Strengthening Military Community Connections with Amy Rodick

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Kalin Goble: Welcome to Practicing Connection, a podcast exploring the personal stories and collective practices that empower us to work together to improve our resilience and readiness in a rapidly changing world. Here to start the conversation are Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch.

Jessica Beckendorf: Hi, welcome to the Practicing Connection Podcast. I’m Jessica Beckendorf.

Bob Bertsch: I’m Bob Bertsch.

Jessica: Our guest today is Ms. Amy Rodick, Director of the Office of Military Family Readiness and Policy for the Department of Defense. As Director, Amy is responsible for leadership, management, and oversight of programs affecting military families, including military spouse career advancement, military family life learning, and the Office of Special Needs. Hi, Amy. Thank you so much for joining us on Practicing Connection.

Amy Rodick: Hello.

Jessica: What has the Office of Military Family Readiness and Policy been working on since we last talked in the spring?

Amy: I’m not even sure really where to start. There’s really been a lot across our deputate, which is Military Community and Family Policy. Probably the most recent and probably the most impactful is the new publication of the Secretary of Defense’s Taking Care of People memo, which came out 13 September of this year. Of course, it goes across those various areas, such as enhancing economic security, making moves easier, supporting military spouse careers, which is in my portfolio, quality housing and facilities, strengthening family support, and improving the overall quality of life. Really excited to be a part of that and the team has done a lot to try to advance military spouse career and education opportunities through the My Career Advancement Account Scholarship. That’s how we fit into that memo.

Jessica: What are you most looking forward to as an outcome from that?

Amy: That’s a great question. I would love to hear the testimonials from family members and service members that this policy, which has those different spokes, has impacted because I really do feel like the Department is putting in a lot of effort to try to enhance the quality of life of service members and their families. To get those anecdotal testimonies, I think, would be amazing.

If you’re listening to this, and you’re impacted by the most recent Taking Care of People memo, please reach out to your local family center and give us a plug. We’d love to hear about your experience and how it’s made a positive impact on your life and/or if there’s something else the Department can do to enhance your quality of life.

Bob: Amy, November is National Veterans and Military Families Month. I’m wondering how service providers out on installations in the communities can use this opportunity to connect with their families.

Amy: I’m super excited about celebrating National Veterans and Military Families Month. I had the opportunity this year to help shape the messaging behind this campaign. Yes, we’re focused on military service members and their families, but we’re also really focusing on those transitioning veterans and their families as well. This campaign is not only marketed to them but also to those community-based service providers, commanders, leaders who can help us direct military family members and service members to these resources.

What we try to do, which I hope is, again, impactful, is we try to focus on four carriers [unintelligible 00:03:50] throughout the month, right, and the first one being transitions. What resources on Military OneSource are directly related to military family transitions? We’ll give a spotlight on that. The second focus area was relationships. You’ll see, week two in November, how we try to pull up and elevate the Military OneSource content that’s focused on relationships. The third one is work-life balance. I’m not sure there’s ever a way to really balance those things.

Jessica: Can you please define that? What is that?

Amy: I have no idea.

[laughter]

Amy: I have no idea, but you’re always seeking equilibrium, but it never really quite presents itself, right? I like to think of it more of a ratio.

Jessica: Maybe the reward is the journey of seeking the equilibrium, right?

[laughter]

Amy: That’s one outlook. Sure. [chuckles] Yes, but so the third week will focus on work-life balance and how you can look at other opportunities to try to maybe add a little bit more life in your work-life balance. Again, I think of it more of a ratio. Then the last being financial security and economic security, which, as you know, was the focus of this year’s Military Family Readiness Academy, which, we partner with the USDA through the OneOp Cooperative Agreement, and that was a huge success just based on the early reports of that.

Jessica: It seems like, especially with some of the examples you gave, National Veterans and Military Families Month might also be an opportunity to engage with other organizations and service providers. Are there ways that service providers can use this month to start conversations in the community?

Amy: Absolutely. I would argue, don’t wait for November to go ahead and do that. [chuckles] It should be–

Jessica: Good point.

Amy: Yes. It’s like when you’re preparing for an inspection. It’s like an inspection is a process, it’s not an event, right? The same thing should be about providing support really to all people, but support for some of our military-connected families as well, because it can feel like an island of one out there, but knowing that the community does support you pays huge dividends in the prevention space and just supporting those military families and service members in your community.

