Teenage children of NOAA Corps Officers are eligible to participate in the 2009 Operation Purple Leadership Camp.

These camps are open to all military children, ages 13-17 years old, with active duty or reserve component parents in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, as well as the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  Unlike the traditional Operation Purple summer camp program, selection for the Leadership Camp is not based on the parent’s deployment status.  Applicants may apply for both Operation Purple Summer Camp and Operation Purple Leadership Camp although acceptance to one or both is not guaranteed.

Click here for details.

Last week the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released the “Post-9/11 GI Bill; Final Rule.” This set of regulations governs the policy and procedures for the new GI Bill and offers clarification to many of the questions we have been asking for the last six months.

Highlights of the Final Rule include:

• Active Duty National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Public Health Service (PHS) Officers are now deemed eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill so long as they meet all other eligibility requirements. Unfortunately, NOAA and PHS Officers will not be able to transfer their benefits to a dependent.
• Some National Guard and Active Guard Reserve (AGR) are deemed ineligible for the Post-9/11 GI Benefit. The VA had determined there is no section of existing statute that will allow them to authorize eligibility for members of the National Guard or Active Guard Reserve serving under title 32, U.S.C.
• The Department of Defense (DoD) has yet to issue their final policy on transferability of benefits to dependents, however the general rule is the person receiving the transferred benefits will receive the same payment and benefits as the service member or veteran would have gotten if they kept it.

Moving this summer? If your NOAA kids are school-aged, you should know about the new Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. While the armed services have taken great leaps to ease the transition of personnel, their spouses and most importantly children, much remains to be done at the state and local levels to ensure that the children of military families are afforded the same opportunities for educational success as other children and are not penalized or delayed in achieving their educational goals by inflexible administrative and bureaucratic practices.

Specific impacts on military children include:

• Transfer of records
• Course sequencing
• Graduation requirements
• Exclusion from extra-curricular activities
• Redundant or missed entrance/exit testing
• Kindergarten and first grade entrance age variations
• Power of custodial parents while parents are deployed

Check out what’s happening in your state and help your child transition to their new school with this helpful information.