By Capt Nichole Timmreck When I was pregnant, I discovered how difficult it was to locate maternity uniforms. Living on an Army base I visited Military Clothing Sales only to be told that because the Army issues maternity OCPs, they had none to sell me and I would have to drive to an Air Force base an hour and half away to buy maternity OCPs. When I got to Clothing Sales at the Air Force base, they only had a size large in the maternity pants that I needed. I guessed that I would need a size Small, and the AAFES representative located a store that could ship the size Small to me. “How could it ..read more

Tricare’s implementation of the congressionally-directed doula demonstration falls short of its intended purpose and results in disparate and inequitable treatment of servicewomen and women Tricare Prime beneficaries. The FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Section 746, directed Tricare to establish a doula and lactation support demonstration project to study the impacts of doula and lactation support on maternal-fetal outcomes. A doula is “a professional labor assistant who provides physical and emotional support to you and your partner during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpar ..read more

On October 27, 2021, the General Services Administration, Office of Government-wide Policy published guidance to all federal agencies subject to the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) on the applicability of the “special needs” provision of the FTR (FTR, Part 301-13). GSA clarified that “special needs” travel may include reasonable accommodations for employees who breastfeed. GSA went so far as to say that “Agencies may determine that the special need means that a spouse, nanny, or other attendant can accompany the employee on the trip at Government expense in order to watch the child in between ..read more

Breaking Barriers: DoD Coverage of Human Milk Transport Costs While on Official Travel Written by Samantha Sliney & Tahina Montoya As we find ourselves closing up National Breastfeeding Month (August), it is only fitting that we highlight an issue that still plagues servicewomen and federal female civilian employees: lack of support for breastfeeding mothers. While records of women serving in the military (in both ambiguous and official capacities) stretch as far back as the American Revolution, change has been slow in providing support to women who serve our great Nation. Despite serving ..read more

ABOUT THIS EPISODE As a mom and military member we all may feel like we can “do it all.” But if doing it all means getting little to no sleep, working long hours or on the weekend, or not spending the amount of quality time with your spouse or children you desire…don’t worry you are not alone. Jannell MacAulay was going through these actions when one day she hit her breaking point. From that point on she was on a mission to find how someone can be a high-achieving leader in a high stress environment while not sacrificing family or self-care. Listen in to her experience and what has lead her t ..read more

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Women have not always been allowed to apply for any position in the Military. In 2013 the SECDEF stated that over 200,000 combat coded positions would be open to women. In this podcast we have one of the team members who helped make this happen. Listen in as she tells why the initiative came about and how they executed the order over two years with research and analysis to build standards of operation for each job. MEET VERONIA Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Senia served in the United States Air Force for over 21 years. She served over four years in the Directorate of Milita ..read more

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Have you ever been asked to travel, deploy, or PCS while you were still breastfeeding? Did you go because you felt like you had to for your career? Or did you happen to turn it down because there was not a viable means for you to get your breastmilk home for your child? In this episode we have gathered some of the representatives across the services who are pursuing to change the Joint Travel Regulation’s wording so that the DoD would be required to reimburse the transportation of breastmilk to help both mom and baby. TRANSPORT YOUR MILK WITH MILK STORK Click HERE for the ..read more

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Christen Anderson, a Coast Guard and dual mil veteran shares her heart grabbing story of how her business, Altitude Accessories, started and why she chooses to support military members in showing unit support every day. Check it out! THE BEGINNING… It started with a bow in a Japanese NICU….      From early 2017 to 2020, my husband and I were stationed in Japan. To sum up our time there…our first baby was born, my husband deployed…a lot, and I worked tirelessly at obtaining my Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications.     Hours before we were ..read more

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Listen in as an Army woman and mom, Christian K, tells her breastfeeding journey in the workplace for both of her children. She shares her story to not only let you know what you may encounter and that you are not alone; but, she shares it to make the issue known and to assist the current initiative to include verbiage in the JTR that would initiate breastmilk transportation to be a reimbursable expense! Spread the word! WHY GET BREATMILK TRANSPORTATION ADDED TO THE JTR? Between 2017-2019 there have been quite a few changes to policy in regards to enabling pregnancy and pos ..read more

ABOUT THIS EPISODE Maria is an expert in coaching parents how to prepare their children to be able to face anxiety and traumatic events and come out the other side unscathed. Listen in as we go over how military children are affected by traumatic events and how you can ensure they remain resilient through all the moves, deployments, and time apart from family. MEET MARIA Maria heals trauma by breaking its cycles. Through parent coaching, she empowers parents, caregivers, and educators to curb a child’s challenging behavior and deeply connect while tending to their own needs through self-care ..read more