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Military Education News And Info

Stay up-to-date with news and information about your military education. You can get the information you need to make informed decisions about your online and military correspondence programs. Learn what's going on with military continuing education and how you can make a smooth military transition. Your civilian career awaits you!

In yet another positive development for the career prospects of military spouses, President Bush recently signed an executive order giving federal managers permission to hire a special set of qualified spouses without having to subject job vacancies to the normal competitive process.

Bush's order gives some preferential treatment to the qualified military spouses of services members who have either been killed in action, incapacitated by their service (100% disabled) or are moving as part of "permanent change-of-station orders."

Each year nearly 20,000 new people join the government's employment ranks, and this directive would allow federal mangers to hire a qualified military spouse before the open position is publicly advertised.

Military officials are hoping that more career opportunities for military spouses will lead to better retention numbers for military personnel. Military spouses generally have unemployment numbers higher than their civilian counterparts.

It's expected that this directive will not be implemented until early next year. The military spouses of Reservists and National Guardsmen on active duty qualify for the preference.

Military spouses who are not affected by the executive order can still give themselves a competitive edge by enrolling in career training programs that are 100% online and entirely self-paced.

Many schools and universities also offer military spouse discounts and military spouse scholarships to help military families afford tuition. And with uncertain economic times on the horizon, it's always a good thing to have as many qualifications as possible.

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Posted by Allied @ 2:30 PM • 0 comments

Allied American University (AAU), a division of Allied Business Schools, is now enrolling students in online associate and bachelor's degree programs.

Service members can use their Tuition Assistance to enroll in business administration, computer information systems, criminal justice and general studies programs.

The nationally-accredited school also features military spouse scholarships, complimentary transfer credit evaluations and textbooks included at no additional cost.

Learn more about Allied American University by calling (888) 384-0849 or by requesting information.

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Posted by Allied @ 4:22 PM • 0 comments

Marines in the Body Composition Program (BCP) who never think twice about "super-sizing" their meals might want to start changing their ways. The Corps recently announced that all Marines in the BCP - a six moth program to help Marines meet the Corps' strict weight standards - will have to restart the BCP from the beginning if they are shown to be "out of standard."

The new regulations state that everyone assigned to the BCP must stay in for the entire six-month program regardless of early progress. This new ruling is part of Commandant Gen. James Conway's larger plan to have Marines meet stricter standards of fitness and appearance.

Conway has also given commanders the authority to call out Marines who may be within the Corps' body composition guidelines, but still don't meet that commanders subjective judgment of proper appearance.

Once Marines meet the physical standards set down by the Corps, they can then start thinking about hitting the books with an online vocational course. Marines can take advantage of Marine Tuition Assistance (TA) which provides up to $4,500 a year for Marines to get started on their education. The best part is that Marines pay nothing out-of-pocket; the Marines Corps will pay the school directly, eliminating tuition funding as a source of worry.

When speaking with an admissions representative, married Marines should make sure to ask about the school's training options for military spouses. Many schools offer military spouse discounts, military spouse scholarships as well as a number of military-spouse friendly options to reduce the impact of tuition on a military family's budget.

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Posted by Allied @ 10:36 AM • 0 comments

When you're the spouse of a Guard or Reserve service member, things are usually pretty clear: your service member spouse has a civilian job, plus military duties one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer - and you plan accordingly. But the military's increasing reliance on Guard and Reserve ranks to round out the active-duty force, has turned this familiar routine upside down.

Sara Horn, the wife of a Navy reservist, writes in a recent issue of Military Spouse Magazine about the particular issues that face military spouses whose Guard or Reservist spouse is deployed. To emphasize the reality of this trend, she cites DOD stats noting that 650,000 Reserve and Guard members have deployed since Sept. 2001.

While all military spouses face difficulties with deployments, Guard and Reserve spouses have unique challenges; Horn mentions a few of the issues facing these particular spouses:

- They are generally not connected to a military installation community
- Much of the military jargon is brand-new
- Loads of deployment paperwork
- Possible issues involving a spouse's civilian employer
- Reservists can sometimes be deployed with units in another state

Sara Horn has a blog where she writes about issues affecting the spouses of Guard and Reserve members. And though spouses may be tempted to fill the months of deployment with worry, they can also fill the time with education instead, thanks to the number of spouse-friendly colleges for military spouses and military spouse scholarships that now exists. Distance (online) education also allows military spouses the opportunity to study while they continue taking care of their children or while holding down a full-time job.

