Currently, parents don’t have access to a child’s medical records from the time they turn 13, “based on current departmental policy,” Lt. Gen. Mary K. Izaguirre said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army.

In addition, children don’t have ID cards to sign in to the Defense Enrollment Eligibility System (DEERS), she said. Children must be at least 18 to log in to the system.

The question of parents’ access came up during a family forum at AUSA. Izaguirre said the issue is one of her husband’s favorite topics, and “I share his passion for it,” she said.

For now, parents must go to the patient administration offices at their military treatment facilities and have their teenage children sign consent forms to give parents permission for access to their medical records.

“That’s a barrier,” Izaguirre said, adding that “we’ve been working with the [Defense Health Agency], and the [Department of Health and Human Services]” to address the hurdle.

The issue stems from privacy laws and has come up in various settings with military families.

Researchers with the organization Feedback were “surprised at how often this came up, not just one parent at one base,” said Erin Domagola, the research director at the organization. Feedback analyzed comments received in the Federal Register, following a Defense Department solicitation in March for comments and suggestions from military families on how DoD could improve their quality of life.

Feedback uses applied anthropology, behavioral science and digital ethnography to understand what people experience and why.

The company independently analyzed Federal Register military family comments from 2024 to 2026 about quality of life. While there were a relatively small number of comments overall —117 in 2026 — it does provide a window into some of the concerns and suggestions, the researchers said.

The Social Security Administration’s COLA announcement Wednesday sets the rate of increase for about 72 million Social Security beneficiaries, but also for military retirees and people receiving veterans benefits. The increase goes into effect in January and is 0.8% higher than the 2.8% COLA in 2026.

It’s the biggest increase in four years.

Officials estimate that on average, the monthly Social Security benefit will increase by $75.

As an example, a military retiree who receives $2,500 in retired pay will see a COLA increase of about $90 per month.

For a veteran receiving $1,500 per month in benefits, the increase would be about $54 in 2027.

In 2024, Congress passed legislation that ties increases in veterans’ benefits to the rate of Social Security increases. The cost-of-living increase applies to disability compensation, clothing allowances and dependency and indemnity benefits, as well as some other Department of Veterans Affairs assistance programs.

The COLA is designed to ensure benefits keep pace with inflation. The calculation is based on the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the cost of a wide range of items and calculates inflation and changes in the cost of living.

The 2026 COLA was 2.8%, a few ticks higher than the 2025 COLA of 2.5%.

Those with personal “my Social Security” accounts can view their COLA notice online starting in late November, a few weeks earlier than those who receive paper notices in the mail, officials said.

All of the information about your state’s requirements and deadlines for voter registration, ballot requests and ballot returns is available at the Federal Voting Assistance Program site, FVAP.gov, and at the U.S. Vote Foundation site.

Deadlines vary by location, but as of mid-October, individuals could still register to vote in some states. For the best results, use the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which allows you to register to vote, as well as request a ballot. Some states allow you to email or fax the FPCA.

Federal Voting Assistance Program officials are advising those who have requested a ballot from their state election officials and haven’t received it to fill out a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or FWAB, and send it in. States are required to accept these ballots if they meet requirements.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program, a Defense Department program, is the organization that is tasked with implementing the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA. This law applies to service members and their families living away from their voting jurisdiction, stateside, as well as overseas. It also applies to U.S. citizens living overseas.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program is required to be non-partisan and exists only to provide information and tools for service members, family members and overseas citizens to be able to vote. Voting assistance officers in military units and locations on military bases are also available to provide information.

Again this year, the military and U.S. Postal Service are providing free Priority Mail Express service for military ballots coming from the overseas APO and FPO origins to election offices in the U.S.

The Military Post Office personnel will attach the USPS EMS Label 11-DOD to the voted absentee ballot. This applies to military family members, too, but is only available at the APO and FPO locations. Post office personnel will provide a receipt with the tracking number, allowing voters to track their ballot all the way back to their local election office.

This year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed all commanders and supervisors across DoD to conduct a one-day stand down, no later than Oct. 15, to ensure time for service member training, processing and submission of the Federal Post Card Application, if they choose to vote by absentee ballot.

