Rate this article:
Average rating:
Total votes: 1
by Christopher P. Michael
founder and chairman of Military.com
As more businesses and retailers seek ways to support the troops, more special deals and discounts are available for military personnel today than ever before.
Food, car rentals, long-distance telephone service, gifts, airline tickets -- you name it, and more likely than not there is a military discount for it somewhere. These special discounts on items and services extend to veterans, retirees and military family members. In addition, the military has its own shopping facilities that offer built-in savings for servicemembers, retirees and their families.
Discounts are always changing, but here are some choice Web sites for keeping up with the latest and best retail discounts for servicemembers, retirees, veterans and their families:
• Military.com
• MilitaryNow.com
• 4MilitaryFamilies.com
In fact, if you know of a discount that’s not listed, visit Military.com’s Military Discounts section and post it online so that others can take advantage, too. If your favorite retailer doesn’t offer a military discount, you might want to ask for one anyway. You will be surprised how often they say yes.
To take advantage of certain discounts, such as shopping at military commissaries and exchanges, you need a military identification card. This card also helps servicemembers, retirees and military families access many benefits, including healthcare.
Military Identification Cards
The military identification card is essential for unlocking benefits and discounts for you and your family members. Active-duty, reserve and guard members receive an ID upon entering service; retirees get a retiree ID card upon leaving service. To get military identification, military dependents need to register with the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS), the same system used to register service members and families for TRICARE health benefits.
To update your DEERS information in person, find the nearest uniformed services personnel office using the Defense Manpower Data Center’s Rapid Site Locator.
Getting ID Cards
Along with servicemembers, those who are eligible for military ID cards include the servicemember’s:
• Spouse (and certain former spouses).
• Unremarried widow or widower.
• Children at age 10 and unmarried children under age 21 (including adopted children or step-children).
• Children under age 10 may be eligible if they do not presently live with an eligible family member or under special circumstances, such as if they live with a single parent.
• Unmarried children between ages 21 and 23 who are attending college full-time.
• Unmarried children older than 21, who cannot support themselves due to a physical or mental incapacity that existed either prior to their 21st birthday or between the 21st and 23rd birthdays while a legal dependent as a full-time student. This must be established in DEERS, and the child must be dependent upon the servicemember for more than one half of his financial support.
Find your ID Card Office using the Defense Manpower Data Center’s Rapid Site Locator.
Under certain circumstances, other family members can be certified as legal dependents and be eligible for ID cards. Such cases may include unmarried children, parents or parents-in-law and an unmarried person in the servicemember’s legal custody for at least 12 months. Ask your personnel or legal assistance officer on your installation for advice if you have a special case.
If you need to apply for an ID card or update ID card information, you should go to a certified ID Card/DEERS verifying office. You will need to prove eligibility to get your family’s ID cards verified, so be prepared to show the following documents, as applicable:
• Marriage certificate (clear photocopy is acceptable).
• Children’s birth certificates (clear photocopy is acceptable).
• Social Security card (not just the number; a clear photocopy is acceptable).
• Certified copy of court order for adoption (if applicable).
• Certified copy of court order establishing paternity (for illegitimate children if applicable).
• Certified copy of death certificate(s) (if applicable).
• Certified copy of divorce decrees (if applicable).
• Statement from licensed physician or medical officer indicating physical handicaps and period of incapacity for dependent children older than 21 years of age.
• Certificate of full-time enrollment from school registrar for dependent children older than 21 and younger than 23 (if applicable).
[From the book The Military Advantage) by Christopher P. Michel. Copyright © 2006 by Military Advantage, Inc. All rights reserved, including right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
