Arrived in email:

“Notification of Pending DS Logon Account Deactivation”

I had abandoned use of this account a long time ago because keeping it turned on was a tortuous process.

TRICARE seemed to work OK a few years back, so I didn’t feel a need to log in and look at my payment record.

TRICARE crashed and burned on Jan 1st this year.

Questions for elected officials:

Any 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?

Months ago, I wrote to both senators and my congressmember to share 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 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 been paying bills for decades. 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 federal source. It’s all a mystery.

None of my elected officials ever acknowledged my letter.

Today

Made the attempt to update my PW today:

DS Logon wanted me to enter my old PW and create a new one. The old PW was a simple one. DOD protocols no longer allow that.

Today:

“Password Requirements:

Passwords must be at least 15 characters but no more than 128

At least 1 lowercase letter

At least 1 uppercase letter

At least 1 number

At least 1 special character, no spaces allowed: @_#/,;~`%&=’:!$*+().{}|?><^[]-“\

You cannot use your birthdate, SSN, name, phone number, or ZIP code

When changing a password, your new password must have at least 8 characters be different

When changing a password, your new password must be different than the current and 10 previous passwords

You cannot change your password more than once every 24 hours”

You Will Do It Again Every 60 Days

“Enter your password below. Note that:

All passwords expire in 60 days and will need to be changed prior to expiration. You may want to note your password expiration date on a calendar. As a security precaution, your password should never be written down.

When entering your password below, you will know your password meets the password requirements when all lines above are green. If there are any red lines, go back and adjust the password to meet the requirement identified.

You are required to sign in at least once every 180 days to prevent your account from being deactivated.

When finished, always log off and CLOSE all tabs and browser windows to prevent PII loss.”

DOD Has A New/Easier Way

MyAuth

I’m not able to use MyAuth/the new way until I update my PW with the old way. Tried that today and had no success.

If you have questions, just read this:

DSLOGON_FAQS

Why does the US Dept. of Defense make the use of web pages much more difficult than the 2025 version of online banking, having an Amazon account, or renewing a passport?

Recently renewed a passport on the web. No hassles. They did not seem to care what browser I was using. All went well.

Same federal government that makes TRICARE very tricky to work with on the web.

TRICARE already has your money. They profit if they keep the cash without providing services.

Welcome Home Troops

Redditt TRICARE comments/ask a recruiter:

Posts are here.

Not here to say that military benefits are inadequate. Just stick with whatever was offered when people signed up to stay on for multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and we’re good.

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.

Photo-

Something from the last century

Post-Vietnam guilt

The guilt doesn’t seem to work towards staying out of undeclared/unwon wars, maintaining the barracks or managing federal contracts related to TRICARE.

A giant flag ritual at the next ball game will make it all good.