Military Times conducted a spot check of a few states’ UOCAVA deadlines, based on information on the FVAP.gov site:

California: Mailed registration requests postmarked by Oct. 19; online or fax registrations received by Oct. 19. No deadline for ballot requests.

Maine: Registration and ballot requests received by 12 p.m. Nov. 2.

Michigan: No registration deadline; ballot requests received by 2 p.m. on Oct. 31.

Minnesota: No timeline for registration or applying for a UOCAVA ballot, but voted ballots must be returned by mail.

Texas: Voters who haven’t previously registered can submit a FPCA by the Oct. 23 ballot request deadline.

Changes in the FPCA

Voting rights advocates have expressed concerns about changes defense officials made to the FPCA this summer before asking for public comment. DoD has since posted notices in the Federal Register for public comment on the changes, open through Nov. 9.

A new form removes one of the classifications that voters could check: “I am a U.S. citizen who has never resided in the United States.”

Some U.S. citizens who have never lived in the U.S. are legally eligible to vote under some state laws. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia allow U.S. citizens who were born abroad, but never lived in the U.S., to vote, said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation.

Advocates are concerned that these voters who see their former category has disappeared may think they aren’t eligible to vote absentee. The voters are U.S. citizens who have spent most or all of their lives abroad and are passport-carrying taxpayers, she said.

This isn’t expected to be a huge change for military families, she said, but noted that military families are sensitive to changes in these forms which could affect voting rights.

Military voters are among those who have expressed confusion and concern about whether their old form of the FPCA still counts, said Sarah Streyder, executive director of the Secure Families Initiative. She’s assuring them they do count.

FVAP officials have notified state officials that the old form is still acceptable, and voters who have the old form on file don’t have to resubmit a new form. The old form and new form are both available on the usvotefoundation.org website.

Officials at Fort Bragg and Corvias, the privatized housing company that operates the installation’s housing, recently marked the renovation of the first of 21 historic homes that are ready for military families. They were built between 1928 and 1939, and feature elements including stucco walls, copper gutters, hardwood floors and basements.

Fort Bragg has 230 homes that were built before 1940, and all are designated as historic. But these aren’t even the oldest of Army housing. There are 867 houses built before 1919, located on 19 other Army installations in 13 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Army.

At Fort Bragg, about 2,300 of the base’s 6,104 homes were built before 1960, officials said.

The Army manages the largest inventory of historic housing in the federal government, with more than 30,000 historic homes that are more than 50 years old. These homes are subject to the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, according to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

That federal agency’s mission is to promote the preservation of America’s historic places and has worked with the Army and the other services as they prepare plans to renovate these houses, making sure they preserve the historic character while meeting the needs of families.

“These residences are an important part of Fort Bragg’s history, but their greatest value is continuing to serve soldiers and families who live in these homes,” said Col. Luke Wittmer, the installation’s garrison commander, in an announcement. “This renovation preserves history while ensuring we continue to meet the needs of today’s families.”

Historic homes have long been a challenge to preserve and maintain for military families, with a variety of issues such as lead paint and asbestos, which are both hazardous and costly to remediate.

Most of the military’s historic homes were included in the inventory of military housing that was turned over to private companies to operate and maintain, starting in the early 2000s.

According to the Army, historic homes currently take an average of 18 days to prepare between occupants, compared to 15 days for a standard home. The average cost is $4,342, compared to $3,681 for a standard home.

Fort Bragg was designated a permanent Army post in 1922, and construction of the first permanent party officers’ family quarters along Alexander and Hunt streets began in 1927, officials said. Construction of noncommissioned officer family housing began in 1928.

The planned outage is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Oct. 9, and end Sunday, Oct. 11. As of Thursday, information was not available about what specific time the outage is expected to end on Sunday.

During the outage, beneficiaries won’t be able to make any updates to their DEERS record. Pharmacies and healthcare providers may not be able to check a patient’s Tricare eligibility.

Officials note that there are other benefits systems that rely on DEERS, and the outage may affect those systems, too.

