else does” for many items bought for bases.

He, George and Weimer “talk about this regularly. It enrages us and we’re doing everything we possibly can to break down this corrupt system,” Driscoll added.

Driscoll goes scorched earth on Army buying inertia

The leaders said the Army is focusing on ways to reduce unnecessary regulations and increase efficiency to improve programs that help soldiers and families.

Changes to child care, dining

Driscoll said he’s optimistic that within 90 to 120 days, the Army will set up a structure where spouses who want to work at child development centers can get approved one time, and then receive a “fast pass” to work at another CDC at their next duty station without having to start the process over. The change would help address the issue of worker shortages in CDCs, and it’s good for spouses and children, he said.

George said they’re rolling out a campus-style dining concept at Army dining facilities to five locations first, adding, “We want to go fast.” But federal legislation and regulations are hampering efforts to expand that concept to improve the Army dining halls, Driscoll said, and he hopes to get a waiver soon.

Most locations “should start to see hybrid versions or something that’s significantly better within the next 24 to 36 months,” he said.

When Driscoll and his family moved to Joint Base Myer — Henderson Hall, Virginia, earlier this year, he was excited about taking his children to the dining facility at Fort Myer for breakfast.

“It was awful,” he said. “It was not healthy, it was all processed.”

College-style dining facilities coming to Army bases

The conversation needs to be reversed about the quality-of-life amenities on installations, Weimer said.

“In this day and age, if we can’t train the way we’re going to be required to fight at home station — which includes barracks, because you ought to be able to take care of yourself and rest and recovery — then our home station is failing us,” he said.

“Our posts and installations exist so we can fight to win,” Weimer added. “They don’t exist so that we have a great place to live, awesome [child development centers] and discounted food at commissaries. We need all that stuff so that we can train and be really good at our jobs.”

However, he said, “I think for a long time, we had the conversations reversed.

“When you get the conversation right, now all of a sudden, the barracks make sense. The campus style dining and why we’d want to pay a little extra for quality makes sense.”

How technology can help

The leaders said the Army is looking at ways to use technology to reduce burdens on both soldiers and installations.

For example, Army leaders are considering how to use technology in some areas in order for bases to focus on things that humans must be responsible for, such as welcoming and onboarding people, Weimer said.

He acknowledged there is resistance to change at some locations. For example, he said, while there may be a QR code on permanent change of station (PCS) orders, some installations are still asking for 10 printed copies of those orders.

While Army leaders are working to address many of these issues, Driscoll told the audience, “where we’re still failing you, please let us know.”

“The system isn’t a biblical or divine or ordained system. It can be changed and molded and bent to the will of you and your families,” he said. “Please feel inspired, feel passionate, but just know the system is going to require your energy and effort to help us change it.”

Currently, Army reservists must be on Title 10 orders for more than 30 days to be eligible for financial assistance from the nonprofit. In January 2026, that 30-day requirement will be lifted.

“We’ll start helping Army Reserve full time regardless of how long they’ve been on orders,” said retired Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston, CEO of Army Emergency Relief, at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington.

“I’m extremely proud of that,” he said.

Grinston said he recently received approval for the change from the Office of the Chief of Army Reserve and now plans to pursue a similar change for the Army National Guard. Guard members also have to be on Title 10 orders for more than 30 days to be eligible for assistance.

Reserve and Guard members sometimes face immediate financial difficulty when they are activated and leave their civilian jobs.

Grinston said he is also working to find a way to help soldiers’ spouses apply online for assistance. Soldiers can now apply online, but if they’re unable to because they’re deployed, for example, their spouse must have a special power of attorney and physically go to an AER office.

AER, which Grinston describes as “the only organization that is the Army’s nonprofit,” provides emergency financial assistance for eligible active duty and retired soldiers and their families and survivors for a variety of needs, ranging from emergency travel to food.

“If Tricare doesn’t pay for your bill, the first organization you should call is Army Emergency Relief,” Grinston said, as an example. AER provides assistance in the form of zero-interest loans or grants.

In the initial days following the federal government shutdown, troops’ financial anxiety was clear, Grinston said. When AER published information online about how to apply for its shutdown assistance, the organization received 15,000 requests for assistance within four days.

“About 3% of the Army came to us,” he said. “The financial stress is real,” he said.

