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Have you filed yet? If not, here’s a resource for you!

The Military OneSource Free Tax Filing Service Is Here

With tax season starting to gear up, Military OneSource is sending this special announcement to inform you about our free tax filing services!

Military OneSource is pleased to announce the return of the Military OneSource version of the H&R Block At Home® Online tax preparation service. If you are eligible under the Military OneSource program, you can complete, save, and file your 2011 federal and up to three state returns online for free with the H&R Block At Home® tool.

To access this free service, you must start your return from the Military OneSource H&R Block At Home® link. Once you click the link you will be required to log in to Military OneSource (new users will need to create a Military OneSource account). From the login page you will be directed to a site containing additional information on tax preparation, including the link to the Military OneSource free H&R Block At Home® service.

Why file online with H&R Block At Home®? It is fast, secure, and free! You can also check the status of your efile, be confident that your calculations are 100 percent correct or H&R Block pays the penalties and interest, and know that H&R Block is by your side in the rare event of an audit.

You can also prepare and file your taxes at your own pace. Once you create your own secure log-on user ID and password through the Military OneSource H&R Block At Home® service, you will be able to save, close, and return as often as you need to. This means that if you don’t have all of your tax documents ready when you start, you can stop, gather what you need, and return as often as necessary.

This is the same free tax preparation program you may have used through Military OneSource before. If you created an H&R Block at Home® account last year, your login credentials for that account will still work and you will be able to access last year’s personal tax information. However, to ensure you receive the free service, you must first login to H&R Block At Home® through the Military OneSource link.

If you have questions about this tax service or about preparing your own tax returns, please call 1-800-342-9647 and ask to speak with a Military OneSource tax consultant. Trained tax consultants are available 7 days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., EST. For online assistance with questions about deductions, exemptions, and filing deadlines, send inquiries to TaxQuestions@militaryonesource.com.

Another great resource! Pass it along!

University of Denver Offers Help to Military Couples

DENVER - Military couples often are dealing with relationship issues related to military service such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), deployment and combat exposure as well as issues common to all married couples - problems expressing feelings, fighting too much, time together, money, children, lack of fun, support, & sex. The University of Denver’s Psychology Department is opening up a new therapy service focusing on helping military couples improve their relationships.

The Military Couples Clinic will offer state of the art, research-based, services for couples centered around the internationally-known Prevention and Relationship Education Program (PREP), the original program used in the Army’s successful Strong Bonds initiative and the basis for a new Air Force program called “Got Your Back.”

Eligibility for services includes any couple with at least one partner currently serving or having served in any branch of the military (active, reserve, guard). Educational workshops also may be available.

“Couples who come to our clinic will learn to talk about feelings that need to be expressed and heard,” says Dr. Howard J. Markman, director of the Military Couples Clinic and co-author of the best-selling book, Fighting For Your Marriage. “Couples will learn to express important feelings in a safe way, improve their ability to talk without fighting about important issues, to solve problems as a team, to be more supportive, to understand commitment, sacrifice and forgiveness, to have more fun, be better friends and restore sensuality and romance.”

Markman and his colleagues have been doing research on helping couples in the Army for more than 10 years, and the findings from these studies provide a strong research base for the services offered at the clinic.

“Research shows 11-20 percent of veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom suffer from PTSD, often with negative effects on marriage,” Markman says. “Couples therapy can help marriages and is associated with reduced PTSD symptoms.”

The Military Couples Therapy Clinic is currently accepting appointments and can be reached at (303) 871-3306. All fees for services are based on the ability to pay. In addition to military couples, services also are available to first responder couples, where one partner or both are engaged in services that protect our nation and neighborhoods, including police officers, firefighters, homeland security, FBI, CIA and other security and defense agencies. SOURCE LINK

On the topic of intimacy, I wanted to also post this resource. Reintegration is a joyous and stressful time! Pass this along to any families you know who are facing reintegration joy (and stress!)

Reintegration is about more than coming home. It is about resuming and establishing relationships that provide pleasure, comfort and support. Intimacy — the capacity to enjoy closeness and sexual togetherness — is an important part of reintegration whether a service member is single, married or married with children. Intimacy enhances personal health, relationship health and family health.