The Defense Manpower Data Center is updating DEERS, and it will be moving to a new cloud environment.

“The Defense Health Agency is working closely with DMDC during this time,” officials said in an announcement about the planned outage. “The goal is to keep any disruption as small as possible.”

DEERS is a database of information about military personnel, Defense Department and military service civilians and their family members. To get Tricare coverage, beneficiaries must be registered in DEERS.

Beneficiaries who need to make changes, or who need to check their information in DEERS, should do so before the weekend by visiting milconnect before 9 p.m. Friday.

This year’s Tricare Open Season begins Nov. 9 and ends Dec. 8. During that time, beneficiaries can enroll in or change their health plan for the next year. Changes made during open season will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Andrew Tangen, attorney and superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Lake County, Illinois, alleges that Lukas Simianer and his company, VetClaims.ai, posted defamatory statements on social media accusing Tangen of having “backed fraudsters from his government email to maintain … [a] monopoly” in assisting veterans with their claims.

Simianer said he developed the VetClaims.ai system following his own challenges with the VA disability claims process.

Tangen’s lawsuit, filed Sept. 15 in federal court in the Western District of Texas, alleges that Simianer “attacked the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, The American Legion, and [National Association of County Veterans Service Officers], as a monopoly” in assisting veterans with claims.

Then, Tangen alleges, Simianer pointed veterans to the company he owns, which sells services that veterans service organizations provide at no cost. The lawsuit names Simianer and Patriot Claims, LLC, doing business as VetClaims.ai, as defendants.

In an interview with Military Times, Simianer said he has no intention of removing the comments about Tangen and the other veteran service organizations.

Instead, he would like to bring more attention to the issue.

“Truth is the ultimate defense to defamation,” Simianer said.

Tangen ‘tagged and taunted’

Tangen is also the president of NACVSO. Simianer has challenged Tangen, the VFW, DAV, American Legion, and the NACVSO to debates about the current system versus the benefits of the VetClaims system of assisting veterans with their claims. VetClaims.ai is based in Pflugerville, Texas.

The VACLC, which Tangen heads, is a public, county-funded veterans service agency within Lake County government. It’s staffed by officers accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs who provide the same pro bono claims assistance as private veterans service organizations.

For years, veterans and their advocates have complained about a handful of for-profit companies, sometimes referred to as “claims sharks,” that take advantage of veterans by charging them excessive amounts of money to help them file disability claims, when a number of veterans service organizations provide these services for free.

Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs has reduced the claims backlog to under 70,000 for the first time in six years. The average wait time is now about 78 days.

Federal law limits who can act as an agent or attorney in preparing, presenting or prosecuting a benefits claim with the VA. They must be accredited by the department to do the work.

The law also limits when veterans can be charged fees. Accredited agents and attorneys generally aren’t allowed to charge or receive fees for claims representation services provided before a veteran receives notice of the initial decision.

Tangen alleges that in the fall of 2025, a veteran came into the Veterans Assistance Commission of Lake County and told Tangen that a woman who claimed she worked for VetClaims.ai asked him for $1,250 “to file a VA claim he could file for free.” He checked and found that VetClaims.ai is not accredited by the VA.

Tangen referred the matter to the Illinois Attorney General for investigation. According to the lawsuit, Tangen said nothing about the referral in public and stepped aside after handing the matter to authorities.

“He spends his career helping veterans obtain their earned benefits at no charge,” the lawsuit states. “Reporting improper solicitations to the authorities is part of that job.”

Tangen told Military Times in late September that VetClaims.ai isn’t the only company his office has referred to the Illinois Attorney General.

The state attorney general’s Military Rights Veterans Bureau “received one complaint from a Veterans Assistance Commission superintendent claiming VetClaims.ai is exploiting veterans for disability claims while sharing personally identifiable information to an artificial intelligence platform,” said April McLaren, deputy press secretary in the Office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. “While the Attorney General’s office is actively investigating similar companies and claims, we do not share details of ongoing investigations.”

The core allegations of the lawsuit are about Simianer’s alleged defamation of Tangen.

