WASHINGTON—The Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) is urging President Donald Trump’s newly created President’s Military Spouse Commission to make financial readiness a core part of its work, arguing that financial security is directly tied to military readiness.
According to DCUC, President Trump signed Executive Order 14415 on Monday establishing the commission to advise the administration on policies affecting military spouses and families. The commission is tasked with addressing issues including housing, employment, healthcare, education, childcare and deployment-related support.
DCUC President and CEO Anthony Hernandez said the commission presents an opportunity to strengthen military families while improving force readiness and retention.
“Military spouses are not peripheral to military service. They are indispensable mission partners,” Hernandez, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, said in a statement released by DCUC.
Importance of Financial Readiness
The organization said financial readiness should be evaluated alongside every major policy recommendation because many challenges facing military spouses—including permanent change-of-station moves, childcare shortages, housing costs, employment disruptions and fraud—have significant financial consequences.
According to DCUC, military families often face substantial upfront expenses during relocations before receiving government reimbursement, while spouses can experience extended income losses as they search for new employment or obtain professional licensing in a new state.
Findings Cited
DCUC also pointed to findings from the Department of Defense’s 2024 Active-Duty Spouse Survey, which found:
- 60% of active-duty spouses described their financial condition as comfortable, down 10 percentage points from 2019.
- 28% said their financial situation was worse than it had been 12 months earlier.
- Military spouse underemployment more than tripled the likelihood of low financial well-being.
- Financial well-being influenced whether spouses supported servicemembers remaining on active duty.
“These are not abstract household statistics. They are military-readiness indicators,” DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak said in the statement.
DCUC is asking the commission to formally include the organization and defense credit unions as subject-matter experts through subcommittees, listening sessions or advisory groups authorized under the executive order.
Recommendations Shared
Among its recommendations, DCUC said the commission should:
- Make financial readiness a formal workstream and evaluate the financial impact of all major policy recommendations.
- Include defense credit unions and other financial readiness experts in policy development.
- Incorporate military-serving credit unions into deployment, relocation, fraud prevention and emergency response planning.
- Promote military spouse employment, entrepreneurship, homeownership, emergency savings and access to responsible credit.
- Develop measurable financial resilience benchmarks alongside retention, morale and family stability metrics.
Open to Meeting
The organization also said it would welcome meetings with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, commission leaders and Defense Department personnel officials to discuss its recommendations.
According to DCUC, defense credit unions serve active duty servicemembers, National Guard and Reserve members, veterans, military retirees, civilian personnel and military families worldwide, providing financial counseling, fraud prevention, emergency assistance, homeownership programs and other services tailored to military households.
The White House has said the commission’s mission is to improve the quality of life of military spouses and families as a means of strengthening military readiness. Under the executive order, the commission will provide recommendations to the president annually and engage directly with military spouses to identify common challenges, DCUC said.