Many service members returning from deployment will experience what are referred to as “invisible injuries”. Invisible injuries include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), depression and anxiety that can result from combat exposure. Sometimes alcohol, tobacco and drug misuse, as well as impulsive or violent behavior can compound these conditions. All of these problems can compromise intimacy reducing one’s ability to enjoy pleasurable relationships and sexual activity. LINK TO SOURCE AND PDF RESOURCE

I know that for those of you married to combat veterans with PTSD, TBI or other war related injuries (seen and unseen) this is no shocker, but for those who are unaware of the connections it’s important to understand. If you are experiencing these problems in your own marriage it’s vital to recognize the symptoms, understand the problem, and work together to find a solution. This is something married couples can survive and even flourish through. It takes hard work and perseverance!

DoD studies intimacy issues among combat vets

EXCERPT

Brannan Pedersen was 16, attending a young activists meeting in Alabama when she first spotted Caleb Vines, then 19, an enthusiastic organizer who wanted to change the world.

She fell hard: Three years after their first date, they married. Later, when they watched the World Trade Center fall, Caleb pledged to join the fight: He enlisted in the Army infantry.

He deployed twice to Iraq — a 15-month stint extended by the Battle of Fallujah, then a year filled with bomb blasts and small-arms fire. At one point, a rocket-propelled grenade blasted him through the door of a Humvee.

But he came home seemingly unscathed. During their first reunion, Brannan recalled, Caleb was distant but affectionate. The couple conceived a child.

After his second deployment, however, Caleb changed from easygoing and enthusiastic to withdrawn, angry and forgetful.

Diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder and, later, traumatic brain injury followed. It provided an explanation for his symptoms, but that didn’t ease the emotional — and physical — gulf between the couple, Brannan said.

“Guys with PTSD have a much harder time being physically close, let alone emotionally close. And from a woman’s perspective, you almost require that closeness to be invested in a sexual relationship,” Brannan said. READ MORE

Sometimes finding childcare is the hardest thing to fine when you PCS… and it’s often something families need right away. Here’s a great resource. The following article is from the Air Force site, but this is open to all branches of the US Armed Forces:

Free program helps Airmen find local sitters

by Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes
Defense Media Activity
SOURCE LINK

1/11/2012 - FORT GERORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) – Airmen now have another option when it comes to choosing a caretaker for their children, pets and homes and even tutors.

Sittercity helps connect people who need babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, tutors, housekeepers and adult caregivers with reputable and trusted service providers. Now, the Department of Defense has funded the membership cost so service members can take advantage of the program for free.

The original vision of Sittercity when it was founded back in 2001 was to create a place on the internet where parents could go to find that perfect care provider for their family, said Melissa Anderson, the president of Sittercity’s Corporate Division.

“We invented the concept of matchmaking for care providers,” she said.

The program allows military parents to post jobs with the requirements of what they consider to be the perfect sitter. They can include specifications like sitters who have access to military installations or military-subsidized care providers.

Once the job is posted, sitters apply directly to that job. The parents receive targeted cover letters through email explaining the sitters’ qualifications. Then, the parents can choose from the applicants which one best suits their needs. The communications go directly through the site until they feel comfortable enough to connect with them personally.

“On average, each job post gets 11 applicants,” Anderson said. “We connect a military family with a care provider every seven minutes.”

Tech. Sgt. Tanya King, of the 446th Airlift Wing at Joint Base McChord-Lewis, Wash., and her family took advantage of the service after they made a permanent change of station to a place where they had no family members.

“It was pretty simple,” King said of her experience using Sittercity. “There are thousands of childcare providers on the site, and you can narrow them down to specific things. Being military, there are times when our child is sick we can’t just leave work to go pick up our kid from daycare. We were able to find sitters who would watch our daughter if she was sick and would come out to the base and pick her up. We also have a dog, so one of our criteria was that the sitter would be willing to care for the dog too.”

The care itself is not free.

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