“The accusations attack the honesty on which Mr. Tangen’s life’s work depends,” the lawsuit alleges. “He brings this suit to clear his name, recover the damages allowed by law and have the statements identified in this complaint taken down.”

Tangen told Military Times he has never charged veterans for his work. He became a county veterans-service officer to help veterans without taking a share of the benefits they are able to recover, he said.

His only compensation is the fixed public salary he receives as the VACLC superintendent, and he works regularly with the VA, the VA Office of Inspector General, state authorities and members of Congress on deceptive practices that harm veterans.

Months after Tangen filed the report, the state attorney general, Simianer, and his company “told a national audience that Mr. Tangen was corrupt,” the lawsuit alleges, referring to a June 4 post by Simianer on X.

Tangen denied the accusation and posted the government email showing he had reported VetClaims.ai to the Illinois Attorney General.

For weeks, Simianer “tagged and taunted Mr. Tangen across social media platforms,” the lawsuit alleges.

In his lawsuit, Tangen asks the court to require Simianer and VetClaims.ai to remove false and defamatory statements, and asks for an unspecified amount in damages.

Simianer told Military Times that at no point has the Illinois Attorney General’s office conducted an investigation on VetClaims.ai.

Charging for claims assistance

VetClaims.ai charges veterans $1,250 for their services. The company draws on a plethora of resources to help veterans back up their claims, Simianer said.

“When they go to VetClaims.ai, within six days they will have everything they need to file a claim,” he said. “We support them through the appeals process at no extra cost,” he said.

Simianer and the company website acknowledge that VetClaims.ai is not accredited by the VA.

“This country was not built by men who follow unjust laws,” Simianer said. “Anybody who looks at this law and has any ounce of legal research to their credit or capability would understand that vets are the only federal claimants who are forced to fail first before they can seek professional help.

“Some make the argument you should go to the VSOs. They’re free. God bless, free stuff is great. But if free stuff worked, there wouldn’t be a $1 billion market. The VA’s own accredited attorneys are taking home $33 million a month out of veterans’ own back pay. “

By law, the VA may withhold a portion of a veteran’s back pay to pay accredited representatives directly, under strict conditions, and the fees are generally limited to 20%. According to the VA website, $37.2 million in these fees were paid in August.

Simianer contends the current system costs veterans money. He cites an example of one veteran who had been rated by the VA with a 20% disability since 2013, but with three months of working with VetClaims.ai, he was granted 80%.

“Being stuck at 20% instead of 80% from 2013 to 2026 due to an incompetent [veteran service organization] cost this veteran roughly $233,000 in unpaid compensation,” Simianer claimed. “And closer to $350,000 once you count what that money would have earned had it been in their hands all along.”

According to the VetClaims.ai website, the company’s veteran experts “use advanced AI to quickly and accurately prepare claim strategies by generating compliant medical evidence, documents, and communications that meet the VA’s strict standards.”

Meanwhile, the VA has spent millions of dollars on automated systems, including a program called Automated Decision Support, which pulls together information and a variety of evidence for claims adjudicators to consider when deciding a claim. The department has also increased the size of its processing staff.

Veterans of Foreign Wars defended its record of helping veterans, noting that they have modernized their processes alongside the VA and its technology partners, among other actions.

“Over the past decade, our program has evolved to reach more veterans, now representing more than 600,000 beneficiaries who received more than $16 billion in earned benefits last year alone,” said Ryan Gallucci, executive director of the VFW Washington Office.

VA-accredited representatives are subject to “rigorous training, professional conduct requirements and legal obligations to protect veterans’ information, Gallucci added.

“Veterans deserve to know the difference between accredited professionals providing accountable representation and unaccredited profiteers exploiting regulatory loopholes under the guise of innovation,” Gallucci said. “There’s no debating that if someone fails to adhere to basic accreditation standards, their motivations are likely somewhere other than serving veterans.

“Instead of recycling outdated tropes about VA or flashing their largesse across the internet, perhaps these unaccredited actors should spend more time understanding how today’s veterans’ benefits system has evolved to better serve veterans.”

Starting in November, veterans won’t have to pay insurance premiums for three months, ending in January 2027, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs announcement.

