Army spouses, watch your mailbox: You may be one of 50,000 civilian spouses of active-duty soldiers chosen to take part in an Army-sponsored survey about how well the service is meeting your needs.
If you’re chosen via the random, scientific sampling to participate in the “Today’s Army Spouse” survey, you’ll receive a postcard with directions and an access code. The postcards are being mailed in early January.
The survey will remain open through February, said Carra Sims, project lead and a senior behavioral scientist at Rand Corp., a nonprofit research organization which is administering the survey.
It should take about 20 minutes to complete. It asks about the types of problems you’ve encountered in the previous year, whether you’ve contacted anyone for assistance, and whether you were satisfied with the help you received. It also asks about the kinds of military and nonmilitary support available to you.
“Responses will be kept confidential, so this is a way for spouses to speak frankly to senior leadership,” Sims said. “The feedback will allow Army leaders to find out how well the Army is doing in meeting the needs of service members’ spouses and families, and where changes need to be made.”
Participation is voluntary, but Army officials want the most participation possible to help them determine the views of different types of spouses in different locations.
Head here for more information about the survey, or to log in if you’ve received an invitation to participate.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
