military culture Archives - Military Parent Technical Assistance Center

OPSEC and Ham: Personal Information and Your Work with Military Families

Your work with military families can be rewarding, especially when they share information with you that’s useful for getting them the help they need. Military families don’t always share information freely, because they are told not to share personal details—or even the fact that they are a military family. This is because of Operational Security, often referred to as OPSEC. This article explains the ways OPSEC may limit what a military family can share, and how you can build trust with military families. Oh yes, and it explains the ham!

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Social Media Helps Military Families

As Parent Center staff, you realize how important networking opportunities can be in helping your own family or the families you work with. Military families, with their highly mobile life, can benefit from using Social Media to network and find out about a new location and supports available for their children with special needs. Social Media is a valuable tool to help military families get and stay connected to an ever changing environment, available services and resources.

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Just for Military Kids, Teens, and Their Families- Child and Youth Behavioral Counseling

Counselors can work with children who have special medical or educational needs, especially when those needs result in behavioral challenges. Learn about what this free, valuable resource can do for the military families you help.

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Contact an Ombudsman!

Want to connect with Navy families? Contact an Ombudsman!

Ombudsmen are an amazing resource for Navy families, and they can provide very practical assistance to Parent Centers. How Navy Ombudsmen can help you:

Communicate with Navy families about your Parent Center’s services
Help invite families to trainings and workshops both on and off the installation (they use social media extensively and communicate frequently)

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When a Military Parent Dies While Serving-Helping the Grieving Family

When a military parent dies while serving, their child may express their grief through behavior changes. This can be especially true for children who experience communication difficulties. Parent Center staff may get a call from the surviving parent when the child’s grief has a negative impact at school.

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Military OneSource: Info for Your Work and the Families You Serve

Read and download information without a login!

Military OneSource’s website is a treasure-trove of information and resources for military families, with updated and accurate information about military family support programs and resources for family members with disabilities. The latest website update makes it easy for anyone to read articles and download individual resources. If you want to order some of their military-friendly products, we show you how to log in!

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How to Use Military Rank and Insignia

The U.S. Armed Forces use rank and insignia to classify and categorize each service member from Private to General. Learning how to recognize and use these identifiers will help the Parent Center staff when working with installation service members.

What does this mean to the Parent Center? A member’s rank/insignia is where they are in the chain of command, what leadership responsibilities they have.

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Relocation (“PCS”) for Military Families-with handout!

Relocation affects many aspects of life for military families including housing, nonmilitary spouse employment, schools and activities for children, childcare, and services for children with special needs.

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Military Families: “Growing” Younger!

Military families are younger than their civilian counterparts, getting married and having their families at earlier ages. Why does this happen, and what does it mean when working with a military family?

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