Military Family

From the DW:
"German Defense Minister von der Leyen seeks to make Bundeswehr more family friendly"

Germany’s new defense minister has said she plans to introduce reforms to the armed forces to make it easier for soldiers to combine their career with family life. The minister is herself the mother of seven children. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview published in this Sunday's edition of the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, needed to do more to cater to its soldiers who are also mothers or fathers. "My aim is to make the Bundeswehr to one of the most attractive employers in Germany," von der Leyen said. German soldiers "love their job, but they also want their marriages to last and lead a happy family life," she added. The Bundeswehr has been an army of volunteers since Germany ended conscription in mid-2011.  One of the key areas in which she said she hoped to introduce improvements was in child care.

"We need a flexible child care system for the Bundeswehr," she said, adding that she would seek to expand the use of care givers, particularly those who can provide the service in off hours, when day-care centers are not available. "This is a particularly flexible form of child care, and we have the advantage of having room for this on many of our bases," she said.  Von der Leyen said she also saw the current practice of transferring soldiers between bases every few years as a significant strain on family life, and that in future this should be reduced to a minimum. "A career in the Bundeswehr should not mean that as a rule you are always on duty and have to move every few years," she said. "I plan to closely scrutinize the system of almost automatic transfers that occur every two or three years," she added. Von der Leyen, who is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, became Germany's first female defense minister when she was sworn in along with the rest of the new grand coalition cabinet last month. She took over the post from Thomas de Maiziere, who moved to the interior portfolio. Von der Leyen served under previous Merkel governments as labor and social affairs minister and the minister of family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth.

^ You can tell that the German Defense Minister is a female with these goals. With that said: it would be a good idea to do more for the families of soldiers. As a military brat, we moved around every few years and there was almost nothing for a kid to do on a military base except go to school. The US military pays soldiers money for each child they have and yet they (the military) doesn't have much for those kids - ie sports, after-school programs, etc (especially overseas.) While the US military doesn't provide much for military kids they do hold them up to higher standards. Anything they do is placed on their soldier parent and that affects they standing within their branch. If these German reforms work then maybe the US and other world militaries should follow-suit. ^

http://www.dw.de/german-defense-minister-von-der-leyen-seeks-to-make-bundeswehr-more-family-friendly/a-17356761