He urged soldiers and families to seek assistance from AER, either online or through their local AER officer located in Army Community Services centers.

“If anybody tells you no, I want you to contact me,” he said, and provided his email address to the crowd.

The changes include adding administrative officers to nearly every school and increasing the number of school psychologists. It also includes eliminating some positions, but it’s not clear yet how many people will be moving to other positions or leaving the school system by the beginning of the next school year.

Classroom teaching positions remain unaffected, said Jessica Tackaberry, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense Education Activity.

“Core services and teacher-to-student ratios remain unchanged, ensuring continuity, stability, and high-quality learning environments” across Department of Defense Education Activity Schools, according to a DODEA announcement.

The changes are “in direct support of the Department of Defense’s Workforce Acceleration and Recapitalization Initiative,” according to officials. That initiative required agencies to submit proposals for potential ways to reduce or eliminate redundant or non-essential functions and include adjusted civilian manpower levels.

“This is not change for the sake of change. It’s targeted, strategic, and rooted in our mission to support military-connected students,” said DODEA Director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, in the announcement. “We are transforming our workforce to meet the future head-on, while preserving the academic excellence that our families depend on.”

DODEA officials said they aim to strengthen school-level leadership structures, ensure smoother student transitions between schools and invest in professional development for educators.

The Federal Education Association, the union representing DODEA faculty and staff, has “big, big, big concerns about this,” said Richard Tarr, executive director of the FEA.

Tarr questioned the changes, citing the school system’s accomplishments. For example, military school students led the nation last year in 4th and 8th grade math and reading scores.

“In general, this reduces the number of people serving the students in the school, but those duties don’t go away,” he said. “They’re distributing the duties among other people who are already overworked and have their own full-time positions.

“Teachers’ working conditions are the students’ learning conditions.”

FEA has asked DODEA for more information and has made proposals “to alleviate the harm” but hasn’t gotten answers, Tarr said.

DODEA hasn’t included FEA in discussions around these changes, he said, following President Donald Trump’s executive order March 27 excluding certain federal workers from the right to collective bargaining. The union has filed a lawsuit challenging that order.

Last November, DODEA invited parents, students, educators and leaders to participate in a systemwide questionnaire on Future Ready Learners, and the results shaped many of these decisions, officials said.

DODEA operates 161 accredited schools in 11 foreign countries, seven states, Guam and Puerto Rico, including the DODEA Virtual School. There are nearly 900,000 military school-age children, and of those, about 65,000 attend DODEA schools.

DOD educator unions sue Trump over collective bargaining rights

The changes outlined include adding 21.5 psychologist positions across the school system, lowering the psychologist-to-students ratio from one for every 900 students to one for every 700.

The national ratio for the 2023-2024 school year was one school psychologist per 1,065 students, according to the National Association of School Psychologists, which recommends one psychologist per 500 children.

DODEA also plans to transition school education technologist positions to district-level instructional systems specialists. Tarr said this change is cause for concern because these technologists not only help keep students’ laptops running, but also work with educators to make sure they can use the technology embedded in the curriculum.

In response to this concern, DODEA spokeswoman Tackaberry said, “Schools also have IT personnel that support the school for any technology issues, and have other staff capable of handling school automation needs.”

The plan also calls for phasing out or significantly changing special education assessor positions and speech-language pathologist assessor positions.

Tarr said FEA is disappointed that these positions are being eliminated. However, Tackaberry said assessments will continue with speech-language pathologists, who will also participate in eligibility and Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings.

School psychologists will continue to administer cognitive and behavioral assessments and participate in eligibility and IEP meetings, Tackaberry said. This will allow school psychologists to serve as the primary coordinators for all special education evaluations.

“This change is aimed at improving early intervention and more individualized support for students,” Tackaberry said.

Another change will add administrative officers at nearly every school “to streamline operations and free principals to focus on instructional leadership,” according to officials.

Currently, DODEA has some administrative officers, but they serve multiple schools. They perform a wide range of tasks, Tackaberry said, including managing office operations, budgets, personnel and records and providing support to administrators and staff.

Universal pre-K launches for 4-year-olds at 80 DOD schools

Another step in the plan is to phase out or significantly change office automation assistant and office automation clerk positions, as well as numerous positions above the school level.

