There are only a few really good, impactful ways to get your opinion and experience in front of officials. I’m going to tell you about one of them.
For the eighth year running, Blue Star Families is asking military families to participate in its annual survey. And there’s a really good reason for you to take the time to do it: results from this survey are used, yes actually used, by the people who make the big policy decisions that impact our everyday lives.
Lawmakers, DoD officials, and even congressionally appointment researchers (like those who worked with the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission) point to it to say “here is what military families think.”
There are definitely other ways to get the attention of lawmakers. You could haul yourself to Capitol Hill and personally speak to them. Some people are really good at doing that. You could obsessively call them. That’s probably less effective, but you're welcome to give it a go. You could also leave lots of comments on the internet and threaten to tell your Senator when I write something you don’t like – but that’s even less useful (and yet, people keep doing it!).
My vote is that you take 30 minutes out of your day to take this year’s Blue Star Families survey. You’ll be entered into a drawing for a $100 Visa gift card. And you’ll add what you think and what is important to you to the message sent to the decision makers.
Last year about 6,300 people took part. Let’s make it more like 7,500 this time, eh?
