Defense Department announces new initiative to provide debt counseling for service members

Military personnel in financial trouble could find it difficult to concentrate on their critically important duties, so the Defense Department recently announced several new programs to help service members consolidate debt and stay out of fiscal minefields.

A program analyst for the Pentagon’s military community and family policy office, Marcus Beauregard, said that "anything that will help a service member to do their job better and feel more prepared for their duty in taking care of their finances is certainly beneficial. The most important thing we can do is to educate service members and their families, make them aware of things that may be a problem, [and] make them aware of how to deal with transactions."

Beauregard urged military personnel to view businesses and organizations that claim to have the service member’s best interests at heart, as some of these can offer genuine services to them, while others are scam artists looking for a quick buck.

Other studies have shown that many veterans benefit from job skills training and career placement programs, which can help them stay out of debt after their service.