About 88% of DODEA’s workforce is at the school level, while 12% serve above the school level in districts, regions or headquarters offices. About one-third of the cuts in positions are happening at above-school levels. The numbers of those cuts, as well as the other two-thirds of the changes at the school level, have not yet been confirmed, Tackaberry said.

“While the transformation is not focused on broad workforce reductions, it does include the careful elimination or reallocation of certain roles to improve efficiency, reduce duplication and strengthen support systems at all levels within DODEA,” Tackaberry said.

The changes affect a number of instructional systems specialist positions and some operations-focused positions at the district and region levels, she said.

Nearly every headquarters department was affected, including logistics, procurement, equal employment opportunity programs, curriculum and instruction, professional learning, general counsel, security management, facilities and others, Tackaberry said.

“The exact number of eliminated positions is still being finalized, as efforts are ongoing to reassign impacted staff into roles that match their skills, experience, and certifications,” she said.

Without knowing which positions are being affected, it’s difficult to know what effects this might have on children’s education, said Eileen Huck, acting director of government relations for the National Military Family Association.

“Any time there are changes at the school level, parents are understandably concerned, especially in the current environment where we know so many federal civilian employees have lost their jobs,” she said.

The review, directed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month, calls for officials to evaluate “current support for homeschooling military-connected families, as well as best practices, including the feasibility of providing facilities or access to other resources for those students.”

In his memo, Hegseth said the move is needed because “ensuring that military-connected families receive strong educational support maintains morale and readiness, reinforcing the overall stability and effectiveness of our military communities.”

More military children will soon have access to DOD-operated schools

Homeschooling is more common among military families than in the civilian population, in part because of the frequent moves and remote assignments of service members.

A Johns Hopkins University study released in March found that in 2024, about 12% of military families homeschooled their children, compared to about 6% for the nonmilitary American population. That gap remained consistent even during the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily shuttered schools nationwide.

The Defense Department operates 161 schools with roughly 67,000 students worldwide to help offset the challenges of providing education to military minors. The department does not require students to be enrolled in those schools, and does not have an official stance supporting or opposing homeschooling.

However, some states or foreign countries may have eligibility requirements for homeschooling. Defense Department officials in the past have said parents are responsible for ensuring compliance with those rules.

In an executive order from January, President Donald Trump ordered military leaders to submit a report on ways to expand schooling options for military children, “including private, faith-based, or public charter schools.” Hegseth said his homeschooling order is an extension of that effort.

The Department of Defense Education Activity does make some classes and resources available to homeschooled students, but the latest review aims to see if that assistance is enough.

Officials did not specify when the homeschooling review is expected to be completed.

That includes increasing the reimbursement rate for troops and families who decide to move all or part of their household goods themselves to 130% of what the government would have paid under the GHC contract for personally procured moves made May 15 through Sept. 30. The rate is currently 100%.

“I take my responsibilities to our service members, civilians and their families seriously,” Hegseth wrote in a May 20 memo to senior Pentagon leaders, combatant commanders and defense agencies.

The new contract, worth potentially up to $17.9 billion over nine years, is aimed at fixing long-standing problems with missed pickup and delivery dates, broken and lost items and claims. However, amid the contract’s rocky rollout this year, families have reported delays in getting their household goods picked up and delivered.

“We know it’s not working and it’s only getting worse. We’ve heard your concerns about contractor performance quality and accountability. We hear you loud and clear. That’s why we’re taking decisive action immediately,” Hegseth said in a video posted on X. He described the process as “a mess,” and acknowledged “it’s never been a great system.”

The current GHC rates “fail to reflect market rates,” Hegseth said. He’s ordered a review of the rates being paid to movers under both the new GHC system, which consolidates management under a single contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, and the legacy system, in an effort to ensure enough companies participate in moving troops’ household goods. And since the rates for reimbursing service members for moving themselves are tied to those GHC rates, Hegseth ordered the increase to 130% of the GHC rate for personally procured moves.

HomeSafe Alliance “is grateful for Defense Secretary Hegseth’s attention to the Global Household Goods Contract and the directives he has issued, which will greatly improve moving experiences for military service members and their families,” company officials said in a statement to Military Times.

“DoD raising our rates to account for significant inflation from the last four years would substantially benefit our ability to facilitate world-class moving services for our nation’s heroes.”

TRANSCOM awarded the contract to HomeSafe Alliance in 2021. After delays with protests of the award, work began on the contract in 2023. Moves gradually began under GHC in April, 2024.