All told, the break is expected to save veterans nearly $150 million in insurance payments, officials said.

On average, veterans pay about $110 a month for VGLI coverage. VGLI insurance premiums vary and increase every five years as veterans age. Payments range from $30 a month for the maximum $500,000 in insurance to $2,200 a month for the maximum coverage for veterans 80 and older.

All veterans with VGLI policies are eligible for the premium holiday if they have a current policy that hasn’t lapsed or been cancelled due to non-payment of premiums.

Eligible veterans don’t have to take any action. They will be automatically exempted from the three months of premium payments and will be notified by letter or email within the coming weeks if they are eligible. Many veterans pay by allotment from military retired pay, or by withdrawals from their bank account.

Those veterans who paid in advance can either receive credit on their policies for three months or ask for refunds, officials said.

Officials said the program’s financial performance has been “incredibly strong,” making the premium holiday possible.

“VA is all about making life better and more affordable for veterans, and this premium holiday will help the men and women who served this nation keep more of their hard-earned money,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins in the announcement about the initiative.

Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance coverage doesn’t automatically carry over after leaving the military. Everyone leaving the military with SGLI coverage qualifies to sign up for VGLI, with certain time limits.

However, VGLI is more expensive than SGLI, so experts advise shopping around for other life insurance options. One advantage of VGLI is that veterans who sign up within 240 days of leaving the military don’t need to prove they’re in good health.

The cuddly red creature and his Sesame Street buddies have teamed up again with the Department of Defense’s Office of Military Community and Family Policy to continue their work for military preschool-aged children. The Muppets address topics and issues such as deployments, relocation, homecomings, transition to civilian life, stress, grief, the “new normal with a parent with physical or mental injuries,” and others.

All the resources are free and available at SesameStreetforMilitaryFamilies.org.

The new package promotes a whole-family approach to well-being. It includes the “Move with Elmo” game, which features choices at each stage of an animated walk in the park, where children can choose an exercise demonstrated by Elmo along the way, with periodic water breaks.

At each stop, they can choose an exercise and either exercise the entire body or move only their arms. Children get a dose of numbers with each exercise, too. The game provides digital stickers after each activity that children can drag over to their digital coloring pages at the end. Their grown-up can help print their coloring page.

Since its launch in 2006, Sesame Street for Military Families has provided research-based resources especially for military and veteran families.

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind “Sesame Street,” developed the programs in partnership with DoD and military families. They’ve carefully researched how to relate sometimes complex messages in ways children can understand.

Videos, articles, digital tools, printable activities and provider resources have helped millions of military-connected families navigate the various aspects of military life.

“As we celebrate this milestone, we’re introducing new resources that make it easier for families to stay active, build healthy habits, and spend quality time together,” Rocio Galarza, vice president of U.S. Educational Programs for Sesame Workshop, said in an announcement. “Whether it’s moving with Elmo, trying new family activities, or creating everyday routines, these tools help children grow stronger, healthier and ready for whatever comes next.”

The Sesame Street programs specifically for military children are part of its long-standing educational work for the larger population of young children.

A photo Strohmaier took on Feb. 29, 2024, while stationed aboard the USCGC Bertholf is one of two photos chosen by the U.S. Postal Service for its design of a Forever stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

The stamp features photos of the Legend-class national security cutter Bertholf, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle, the academy’s primary training vessel since 1946. Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Thieme took the photo of the Eagle that’s featured on the stamp.

The U.S. Postal Service has printed 12 million of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy stamps. Strohmaier has already placed his first order. In addition to the birth announcements, he plans to use them for Christmas cards and other mailings, “maybe for the next decade,” he told Military Times.

Antonio Alcalá, an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, designed the stamp. Before it was printed and issued, it was reviewed by the Postal Service, the Citizens stamp Advisory Committee and, finally, the Postmaster General before being printed and issued.

Alcala said their research group worked with the Coast Guard Academy to find imagery deemed to be appropriate for a stamp design.

“From those, in consultation with USPS, we narrowed it down to the two images shown on the stamp,” Alcalá told Military Times.