I say, why wait? You don’t have to wait. Get out there. Think of ways that you can connect to military-connected people. Building strong relationships and partnerships doesn’t always just make sense half the time because of efficiency, but it’s necessary. We really do look to our local communities to provide that social support around our service members and families.

Jessica: It reminds me of, there’s a couple of different layers or levels that you might be connecting. One of them might be out in the community as part of a coalition where you’re working together with others to talk about things like a local housing crisis, which affects military families, from our point of view, and from the rest of the coalition members’ points of view, it might be just sort of an overall housing crisis. Having those relationships maybe before the military families that you’re working with need them, connecting on the one level, like maybe part of a coalition, but also, of course, connecting out in the community with the families themselves. It just makes me think of those different layers.

Amy: Yes, and I think the last time we sort of talked about the formal and informal networks, and so yes, coalitions are one way to really formalize those networks, but I feel like sometimes the less formal and those informal connections sometimes are– have bigger payoffs than one might believe.

Jessica: Oh, definitely. Definitely.

Amy: Yes.

Bob: We have been coming across stories like that, both formal and informal, as we’ve done our work on the podcast and with OneOp’s PowerUp Magazine, and it’s like seeing the Military Family Readiness System really in action. We talked with Monica Bassett, who is a military Spouse of the Year who started her own food pantry out of Fort Leavenworth, and talked with folks at Malmstrom Air Force Base. Lisa Sapp, shout out to Lisa and James who talked with us about what they’re doing to partner for early education in Great Falls, Montana. Those are just a couple of examples. There’s a lot of others. How do you feel about what’s happening on the ground to strengthen the Military Family Readiness System and build those relationships that we’re talking about to support military families?

Amy: That’s a great question. I feel optimistic, I feel enthusiastic, and I feel grateful. I feel grateful that communities are willing to extend themselves to our military-connected families and really try to be that family away from family for when they need it. You see this a lot of times in our OCONUS locations. You see very strong communities in some of our remote and isolated locations as well, but yes, I’m enthusiastic, proud, but I think most of all grateful, to be honest.

Although we have great examples, it’s again, one of those things like, man, we’d really like to hear from communities about those success stories. Please keep doing the great work that you’re doing to try to get those stories, highlight those, and let people know, hey, here are some ways that even something small can grow into something bigger. It’s that snowball effect, right? It will roll downhill, it will get speed, it will get traction, it will get support. From the Department’s perspective, we would like to recognize those communities who are supportive of the Military Family Readiness System.

Also in November, by chance, and some by planning, we’re planning to host a Health of the Military Family Readiness Center roundtable with the service leads and the Manpower and Reserve Affair leads, and we hope to engage in those discussions about how can we create stronger communities. Although it would be centered around the family support centers themselves, it will lend itself externally outside those installation-based centers. I’m really excited about those conversations that we’re going to have.

Bob: We talked about people just telling their stories and there’s obviously a lot that happens on social media. What role do service providers play in making sure that at the level in the Pentagon that you’re aware and the DASDs and the Secretary are aware of sort of these great things that are happening and also, things that might be challenges?

Amy: Yes, I think that’s something that we have to figure out, right? We have to develop the communication path for those great news stories to get up here. Because oftentimes they are highlighted at the local level, maybe even regionally they’re recognized, but they stay within that region or in that state. We have our defense state liaison officers who represent multiple states within certain regions. It’d be helpful if we can get good news stories brought up through those channels. We owe that to our community-based stakeholders, a path for those good news stories to get from the local level, through the regional, up to the Department of Defense that we can spotlight those. I’ll take that as a do-out. [chuckles]

Jessica: I love that.

Bob: I didn’t mean to assign you anything.

Amy: That is, I guess, my call to action for myself. [laughs]

Jessica: No, I really love that. I’ve attended a couple of my state’s ISFAC meetings and I have found those and the stories that are shared during those to be really impactful as well. Hey, if I hear of anything too, it would only be from one state, but.

Amy: That’s okay. You know what, once other states hear about what others are doing, it’s amazing how good news stories can spread like wildfire and it’s a good wildfire, right? It’s exciting, it’s movement, it’s encouraging.

Jessica: Yes, and I would say anyone listening to this podcast, you can also email us at [email protected] and we would be happy to pass that information on to Amy as well.

