Military Spouse Commission Targets Childcare and Housing at Inaugural Meeting

For years, active-duty families have expressed their frustrations and concerns and have even participated in numerous surveys, only to end up with systemic issues still unresolved. These problems can have a significant effect on military readiness and recruitment. In the 2025 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, 77% of respondents said military family support strongly affects future recruitment, and only 37% would recommend a member of their family to join. With the President's new Military Spouse Commission bringing military spouse concerns closer to the ‘power of the pen,’ the hopes are to fix these problems quickly.

On September 21, 2026, the Military Spouse Commission held its inaugural meeting to address the key issues impacting the military families’ daily lives, financial security, and overall military readiness.

The commission is made up of spouses of the Department of Defense's most senior leaders and has about 544 years of active-duty spouse experience combined.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attended the inaugural meeting, stating, “A lot of things that need to happen in our department happen with the stroke of a pen from either your husbands...and if not, up at the office of the Secretary of War level, and we are prepared to wield that pen.”

During this meeting, the commission explained that they had received thousands of messages through the public portal in the following areas: education & childcare, spouse employment, deployment support, housing, and healthcare. Each of these issues was discussed among the members, and recorded statements from military spouses were heard as well.

What Concerns Is the Commission Aiming to Address?

Following the formal commissioning of members by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, the Executive Director, Hon. Desiree Sayle, invited the members to introduce themselves and share some of their personal experiences and concerns as active-duty military spouses, as well as top concerns they have heard about from other military spouses.

During the meeting, it was noted that thousands of messages, predominantly from active-duty military spouses, poured into the public portal on The President’s Military Spouse Commission's website. Here are the concerns that the commission is aiming to address.

Nobody Prepared You for Military Life

But we can help. Join over 100k spouses already getting the advice, resources, and military tea they need to thrive.

​

Subscribe

Always free. Unsubscribe anytime.

Education and Childcare

About 40% of the messages received from the public portal (709 messages) were addressing issues related to education and childcare. Specifically, finding reliable and affordable care was a consistent top issue. Furthermore, active-duty spouses commented on long wait lists, difficulty finding safe care off base, and places that can provide care for nontraditional hours.

During the introductions, Shannon Nordhaus, spouse of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, emphasized that “guard members often lack access to installation child care and must find weekend care on their own.” An Army Reservist, who is also a mother, a full-time contractor, and business owner, mentioned her appreciation for the Department of Defense’s effort and investment in spouse employment and education initiatives and programs, but “they all depend on one critical piece that is often overlooked: accessible, affordable, and reliable child care.”

She continued, saying, “It is nearly impossible to confidently accept a job, enroll in school, or commit to professional opportunities when child care is uncertain.”

A Blue Star Families spokesperson stated, “In our 2025 survey, 68% of active-duty family respondents said two incomes are vital to their family's well-being, and child care cost and availability remain among the top challenges families report."

At the prompting of the Military Spouse Commission, Chairwoman Hegseth announced that the “DOW is expanding fee assistance eligibility and faith-based child care providers”, and they are “launching a five-location pilot program that extends fee assistance funds to faith-based license-exempt child care providers.” The locations are in Arlington, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Naval Base Kitsap, and Naval Base Point Loma. If successful, the intention is to expand the program.

Employment

Out of all the incoming messages, 500 were received from military spouses regarding employment. With each permanent change of station, spouses mentioned having to constantly rebuild their careers, resulting in families losing out on income.

“For a service member, a PCS move is often a reflection of career progression,” Cathy Bentivegna, spouse of the Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force, said.

“For a military spouse, that same move can mean starting over.”

Angie Perryman, spouse of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, wants to focus on this issue. After highlighting the results showing that 20% of civilian spouses are unemployed from the 2024 Survey of Active Duty Spouses, Angie Perryman expressed that “unemployment does not capture the full costs,” because with every military-directed move “spouses can lose seniority, wages, retirement contributions, professional networks, licenses, and opportunities for advancement.” Her goal is to “make military-directed moves as close to career neutral as possible.”

Deployment Support

A quarter of the messages received through the Military Spouse Commission portal expressed the challenges they face as it pertains to deployment, like instantly becoming fully responsible for the household while being separated from their family support network back home and having no one to call in case of an emergency.

In response to combat operations earlier this year, Cindy Wilsbach, Spouse of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, recognized those families who have spoken out about feeling disconnected, and commented on how they “weren’t being reached out to by anyone” due to the lack of contact information.

In regard to the survey and deployment readiness support, Cindy Wilsbach emphasized how important it is

“that we equip the volunteers that we have given the responsibility to be liaison between our commanders and our families the information that they need to be able to connect to them.”

During the recent 2026 Air, Space, & Cyber Conference, a United Forces & Families panel that included Military Spouse Commission members Cindy Wilsbach, Dr. Doniel Wolfe, Debbie Schiess, and Cathy Bentivegna closed out the event with an important discussion on how vital spouse leadership outreach can be during deployment.