USPS uses photos taken by individuals in the design of stamps when it’s determined to be the best solution, he said.

“The stamp highlights, by featuring the two Coast Guard vessels … the tradition of training academy cadets on both traditional sailing ships as well as the latest in contemporary ship design and technology,” he said.

Strohmaier, 40, said that when he first saw a picture of the stamp, “I thought it was just a fantastic opportunity to highlight the Coast Guard, especially the juxtaposition of our oldest cutter and one of our newest ones.”

The design process began in March 2025, and the special issue stamp continues the Postal Service’s tradition of honoring the nation’s military academies.

The stamps will be released during a first-day-of-issue unveiling ceremony at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival, which takes place at Custom House Pier at Waterfront Park in New London, Connecticut. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

The stamps can be pre-ordered at usps.com.

When Strohmaier took the photo, he was deployed for two months aboard the Bertholf, located off the coast of Singapore.

He had no idea Postal Service officials were considering his photo for the stamp, he said, until one of his public affairs colleagues sent him an email early this summer and said he was “pretty sure” the photo on the stamp was one of Strohmaier’s. He didn’t think about it much at the time because his mind was elsewhere; his wife was just a couple of days from delivering their son, he said.

Since word of the stamp got out recently, he’s received texts from colleagues around the country congratulating him.

“They were glad we were getting this unique opportunity,” he said. “The fact that they chose one of my pictures is quite an honor and a humbling experience for sure.”

“We went suddenly from business attire to very casual, and that happened overnight, so we had to adjust very quickly to that shift,” he said during a recent interview with Military Times.

Even now, customers haven’t returned completely to previous norms, he said. There have been some significant shifts in tastes, and fashion needs have focused more on beauty products and footwear.

“We’re meeting the needs of the customer, as customers transition to a different focus, both in apparel and in other categories,” Shull said.

Shull, who retired in June, is the longest-serving director in AAFES’ 131-year history and the first civilian to serve in that position. He’s an Army veteran and came into the job with a variety of commercial retail experience, where his primary focus was improving the customer experience.

AAFES and all the services’ exchange systems are open to eligible military customers of all branches of service.

In his 14-year tenure, Shull fought to extend the online exchange benefit to all honorably discharged veterans; reduced AAFES’ debt from $2.4 billion to zero; increased customer satisfaction to 95%; fought off efforts to privatize or consolidate military stores; and weathered the COVID-19 pandemic to keep stores open and customers safe, among other accomplishments.

“Tom Shull spent his career working on behalf of service members and military families,” said Eileen Huck, director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. “He recognized the importance of the exchange to military families, especially those stationed overseas, and worked tirelessly to ensure that military families had access to essential products at reasonable prices.”

When he came aboard in 2012, Shull changed AAFES’ heavy focus on private-label brands and included more choices in name brands in a variety of areas.

“We should have focused on the fact that our service members want to receive the same respect and opportunities that their counterparts do off the installation,” Shull said, noting that he made decisions based on data.

The agency pivoted to expand choices of name brands like Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren, and it focused on providing new movies. It showed first-run movie premieres in deployed areas and offered name-brand eateries on installations, he said.

The exchanges provide these products and services at varying discounts, but purchases are also tax-free. AAFES has been expanding to partnerships with companies like Home Depot and Bass Pro Shops.

AAFES still provides a robust selection of private-label options, which are generally cheaper.

Primary focus: young troops and families

AAFES’ core customers are young, active-duty service members and their families, Shull said.

“We do everything we can to provide for their needs,” he said.

Their efforts have paid off: In 2025, AAFES’ customer satisfaction rating was 95%, up two points from 2024. Ten years ago, the rating was 68%.

Part of meeting the needs of the military community has been expanding their customer base.

“His greatest legacy was expanding the benefit to a larger veteran group,” said Steve Rossetti, president of the American Logistics Association, representing companies that sell products and services to the military resale community.

Under Shull’s leadership, AAFES’ customer base has more than doubled, from 12 million to 30 million. It expanded its online shopping benefit to all veterans who served honorably.

“It was one of those things that I was so honored to be a part of,” Shull said. “It took us a long time,” he said, but it is a meaningful benefit for veterans to be able to shop online tax-free.

