Professional Opportunities for Military Spouses

“As the numbers of our married men and women in uniform have grown and as the military missions have become more complex and dispersed, their spouses have made countless personal sacrifices to support the armed forces.” – President Ronald Regan 1984

…1percent of Americans may be fighting our wars; 100 percent of Americans need to be supporting our troops and their families -100 percent. - President Barack Obama 2011

Our Presidents’ quotes ring true now more than ever.  The current operational tempo of our Armed Forces is placing significant stress on military families.  Repeated deployments, relocations, and assignment uncertainty are straining over 700,000 military families.  One of the unaddressed difficulties of being a military spouse is the employment disparity between military spouses and their civilian counterparts.  According to a 2009 RAND study, Army spouses are three times more likely to be unemployed, will seek work longer, and will be paid less on average than a civilian counterpart.  You can show your appreciation for the sacrifices our service members and their families are making by hiring a military spouse, connecting a spouse with an employer, and supporting In Gear financially.

Challenge

For the military spouse, the ability to work is altered by the transient nature of the lifestyle.  The demands on modern military spouses often make it difficult for these individuals to seek, obtain, and sustain professional careers commensurate with their level of education and experience.  The overall wage gap between civilian and military wives is 42 percent.

Opportunity

In Gearseeks to promote self-sufficiency and satisfaction with the military family lifestyle and improve the standard of living for military families through the professional development of military spouses thereby increasing military retention and national defense readiness.

Military spouse employment has been unaddressed for too long, and it requires an innovative solution.  In Gear is a nonprofit organization started by military spouses who want to create a place where other career-minded spouses can gain information about how to obtain a successful career compatible with the military lifestyle.  In Gear seeks to expand the impact of existing government programs by addressing specific needs of spouses whose professional career trajectories are interrupted by frequent moves and deployments.  We provide a forum for community support, information-sharing, and mentoring that addresses the unique challenges and strengths of the career-minded military spouse. 

 Objectives:

• Promote and advance the employment, career development, and professional satisfaction of military spouses through the exchange of accurate information, online and on-ground community building efforts, and advocacy programs targeting professional military spouse issues 
• Promote the military spouse as a valuable workforce resource and remove barriers to military spouse achievement in employment and career advancement, regardless of occupation or profession 
• Support, publicize, and augment Department of Defense, Coast Guard, and service-independent programs that assist military spouses in the advancement of their employment and career development objectives 
• Increase military retention, a key component of national defense readiness, by helping to promote self-sufficiency and satisfaction with the military family lifestyle and an improved standard of living for military families.