Military Spouse 101: A to Z Terms You Need to Know

As a Military spouse, there is a whole new language to learn. This series of articles will provide an alphabetical approach to explaining a few terms Military Spouses will find helpful in their day to day adventure with Military life. These terms are certainly not all inclusive. They reflect ones which would pertain to the spouse or family more than just to the military member. Starting with A... A is for Appropriations Act, AAFES, Allotments, and Allowances.

Military Spouse Letter A Term 1: Appropriations Act: Each Fiscal year the House, the Senate and the President must agree on and approve an annual Appropriations Act. Why does this affect you as a Military Spouse? The appropriations act is where each military pay increase is approved. The Appropriations Act is what funds the Authorizations Act. Without getting into a lot of detailed explanation, the Authorizations Act essentially says "yes you can have it" and the Appropriations Act says "here is the money to fund it." As a Military spouse pay amount is obviously important to you. Military pay raises are included in the fiscal year appropriations act. Fiscal years begin in October of each year so the appropriations act generally is approved at some point during the month. Pay raises take effect on 1 Jan so even if there is a delay in the act being approved it typically is not long enough to delay the pay raise. Each Years act can be found by searching for Fiscal Year XXXX (change the Xs to the year it will be in Jan) Defense Appropriations Act. This search should give you a link to the language of the act. For FY 2009, the Jan 1 raise for military members is 3.9%.

Military Spouse Letter A Term 2: AAFES: AAFES is an acronym for Army Air Force Exchange Service. An Army or Air Force Military spouse may know their exchange as the Post Exchange (Army) or Base Exchange (Air Force). Military spouses may shop AAFES online using their sponsor's information to log in. AAFES online also offers shopping with additional stores through a virtual exchange mall. AAFES online allows you to view sales flyers, print food coupons, and see movie schedules.

Military Spouse Letter A Term 3: Allotments: Allotments allow military members to set up deductions from their paychecks to have money automatically sent to another location. Military spouses need to be aware of how allotments work in order to know how normal pay checks are affected by them. Allotments may be used to banking institutions for car payments or mortgages, for dependent support or for things like savings bonds purchases or life insurance payments. Allotments may also be mandatory instead of voluntary such as child support or back taxes. Allotments are deducted from the monthly pay amount with the balance of pay split between the two pay dates for the month.

Military Spouse Letter A Term 4: Allowances: Allowances are identified on Defenselink.com as being the second more important element of military pay with Basic Pay being the most important. Allowances are monetary amounts in the military pay which are provided for specific needs. For instance, Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) is provided for food for those military members who are not authorized dining facility privileges. Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is provided to those who do not occupy Government Quarters. Allowances are for often non-taxable providing an additional benefit to the military family.

As a Military Spouse learning the terms which relate to Military life is important. Take the time to research subjects which are not clear and continue looking until you have a good understanding of the terms you are faced with.