In the News

Ask a recruiter:

Army fixes barracks issue, after soldier turns to social media

JEFF SCHOGOL
Task & Purpose FEB 26, 2025

“Although the Army has urged soldiers to go through their chain of command and submit work orders to resolve barracks issues, time and time again such problems have not been fixed until soldiers have raised their concerns on online forums such as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or other platforms.”

“At Fort Liberty, North Carolina – soon to be renamed Fort Bragg – a soldier-run Instagram account posted complaints in early 2023 that uncollected garbage had been piling up on base for weeks. After news outlets covered the problem, the garbage was finally taken away.”

TRICARE – Giant Federal Program

Mar 1, 2025 NBC Chicago

Three-star general was in charge of TRICARE until Friday morning:

Defense Health Agency director retires abruptly

By Karen Jowers
Feb 28, 2025

Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland has retired as director of the Defense Health Agency, officials announced Friday.

“In a statement issued Friday, Dr. Stephen Ferrara, the acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said Crosland, who served in her post since January 2023, was “beginning her retirement” effective Friday morning.”

“DHA provides health care services to more than 9 million service members, military retirees and their families, including the military’s Tricare health plans.”

“This year, many military families have faced challenges with the transition of DHA’s Tricare contracts in the East and West regions. In a Jan. 31 message to beneficiaries in the West Region, where TriWest Healthcare Alliance now manages the contract, Crosland described steps DHA and TriWest have taken to address the issues.”

If you did your homework back in May of 2024, you remember:

“We are committed to keeping all of our military families informed about your health plan, your choices, and ensuring a seamless transition to new contractors,” said Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, director of the DHA.

Source:

TRICARE Newsroom May 15, 2024

Q&A: What To Know as New TRICARE Contracts Begin in 2025
By TRICARE Communications

Original deadline:

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the two regional contractors in the East Region and West Region are currently transitioning to these new contracts to ensure health care delivery is ready for all beneficiaries on Jan. 1, 2025.

Still no report of TRICARE up and running smoothly in 2025.

Does the new TRICARE contract include penalties for not running smoothly on Jan 1st? Do they all get paid the same whether customers are happy or not?

History of problems in 2025:

TRICARE “…a seamless transition…”

My TRICARE Concerns:

Make it easy to pay the annual fee.

Allow people to opt in for a mailed statement if requested.

Make a TRICARE account just as easy to use as my local PUD account.

I have been paying bills for decades. Used to mail in a check, now it is mostly done with online banking.

I always want the option to see a written statement.

No money should change hands/go to TRICARE without a written or emailed invoice.

TRICARE does not send out a bill. TRICARE wants you to set up an automatic payroll allotment. No, thank you.

I have never used a payroll allotment or a credit card subscription to pay recurring bills-still don’t want to. This ongoing clusterfuck with TRICARE is a very good example of why.

My local PUD mails out a statement each month. I could call them if I need to, but I never have a need. The PUD offers multiple payment options. Pick whatever one is best for you.

The PUD does not care about my user name and password. I need none of that to happily use their services for years on end.

TRICARE:

Want to see an updated statement of your payment history?

TRICARE has a customer portal page on the web. Tried to use this in the past. It is a tortuous process. Tricky to set up and update passwords over and again. They will treat you like a hacker, even if you have done nothing wrong. Super complicated.

TRICARE requires you to create a user name and password. Whatever password you like will only be temporary, because it must be changed on schedule and it is required to be complicated.

Did you forget your password? No problem, just provide answers to a few simple questions:

What was the house number across the street from where your best childhood friend grew up?

Way too complicated. Why should this be any more tricky to use than an Amazon account?

As a last resort, you call to speak to a human at the understaffed call center. Broken web protocols at TRICARE drive up the number of people who want to call and speak to a human. You may be passed around to several different call operators.

Back in early December, I was passed along to a total of four humans.

All layers of questions to verify every possible means to ID customer are repeated again prior to speaking to each human.

Add in some call wait times too.

Paid annual fee in Dec, 2024 on the phone, with a credit card. Never received any payment confirmation or invoice from TRICARE.

Filled out recurring credit card TRICARE payment authorization form in Dec, 2024. Placed form in the mail. Never received any payment confirmation or invoice from TRICARE. No verification of payment authorization from any source. It’s all a mystery.

Pick a decade anytime after the war in Vietnam. No matter what political party or personality is in the White House, Uncle Sam struggles to get veterans health care to work properly. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and young people have access to this info.

Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials and top Pentagon Generals earned it.

From a Jan 14th blog:

Elected officials:

Stop kissing veteran ass on Armistice Day and every other chance you get. Stop with the “Thanks for your service” nonsense.

People volunteered to go to far away places and maybe never come back again.

Go to work to smooth out the process they face when they need to call and manage whatever benefits they earned.

Older veterans have influence with kids, grandkids and younger members of the community. Do right by them if you ever hope to dig out of your US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.

This whole thing should be no more tricky to use than an Amazon account.

Maybe the new administration will get this all cleared up soon, but we’re not there yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo-

Something from the last century