They highlighted the need to have accurate contact information available to the Air Force Commander’s Key Support Program (CKSP). When there is insufficient or outdated information during an emergency, the spouse is left in the dark, and the command response is stunted. In order to close the gap, the Air Force has renewed efforts to collect, maintain, and provide contact lists to unit Key Support Programs to better support military families and mission readiness.

Housing

One in four messages received were concerning housing, from insufficient Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates to unsafe living conditions. During the meeting, the commission played a recording of a shared experience from an Air Force spouse who recalled that, back in 2022, when the cost of living was rising, her husband joined the military “to provide stability and security” for their family. However, after being stationed at Langley Air Force Base, they decided to buy a home due to base housing mold concerns. After two years living in their home, they are considering “the possibility of selling and moving back into military housing because of the financial strain.”

She further explained that their BAH is not enough to cover their mortgage and living expenses. Spouse of the Acting Secretary of the Navy, April Cao commented about her experience living in Monterey, California, with an older area of housing that had black mold.

She recalled, “Families were willing to take those older homes, because their BAH would not cover what was in town.”

Because the cost of living is high in that particular area, April Cao said families “were having to compromise their family’s health over what they were able to get on the budget side.”

President Trump has requested in the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal another salary increase to combat the rising cost of living. The largest increase is 7% for E5 and below. The Military Spouse Commission will join together to request that Congress approve this increase in the budget.

After listening to the spouses’ experience, Chairwoman Hegseth specified from the DoD side, “the budget requests $62.2 million in new family housing construction projects and $53.4 million for operation and maintenance costs,” and additionally, “the Barracks Task Force announced a plan for $1.2 billion in new housing projects with $400 million in immediate renovations.” April Cao added that “the Navy and Marine Corps have been extremely aggressive, specifically in the last 100 days, about addressing a lot of these issues.”

Healthcare

Finally, issues regarding healthcare appeared in about 350 messages sent to the commission website, and they reflected the concerns over finding various healthcare providers, navigating TRICARE specialty care and services, and being forced to give up established care teams with each military-directed move, sometimes leading to delayed treatment.

Commission member Kimberly Weimer, spouse of the Sergeant Major of the Army, stated she “looks forward to finding a way to review the way our health care is managed and processed.” Kimberly Weimer wants to see if there is a way they can ”streamline the navigation between our military health care system, DHA, and TRICARE.”

A new and surprising issue that the commission was hearing about from spouses was military treatment facilities not allowing spouses to attend each other’s medical appointments. At the request of the commission, the Defense Health Agency issued a new policy, memorandum 26-056, that requires military treatment facilities to accommodate patient requests for the presence of a spouse or another attendant.

Yet, there is one issue, referred to as the Mature Minor Policy, that the commission cannot fix as quickly. However, the attention they brought to the DoD has resulted in new guidance being issued to allow parents to attend medical appointments with their children who are under the age of 18 in those states that do not restrict them.

What Is Happening Next After the First Meeting?

In a 2024 American’s Perspectives on Military Families Survey, 90% of the respondents favored military families more highly than other U.S. institutions, and a large portion of those Americans felt the United States had a responsibility to care for military families. Along with the care and attention of both the President and the Secretary of Defense, the Military Spouse Commission hopes to quickly address the challenges facing the military family. However, some issues, like the Mature Minor Policy, will require legislative action, and the commission is hoping to come together and lobby Congress to get it approved.

After listening to the inaugural meeting, a Blue Star Families spokesperson said that they are optimistic.

"Inviting thousands of spouses to share their experiences, bringing those voices directly to the White House, and committing to a regular meeting schedule are strong starting points," they said.

Also noted in the 2025 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, 68% of active-duty family respondents agreed that two incomes are fundamental to their family's well-being. So, Blue Star Families recommended,

"One practical step Congress can take now is passing the bipartisan Improve and Enhance WOTC Act (S.3265/H.R.6231), Blue Star Families' top legislative priority. It would restore and extend the Work Opportunity Tax Credit through 2030, strengthen the credit, and for the first time make it available to employers who hire military spouses. Employers who hire veterans have long benefited from this credit. Extending it to spouses is a simple, bipartisan way to make hiring a military spouse an easy decision."

The Military Spouse Commission website portal invited spouses to continue contributing their stories and perhaps share recommendations for the overall goal of strengthening military families. Additionally, the commission encouraged spouses to go through the commission website to address specific needs or concerns so they can act on them, like the nearly 100 cases identified by their White House team that required immediate attention.

This is what the Military Spouse Commission was designed to do. As Cindy Wilsbach put it, the President gave them “marching orders,” and they “are ready to get to work.” Every month, they will livestream their meetings to discuss important work being done to tackle these issues that affect military families and readiness.