Hegseth has directed U.S. Transportation Command to hold both the GHC and the legacy moving program “accountable” and to provide weekly updates to the offices of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.

He’s also ordered both of those offices to form a PCS task force to “act decisively to improve, expand, terminate or transfer GHC or [legacy program] responsibilities as needed,” according to the memo.

“We’re going to fix it holistically after peak moving season, and we’re going to throw the kitchen sink at it to make sure your moves work this season as well,” Hegseth said.

“We look forward to working with the PCS task force to demonstrate how our program modernizes and digitizes the move process and resolves decades-long issues with military relocations,” HomeSafe Alliance officials stated.

TRANSCOM, which had been gradually ramping up the volume of the moves with HomeSafe Alliance since April 2024, had expected to move all domestic shipments under the new contract by this year’s peak moving season, but they scrapped that plan earlier this year as problems began to mount with HomeSafe Alliance’s ability to provide enough capacity to pack, load, truck and unload service members’ belongings.

Season of Uncertainty: Many questions remain as peak military moving time approaches

In the meantime, officials are continuing to use both the new GHC system and the legacy system to move people, in an effort to ensure there are enough movers.

Hegseth also said he fired Andy Dawson, the civilian head of the program, replacing him with a two-star general, Army Maj. Gen. Lance G. Curtis, commander of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, who will report directly to Hegseth. Defense officials have had multiple meetings about the problem over the past few weeks, Hegseth said.

A number of moving companies have declined to participate in the new GHC system, citing lower rates than they’ve been traditionally paid. When GHC can’t find a mover for a service member’s belongings, it turns the shipment back to TRANSCOM, and the shipment goes to a mover in the legacy system. At least 5,700 shipments have had to be turned away from GHC, according to the most recent estimate. But movers have complained that legacy system rates released earlier this month are also lower than those of previous years, further contributing to a lack of capacity to move household goods.

“It’s a season of instability” for moving companies, said Dan Bradley, vice president of government and military relations for the International Association of Movers. It’s been difficult for moving companies to plan for the season and make important decisions such as buying more trucks and hiring personnel, especially since until recently they were under the impression that 100% of DOD moves would be made under GHC, he said.

“They want to support service members in those moves,” he said, but it’s difficult to turn around at the drop of a hat. “They’re doing the best they can. They want to stay in the program.”

As of May 7, individuals must show a REAL ID, or acceptable alternative, to board domestic commercial flights, visit military installations and access certain federal facilities. REAL ID driver’s licenses are identified by a star in the upper right-hand corner. DOD ID cards, including those issued to dependents, are among the forms of identification listed on the TSA website as acceptable alternatives to the REAL ID.

Still, some travelers told Military Times their military IDs have been rejected at U.S. airports. The issue has come up with military retirees, particularly those with old-style ID cards featuring an “INDEF”, or indefinite expiration date.

One Air Force retiree said his retiree ID card wasn’t accepted when he tried it out while flying to Virginia on May 10. The card has an “INDEF” expiration date.

“Our officers are trained to accept military IDs at our security checkpoints,” TSA spokesman Dave Fitz told Military Times. “In the unlikely event that an officer would not accept a military ID, the passenger should ask to speak to a supervisor.”

Although the TSA page detailing the list of acceptable identification doesn’t specifically mention retired military IDs, Fitz said, “U.S. Department of Defense IDs, to include IDs for active and retired military, are acceptable forms of ID, even if they do not have an expiration date.”

Military-connected passengers may also use any of the other acceptable IDs listed, Fitz noted. Among other options listed on the TSA site are U.S. passports, Veteran Health Identification Cards (VHIC), state-issued Enhanced Driver’s Licenses (EDL) and Enhanced IDs (EID).

Replacing old-style military IDs

Meanwhile, policies for accessing military bases for those who already have military or DOD-issued credentials, such as military retirees, dependents and surviving spouses, have not changed.

But those with an old-style ID card should be aware that while they will still be able to access military bases with that ID, it’s uncertain for how long. These IDs are blue, pink or tan DD Form 2, DD Form 1173, DD Form 1173-1 or DD Form 2785.

More than 5 million military family members, retirees are getting new ID cards

The Defense Department is working to replace these IDs with the NextGen ID. Officials advise getting the NextGen ID now to avoid any problems with installation access. For more information about the NextGen ID and how to replace it, visit this Defense Finance and Accounting Service page.