Amy: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Practicing Connections LinkedIn group, right?

Jessica: Yes.

Amy: That’s another opportunity where if you can paste your good news story, we will pull it, we will package it and we will spotlight that for you. Just, I’m going to try to create a path on the fly right now, but I think that that’s one, also one possible pathway for folks, not only to get linked into that but to also share those stories. There’s purpose and intent behind joining.

Bob: Amy, I think that it’s helpful to keep hearing about some of the changes that are happening sort of at the Department level because a lot has happened around taking care of our people and maybe not everybody is aware. You did mention some of the stuff with spouse employment, but is there anything else that sort of comes top of mind as, this is something that is new, whether it’s policy or program or service that you really want service providers to be aware of?

Amy: I think, again, as a military spouse, as somebody who’s worked this on the civilian side, but not so much on the military side, one of the, I think, more progressive outcomes of that Taking Care of People memo is allowing service members to access the healthcare flexible spending accounts. What does that mean? If you’re a dependent, you often have these co-pays associated with your healthcare.

As an example, I paid $89 to go to the dentist for my child. Now I can withhold taxable income through that healthcare flexible spending account and apply those out-of-pocket costs against this non-taxable income. What it hopefully does is it lowers your tax bracket, also puts that little cushion away for you to use in the event you do have a healthcare out-of-pocket expense, which, again, is becoming more and more prevalent just based on the healthcare system right now.

I really want not only service members and family members to be aware of that, but community members to also be aware and to inform folks that, hey, you know this opportunity is open to you. Go ahead on fsafeds.gov and register for a count and make your election. That typically opens up, once again, like in that November timeframe, they’ll have that open window where you can go in, register, elect your withholding amounts per year, and then you go ahead and it starts to just automatically deducting it from your paycheck. That’s probably, I think, one of the more progressive ones. Then, of course, the BAH and the BAS increases, which I know, again, as a spouse of a service member, that that was greatly appreciated, [chuckles] and we thank Congress for that.

Jessica: There’s been a lot happening, it sounds like. We are very curious. We love asking this question. What has been inspiring you lately?

Amy: Yesterday I attended the Association of the United States of the Army’s annual meeting at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. It was the first time in a long time, because I worked for Army before, that I was able to sit in the audience and just listen as a dependent, as a military family member, and also from the perspective of the DOD.

I’ll tell you what I’m inspired by is the commitment, the level of commitment and support that leaders are really willing to put themselves out there for the sake of recruitment and retention for all-volunteer force. It really is inspiring. It’s very easy to get set in your ways and just say, no, this is how the Army works, but you’re seeing a transformation and a cultural change across our services that is becoming more family-centric, that is putting not only the warfighter at the forefront of things but also the family members. To me, that’s inspiring.

Bob: Thanks so much for sharing that, Amy. Thanks for all the work you do in supporting our service members and their families. It’s greatly appreciated. We appreciate the time that you spent with us to share the message today.

Amy: Thank you for having me. If I had to have just one last closing comment, I would just ask everybody to think about what you can do in your local community to support and to strengthen your own Military Family Readiness System as small or as big as it can be. I’d also, once again, welcome you to share those testimonies, those good news stories through the Practicing Connections LinkedIn group. Yes, we want to hear from you and the feedback is so valuable.

I have never seen a group of leaders who are more committed to the quality of life of service members and their families than we have right now. I hope that continues and I encourage everybody to help encourage them to stay focused on, again, increasing that quality of life and providing that system of support around the men and women who are serving this great country.

Jessica: That was beautiful. That is also it for this episode. Thank you so much for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, click the share button in your podcast app to share it with a friend. We’d love to hear what you’ve been thinking about and what’s inspiring you. You can share that with us by clicking the send us a text message at the top of the description of this episode. If you’re listening on a computer, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also find us in the Practicing Connection LinkedIn group. We can’t wait to hear from you.

We’d like to thank our co-producer, Coral Owen, our announcer, Kalin Goble, Maggie Lucas, and Joyce Vaughn for their help with marketing, and Nathan Grimm who composed and performed all the music you hear on the podcast. We hope you’ll listen again soon. Until then, keep practicing.

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Kalin: The Practicing Connection Podcast is a production of OneOp and is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture, and the Office of Military Family Readiness Policy, US Department of Defense under award numbers 2019-48770-30366 and 2023-48770-41333.

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