Service to the Armed Forces, an American Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter program that provides support to military members, veterans and their families, opened a new satellite office on Davis-Monthan, June 13. In Southern Arizona, the SAF program offers essential human services to about 17,000 active duty personnel and members of all branches of the…

The Defense Department is asking for less money for military construction and more for energy conservation in its fiscal 2013 budget request, the deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment told a Senate panel March 21. Dorothy Robyn said her staff uses joint planning and rigorous analysis to ensure that the right mix of…

WASHINGTON – Pentagon officials continue to work to avoid the looming threat of sequestration, Frank Kendall, the new undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said here yesterday. Kendall spoke to Pentagon reporters in his office about sequestration, and the effect it would have on the department and the defense industrial base. Sequestration comes…

WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Calling it “a matter of fundamental equity,” Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta today signed a memorandum to the service secretaries and the Pentagon’s top personnel official extending benefits to same-sex partners of service members. Here is the secretary’s announcement of the policy change: “Seventeen months ago, the United States military ended the…

WASHINGTON – When a new policy takes effect — probably this summer — schools will need to have a signed memorandum of understanding to participate in the Defense Department’s Tuition Assistance Program, Pentagon officials said. A 90-day extension that expired March 30 allowed DOD officials to work with stakeholders to address issues associated with the…

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is nearing completion of an agreement with post-secondary schools to ensure service members have the best possible experience in continuing their education, a senior Pentagon official said today. The department will release later this summer a memorandum of understanding to be signed by colleges, universities and technical schools to make…

WASHINGTON (AFNS)  — If sequestration is triggered next week, unpaid furloughs for civilian Defense Department employees will start in late April, Pentagon officials said here today. Sequestration is a provision in budget law that will trigger major across-the-board spending cuts March 1 unless Congress agrees on an alternative. DOD Comptroller Robert F. Hale told reporters…

WASHINGTON – Service members and Defense Department civilian employees who are eligible for the Thrift Savings Plan will soon have a new Roth option for retirement savings under the program, defense finance officials announced today. The change will allow participants to contribute after-tax dollars to the federal government-sponsored retirement savings and investment plan, according to…

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas — Department of Defense civilian employees eligible for the Thrift Savings Plan may begin to contribute to the Roth TSP. This new feature allows members to contribute on an after-tax basis and receive tax-free earnings when they withdraw funds from their TSP accounts. Air Force serviced civilians may make elections…