In addition to more childcare and education, jobs for military spouses have been an important priority for the military and the DOD. Efforts by both organizations are aimed at improving the career prospects of this unheralded segment of American society.

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Posted by Allied @ 1:24 PM • 0 comments

Young men and women who join the Army know that Army education means basic military skills, like how to shoot an M-16 rifle. Yet for some new Soldiers, they'll also be getting reading, writing and arithmetic thrown in with the bargain.

In an effort to widen the pool of eligible recruits the Army has begun a pilot program at Fort Jackson to help high school dropouts get their GED. The school is called the Army Preparatory School and consists of a four-week curriculum, which is expected to expand to eight weeks in the coming months.

Civilian contractors will teach the academic classes, while NCOs will be on hand to teach Army customs and courtesies. At the end of their education, the Soldiers will then enter basic training like any other new Soldier entering the Army.

The school is the result of Army concerns that the eligible pool of young people who meet the Army's requirements are drastically shrinking. It's estimated that there are as many as 300,000 young people who could benefit from Army GED schooling.

And once Soldiers get their GED, they can then go ahead and take advantage of Military Tuition Assistance, which helps Soldiers pay for vocational and college courses while they serve. In many ways this Army continuing education allows service members to both, contribute to their military career, as well as prepare for the day when they separate from the service. Service members can also take advantage of military distance learning classes, which can be taken 100% online as long as an individual has access an Internet connection.

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Posted by Allied @ 9:12 AM • 0 comments

Whether you're a Marine grunt or an Air Force administrator, it's always good to have a book on the military or military history stashed away with your gear. You never know when you'll have a few hours to kill or when something you read may actually save your life on the battlefield.

In no particular order, here's ten books that will keep a service member's head in the game:

1.) The Art of War, Sun Tzu - It's on everyone else's best book list, so why not this one?

2.) The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. Grant - At the end of his life, battling throat cancer, the former President and Union General wrote a tour-de-force about the military life. President Lincoln said of Grant, "I can't spare this man. He fights."

3.) First to Fight: An inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps, Lt. Gen. Krulak - It's the first book listed on the U.S. Marine Corps' official reading list, what else do you need to know?

4.) Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden - You've seen the movie; here's the book. Read about Delta Force battling bad guys in Mogadishu.

5.) We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore - The commander who lead troopers in the legendary Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam writes of his battalion's three-day fight for survival.

6.) The Civil War: A Narrative, Shelby Foote: If you remember the PBS documentary on the Civil War, Shelby Foote was the southern historian with all the great stories! One warning: this book comes in three volumes!

7.) Moment of Truth in Iraq, Michael Yon - It's too early to tell which Iraq War books will stand the test of time, but few journalists know the war in Iraq like Mr. Yon.

8.) The Peloponnesian War, Thucydides - It's Athens vs. Sparta in one of the ancient world's great struggles.

9.) Goodbye, Darkness, William Manchester - A marine's memoir of the island campaign against the Japanese in World War II.

10.) A Soldier's Story, Gen. Omar Bradley - A humble, straight-forward account of the European campaign during World War II by one of its top commanders; Bradley's nickname was the 'G.I.'s General.'

Picking up a few good books may also inspire service members to go back and open up some school textbooks. Active-duty service members, along with Army National Guardsmen and Army Reserve Soldiers on active-drilling status, qualify for 100% US Military Tuition Assistance, which pays up to 100% of tuition and fees for schooling. That means service members get a $4500 a year military education benefit that can be used for certificate programs or toward university degree.

Service members should also keep in mind the option of Military distance learning, which these days means 100% online courses, allowing even deployed service members to take advantage of education while they serve. Military elearning can help service members earn promotion points as well as prepare for their civilian career after they separate from the military.
Allied Schools www.education4military.com

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Posted by Allied @ 7:54 AM • 0 comments

Service members should keep in mind that the we're closing in on the end of the fiscal year 2008 and Tuition Assistance (TA) funds for the year will run dry on Sept. 30. If you haven't used your Tuition Assistance funds for this year, don't wait any longer.

U.S. Military Tuition Assistance pays up to 100% of a service member's tuition and fees for a military distance learning course.

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Posted by Allied @ 11:06 AM • 0 comments