MILITARY AND FAMILY READINESS

Military and Family Readiness is a network of programs and services operated by the Defense Department and other federal, state, and community-based agencies and organizations. The Military Family Readiness System promotes military family well-being by offering programs and services that enhance family readiness and quality of life. Collaboration and integration across the system promotes positive outcomes for service members and their families across the domains of military family readiness, including career, social, financial health and community engagement.

The Military Family Readiness System supports every service member and family member, regardless of activation status or location, in person, by phone and online. To locate your nearest center, please go to the Military and Family Center Locator.

For more information on services we provide, please select from one of the buttons below.  

Military and Family Readiness Services

Family Support

Child and Youth Programs The Department of the Air Force Child and Youth Programs assist military and civilian personnel in balancing the competing demands of the mission and family life by catering programs and services for eligible children and youth from birth through 18 years of age.

Spouse State Licensure Moving across state lines creates barriers to career longevity, and those obstacles are heightened by state and career-specific professional license regulations. Licensure portability refers to the ability to transfer a professional license from one state or U.S. jurisdiction to another so that a professional can continue their occupation after relocation.

Spouse Employment Fact Sheet Accelerating the development of interstate compacts to support professional license reciprocity for Military Spouses. 

Commissary Fact Sheet We are changing the commissary funding model to ensure the Defense Commissary Agency can provide the greatest savings possible to patrons. This action cuts grocery prices at the register to achieve at least 25% savings for commissary patrons.

Moving Fact Sheet The Military OneSource PCS & Military Moves page connects service members and their families to everything they need to master PCS moves, from making a move request to getting support for all areas of their move. 

Dislocation Allowance Fact Sheet Dislocation Allowance is a single payment intended to cover the cost service members incur when relocating their household for a PCS move. 

Expanded Military Parental Leave The Expanded Military Parental Leave Program builds on the Defense Department’s support of military families by streamlining and enhancing parental leave.

MILITARY AND FAMILY NEWS

  • Yoga for the soul

    At sunset, as the ocean glimmers with fading sunlight, an Airman places down her yoga mat to help relax after a long day at work, strengthening her stability in mind and body.

  • Five Minutes to Thrive: The Truth About Suicide

    Many of us have known someone who has attempted or completed suicide. This may be in part due to the fact that suicide rates have risen dramatically over the past 30 years, such that it has now become the 2nd-leading cause of death for Americans age 15-34, outranking both homicide and physical

  • Malmstrom leadership hosts quarterly Spouses’ Town Hall

    Leadership placed a suggestion box for families who had ideas to improve the base’s operations Jan. 27, 2020, at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. Every quarter, base leadership host a town hall for spouses to voice concerns or suggestions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tristan Truesdell)

  • Five Minutes to Thrive: What makes a good leader: Compassion

    This week is the final installment of our series on the key pillars of character required ofsuccessful leaders (nobility, humility, courage, compassion), as told by Lt. Gen Steven Kwast,AETC/CC. In that we are all leaders in some form, at some time, and with some people—andbecause the development of

  • AFMC launches new holistic resiliency effort

    The Air Force Materiel Command has launched a new initiative that aims to increase unit cohesion and connectedness by emphasizing a culture that holistically builds mental, physical, social and spiritual fitness across the enterprise. Driven by the Air Force Resilience Tactical Pause held in fall

  • Father. Warrior. Airman.

    A father picks up his combat gear; his daughter clings to his shoulders and her tiny face crinkles in confusion as he sets her down gently, then looks to his wife and chokes on the tears he hides as he turns away from his newly-formed family. This was a scene the family had become very familiar

  • VNG Airmen return home ahead of the holidays

    Balloons and signs were in full force at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport Dec. 20, 2019, as family members, wingmen and leaders welcomed home Airmen assigned to the Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Wing. Just in time to spend the holidays with their families, approximately 20

  • The chance to be greater

    Lee, born in Massachusetts, spent his childhood in numerous locations in the U.S. as part of a military family. His motivation to join the military increased as he observed his father serving 21 years in the Coast Guard.

  • Air Force commissions first female Muslim chaplain

    Chaplain candidate Saleha Jabeen was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Chicago at the Catholic Theological Union by the Air Force chief of chaplains, Dec. 18, becoming the first female Muslim chaplain in the Department of the Defense.