How Vet Tix can help military families through their biggest life changes

Military families experience a lot of stressful situations and time periods that are unique to military life. Deployments upend family plans and permanent change of station (PCS) moves can have a wide-ranging impact on every member of the family. Many families have to move when changing jobs – military families do it every three years.

For military families moving as often as they do, especially moving with children who have lives of their own, PCS moves can broadly disrupt the lives of every family member. The sudden altering of personal and professional relationships outside of the family can cause a multitude of disruptions within the family. 

For starters, overall family income can be affected by PCS moves in many ways. Sudden losses in spousal income can affect the family unit as a whole. It can lead to long-term unemployment or underemployment, adding up to dissatisfaction with military life and even retention issues for the armed forces, according to a 2018 Rand Corporation study.

There can even be long-term consequences for childhood development. Numerous studies cite family stability as a factor for long-term mental health. Family stability is essential for a child’s mental and emotional well-being later in life and protects against youth anxiety and depression while increasing self-esteem for all family members. 

Simply put, the challenges faced by military families upending their lives for service is more than just a short term logistical issue. PCS moves can have profound consequences for decades. 

The Department of Defense and individual branches of service have their own programs to address issues with the logistics of these moves. Programs also exist to help a moving family integrate into the new location. In the end, however, family members will have to rebuild their personal and professional foundations on their own. 

How to start that process might be elusive, especially for those making their first move. It begins with reinforcing the bonds between family members to reestablish that stable foundation in their new home. 

Creating a stable family environment means gathering together in group activities with regularity. Family group activities can be as simple as having dinner together in the evening or as special as going out to a concert or sporting event. The most important aspect of the effort is being together. 

While having dinner together every night is completely achievable for most families, even during a PCS move, regular special events – or even sporadic outings – can be more difficult. The cost associated with a move plus the loss in overall income can make it difficult for a military family to make that kind of expenditure. 

Vet Tix, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, is dedicated to helping military families retain their strengths and bonds as a unit, even in the most trying of times. By creating relationships with concert venues, sports teams, event promoters, and others, Vet Tix is able to provide access to family-bonding events to military families for a nominal delivery fee. 

This kind of affordable access allows these families to make new memories in their new area while sharing an unforgettable experience. Affordable tickets and a fun night out can have a much more profound effect on the well-being of an entire family than one might expect.

All a military member or veteran has to do is sign up with the Vet Tix site, which is free. There are no family accounts on Vet Tix, but spouses can verify their service member’s status using their service information.

Once they’re verified as a service member through ID.me, they can look through upcoming events in their town or city. Once they find an event, they simply request the number of tickets they want. Vet Tix has distributed more than 16 million tickets to over 2.3 million Vet Tixers, roughly half of which are currently serving. 

Time spent together as a family can have a significant impact on a family’s well-being, resilience, and long-term mental health. Vet Tix wants to help military families achieve that kind of stability, even in the most unstable times, living up to its mission of giving to those who gave. To learn more, sign up, or look for events in your area, visit the Vet Tix website.