Courtesy Photo | A Military Spouse Roundtable attendee provides feedback during the May 20, 2025,...... read more read more
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – Military spouses at Joint Base Lewis-McChord are invited to a free, child-friendly Military Spouse Roundtable event, focused on reducing and removing employment barriers for spouses and connecting them to resources, on May 19 from 12 to 1:30 p.m., at Hawk Career Center, Lewis North.
“We are looking for your partnership to identify what is working, what needs correction, and how we can advance and make essential resources more accessible for all our families,” said Meek Ward, JBLM Employment Readiness Program manager for Armed Forces Community Service.
The discussion will be hosted by JBLM AFCS and Olivia Burley, Washington State military spouse liaison with the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Washington State Legislature created Burley’s position after military spouses in Washington — including JBLM spouses — provided feedback about “barriers and solutions to military spouse employment” during listening sessions at six installations in 2019, according to the “2019 Military Spouse Listening Sessions Report” and WDVA website.
“Because of the years of collection of data, there have been additional resources made available or accessible, and there has been legislation that has been promoted and executed as a direct result of the findings,” Ward said.
The upcoming JBLM roundtable provides spouses with another opportunity to share their feedback.
“I know within the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs and within the JBLM leadership community, (leadership) recognizes that role that military spouses play, those sort-of unsung heroes, that not only are carrying so many of the burdens and challenges, but then also doing so much to advocate for our military family community,” Burley said.
“I know that it does take time to make this happen and show up for these meetings ... but I always hear really good feedback from people on just being in the room,” she said. “There's just a lot of value in in coming together and having that sense of community.”
Ward emphasized the importance of such events for service member readiness.
“If we want to retain military service members, then we need to incorporate the health of their household,” she said. “We need to ensure that they remain mission-focused and without distraction and without anxiety, without angst of not knowing what’s happening back with your loved ones. And so, it is important for us to identify what those challenges are and then reduce those barriers if we’re able to, so we can control the controllables.”
To register for the Military Spouse Roundtable, visit: https://webmail.apps.mil/book/JBLMERP-Bookings@army.mil/s/a6iaxWw6BUuweG8hLcNdSA2?ismsaljsauthenabled.
Spouses can submit their thoughts and experiences via an online JBLM Military Spouse Community Feedback form, available here: https://forms.osi.apps.mil/r/7XSJYiAwRH.
To learn more about the JBLM Employment Readiness Program, visit: https://jblm.armymwr.com/programs/employment-readiness-program.
ERP is located within AFCS at Waller Hall, Lewis Main, and is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, excluding federal holidays.
| Date Taken: | 05.18.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 05.18.2026 12:29 |
| Story ID: | 565518 |
| Location: | TACOMA, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JBLM military spouses can share feedback at roundtable event, by Allison Hoy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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