DOD hasn’t yet announced the deadline for the replacements. DOD previously said the transition to NextGen ID is expected to be completed by January 2026 for the 5 million non-CAC holders, primarily retirees and military family members.

Defense officials awarded the contract for the pilot program in March 2024 to the nonprofit Armed Services YMCA. The first child care center was set to open Monday on Walmer Avenue in Norfolk, with 216 slots for children ages 0 to 5 years old.

The second is expected to open later this year in the Shirlington area of Arlington, Virginia, a few minutes away from the Pentagon. Then in spring 2026, a child care center is scheduled to open in Virginia Beach.

Each of the centers will enroll more than 200 children and are exclusively for children of eligible military personnel and DOD civilians.

The pilot was designed to work with a nonprofit partner who would commit to maintaining DOD standards and accepting parent fees using established DOD fee ranges, according to a defense official. This is one of a number of initiatives by the services and DOD to ease a shortage of child care for military families.

“The department launched multiple initiatives to help our families overcome nationwide child care shortages,” said Eryn Wagnon, chief of staff for DOD’s Military Community and Family Policy office, during the Norfolk center’s ribbon cutting May 16. “Paired with the department’s efforts to build and open more on-installation child development centers, these initiatives are helping to rebuild our military.

“Providing this critical resource safeguards our warfighters’ ability to focus on their global mission of reestablishing deterrence.”

Defense officials chose these geographic areas for the pilot program because of the high need. They are among the areas with the longest military child care waitlists. The shortage of child care for military families has long been an issue, in some areas more than others.

There’s a nationwide shortage of child care, but the problem is exacerbated for mobile military families, who very often don’t have alternatives, such as family nearby who can help.

“We’re really hopeful this can become a long-term solution to address the child care issue within the department of defense,” said Dorene Ocamb, chief marketing and development officer for Armed Services YMCA.

As they scouted out locations for the centers, Armed Services YMCA officials sought places convenient for those driving to installations along thoroughfares from concentrations of military housing, Ocamb said.

These centers will have more slots for infants than child development centers usually have, as infant care is more expensive and more difficult to find.

The new Norfolk center has five infant classrooms, four for pre-toddlers, four for toddlers and four for pre-kindergarteners.

Military child care centers see varying effects from personnel actions

Families will pay child care fees that are based on the same fee structure used in DOD child development centers, where fees are based on total family income, regardless of the age of the child. For example, the standard weekly fee per child is $54 for a family with an annual total family income of up to $45,000.99. A family with an income of $65,001 to $77,500.99 will pay $88 per week.

Just as DOD subsidizes the cost for parents in its child development centers, DOD also subsidizes the cost of child care in these centers. Officials anticipate that over the five-year contract award period, the operating costs for each facility, once opened, will be about $6 million to $8 million a year, which will be partially offset by those parent fees.

The contract also allows for one-time start-up costs for each program. For the first year, DOD’s costs for the Norfolk location were $6.6 million, a DOD official said.

The center is subject to the same regulations and standards as DOD-operated child development centers, including the priority list for military and DOD civilian families.

Since the centers are not located on federal land, they’re licensed by the state. All employees go through the same screening as any child care worker at a DOD child development center, Ocamb said.

Families follow the same DOD process to sign up for child care, through the MilitaryChildCare.com website.

Interest has been high in the Norfolk center, Ocamb said. When email notices about its 216 available slots went out to parents on the waiting list on the MilitaryChildCare.com site, 394 families expressed interest, she said.

As troops struggle to find child care, 24-hour centers offer help

In a little over 13 months since the contract was awarded, Armed Services YMCA officials have been able to move from contract signature to actual door opening, Ocamb said.

“In the world of DOD, that’s nothing short of a miracle in terms of the pace of which we were able to find a location, make this commercial property into a fully functioning CDC, hire all the staff that we need, and get families in the door,” she said.

It generally takes five years for child development centers to be built under the military construction process, given the government requirements.

Armed Services YMCA, established in 1861, now has 12 branches and 24 affiliate partners serving nearly 200,000 military members, spouses and children, primarily in the junior enlisted community. These branches have long provided various forms of child care, such as full day care or drop in care, depending on the needs of the military families.

This pilot program is a separate effort.