Since Veterans Day 2017, when they became eligible, more than 1 million veterans have created accounts on ShopMyExchange.com, spending $700 million. Previously, veterans who didn’t retire from the military generally didn’t have online exchange shopping privileges.

In addition, since Jan 1, 2020, all veterans with service-connected disability ratings from 0% to 100% can shop in-store at military exchanges, and more than 600,000 have used their new benefit in AAFES stores.

“Our customer really values their lifelong connection to the military community, and that really is apparent, not just in their gratitude for being able to receive this benefit, but in terms of sales and earnings that we can then dedicate to active duty service members and their families,” Shull said. “Veterans and even disabled veterans pay forward to support active duty.”

AAFES has returned about $3.4 billion in dividends out of profits to the military community to support quality of life since 2012.

“That has become really more important than ever, especially as during certain times with certain administrations there has been a shortage of appropriated funds to support quality of life,” Shull said.

Looking back on his time as director, Shull’s biggest challenge was navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The AAFES team aggressively acquired personal protective equipment, such as masks, gloves and acrylic protective screens, and it balanced the safety of employees and customers in a great time of uncertainty, while continuing with the ever-important mission to provide needed products to military customers.

The exchanges first experienced the effects of the pandemic in the Pacific, then in Europe before the disease moved to the continental United States.

Throughout his tenure, Shull led the effort to shore up AAFES’ financial underpinnings. The agency reduced its debt load by $2.4 billion, down to zero, giving AAFES more flexibility and capacity to move quickly to fund operations in various circumstances.

The team has aggressively reduced its overhead costs. Without furloughs or layoffs, it reduced the number of personnel by 40%, from 40,000 to 24,000, through attrition.

“We pay our associates well and executives well,” he said, but they don’t exist to pay high bonuses or to give extraordinary dividends to shareholders. “We exist to serve soldiers, airmen, guardians, Marines, sailors and their families,” Shull said.

A ‘sacrosanct’ benefit

In his years at AAFES, Shull has come to describe the military resale system as “sacrosanct.”

“I feel that passionately,” he said, “because it’s such an important benefit.”

He’s weathered multiple efforts, mostly within the Defense Department, to privatize, consolidate, or otherwise drastically change the commissary and exchange benefits.

“There’s always been a very high reluctance by retailers if they were interested in acquiring the stores, to support service members down range, among other things,” he said.

AAFES has more than 300 operations supporting deployed troops in Southwest Asia, Eastern Europe, the Pacific and Africa.

“We have 24 mobile field exchanges, which aren’t inexpensive, 53-foot retail trailers that rapidly deploy to disaster zones, contingency locations, training exercises, without any taxpayer dollars,” he said. “A commercial retailer would shutter exchange facilities in remote and isolated locations, because there would be no financial justification for keeping them open.”

In addition, there would be no financial incentive for private sector stores to sell military clothing items at cost; or to serve the 3.5 million school lunches AAFES serves at DoD schools overseas each year at cost; or to contribute profits to installations’ quality of life programs.

Commercial entities might not put the same emphasis on hiring military spouses and veterans that AAFES does, which has resulted in hiring 68,000 since 2013, he said. Not all of those are still within the AAFES ranks, but they do have access to an associate transfer program, where spouses can apply for jobs wherever their spouse may be stationed in the next permanent change of station move.

AAFES has also increased the credit toward retirement from five to seven years for veterans joining their workforce.

The next steps for Shull remain to be determined.

“I want to spend more time with my family. They’ve been so supportive. The reason I’ve been able to continue to focus on the military is because they’ve been so supportive … Serving those who serve has been the honor of my life,” he said.

He’s confident AAFES will be in good hands with the next director and CEO, Brad Bingham.

The two have worked together for 14 years. Bingham was most recently deputy director and chief financial officer.

“He’ll be very committed to continuing the positive momentum we began 14 years ago. He understands our culture, he understands the need to focus on the core customer, the service members and their families,” Shull said. “The time is right for me to move on. I’m ready to have the next generation carry this great company forward.”