Hard duty

Say you're the wife of a sailor, or the husband of a soldier. Beyond the obvious anxieties and rewards of being married to military service, what's your life like?

Too often, says Laura Dempsey of Fort Drum, N.Y., service spouses' professional lives are needlessly complicated by state and federal rules designed for the 99 percent-plus of Americans who aren't on active duty. Dempsey, a civilian lawyer whose husband is in the Army, related in a recent article on the Other Opinion page that over the past 10 years she's moved seven times and taken four different bar exams.

Frequent moves come with the territory. Why should frequent bar exams?

And why, as Dempsey notes, should professionally licensed spouses such as teachers have to test for, and pay for, new licenses with each move? "In many professions," she says, "spouses get no credit for experience in other states, yet they must continue to pay annual fees to each state in which they are licensed."

Throw in other expense-adding factors -- such as the cost of preparing for multiple licensure exams -- and jobs for spouses fade from reach. Family finances suffer.

The bottom line, according to Dempsey, is that unemployment among military wives is nearly four times the national average. There's a $12,000 wage gap between college-educated civilian and military wives. And a military wife with a postgraduate degree is 20 per cent less likely to find full-time employment than a civilian wife.

Can anyone believe that's a good situation?

Dempsey suggests changes that could help. At present, service members can claim a permanent state of residence -- their spouses should be allowed to do so too. That would ease the hassles of frequent interstate moves. There could be regulatory and licensure exemptions to help working spouses. And in higher education, states could let family members pay tuition at in-state rates, far below the charges freshly moved families would otherwise have to pay.

That brings us to "the nation's most military-friendly state," as North Carolina -- home to Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, etc. -- proudly styles itself. And, at least when it comes to making provisions for in-state tuition, there are things to be proud of.

As noted on that UNC system Web site www.online.northcarolina.edu/military/, North Carolina grants in-state tuition rates to the families of service members stationed in the state. And if family members are enrolled in a UNC or community college program and the service member is transferred out of state, they remain eligible for in-state tuition here.

Also, we're one of eight states in a federal demonstration program called the Military Spouse Career Advancement Initiative. The $35 million program sets up accounts to cover expenses directly related to post-secondary education and training. The expenses include tuition, fees, books, equipment and credentialing and licensing fees for several fields, including teaching.

Based on Laura Dempsey's account, the program, which began in January, will fill a genuine need. Congress and the states should look for more ways to help.