Military Spouse

Military Spouse holds itself out as a sort of "Self" magazine tailored to the military spouse (well, wife, for the most part). The articles themselves are innocuous, uncontroversial and upbeat, as you'd probably expect. One disturbing thing in the most recent issue caught my eye: in a Christmas-gift section, the authors write, "Is his Christmas list bigger than your wallet this year? Stop saying Bah Humbug, and try a payment plan! Freedom Furniture and Electronics can set up military families with per-payday allotments ...." In civilian speak, you authorize the finance office to direct a portion of your pay to the company each month on a layaway type of arrangement.

Here's the problem. This company and others like it prey on young military members by advertising ultra-low "per payday" prices for the items they sell. They hold themselves out as offering special deals to military members (they like to use words like "Freedom" and "Patriot" in their company names). You have to hunt around the website to figure out how to calculate the actual price of what you're buying, because they never post the total price of anything. Everything is based on the purchaser getting a line of credit with the company, and that credit line is at a whopping 19.96% APR. If you search enough, you'll find out that you need to multiply the "per payday" price by 48 to determine the total price. They advertise a grill that costs $980, but you can buy the same thing from Amazon for $330 ... they have tripled the price. They advertise an Acer laptop which comes to an absurd $1,673, when that same laptop is being sold for less than 25% of that price on overstock websites. But, at $10 or $20 a payday, it sounds like a great deal, until you figure out the final cost would be $480 or $960, respectively.

The military spends a great deal of time trying to educate its young servicemembers that they're getting fleeced by companies like Freedom Furniture, and it's mindboggling that a magazine that holds itself out as supporting military families is endorsing getting involved with such shady marketers. What this tells me is that the publishers of Military Spouse are more concerned with product placement and ad revenue than they are with military families. No one should be encouraging our members to pay 3 to 4 (or more) times the going rate for merchandise. And they definitely shouldn't be pitching this as a gift-buying solution for people who are already short of cash! I say avoid this publication.

I was so excited that this magazine was coming out and I subscribed without bothering to see the first isssue. I'm sure some people will find it beneficial, but I want more. I'd save my subscription money and perhaps buy it off the rack if it is relevant on occasion.

I will not be renewing because I'm very disappointed in the content and quality of this magazine. It has so much potential, but falls drastically short. The content rarely, if at all, has enough information to be valuable in any category. The articles are short and not in depth enough to make an impact. The advice columns border on irresponsible and tacky. In some cases, I can't believe that the advisor is a qualified expert as they state. I still think Military Spouse could raise itself up and be an excellent magazine, but I will not buy it until I see that it has done so.

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I've bought several issues after reading the cover, and every time I've been disappointed by the content within. Every time I picked up another copy, I had hoped that it would get better. Well, I have finally learned my lesson and will stop wasting my money.

The problem I have with this magazine is that while the articles are relevant to the military spouse, the articles themselves are way too short, unoriginal, and just filled with fluff. I get the feeling that the writers do little to no research when composing their articles, and just write off the top of their heads. While I can appreciate reading about others' personal experiences, if the article is supposed to be about stress and the military spouse, I want to actually know what kind of resources are available and expect some professional information in the article. Instead, the articles offer generic advice that you can find anywhere else, and aren't necessarily tailored to the unique needs of a military spouse, e.g. Breathe in and out slowly when under stress. Really? My husband is deployed to a war zone and that's the advice you give me?

The truth is, this magazine could be really great, however it definitely falls short. I feel that it lacks professionalism, and appears to be produced by a bunch of military spouses looking for a hobby. While I am all for supporting other military spouses and their endeavors, some of the magazine's staff just aren't cut out to be professional journalists. The content and look of the magazine would be greatly improved if they brought in a few writers and an editor with real journalist backgrounds and experience, and that are not married to the military. I don't think having writers not married to the military would hurt, but actually help because they would actually have to do research to learn about this community, and not just write about their generic experiences. They could also expand the magazine to include content that all people would enjoy, not just military spouses. I think this would bring the magazine up to a higher standard and would warrant my $3.99 at the newsstand.

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The magazine itself is nothing special. It is very repetitive with not a lot of useless information. It's mostly just filled with pictures and articles with no substance.

The magazine has an online forum which I went onto and posted a few things. The other spouses in this forum were rude, closed minded, misguided and paranoid. They had Islamic bashing sessions (along with bashing others who weren't Christian by saying that non-Christians have mental disorders), they mistrusted ANY prior service women (which I happen to be) or active duty women because they think that ALL women in the military are out to "steal their men." They condone infidelity by saying that anyone that has been cheated on should just go to marriage counseling because it was an accident (even if it was a regular occurrence in the marriage) and you should NEVER leave for that reason because you should ALWAYS make your marriage work after infidelity, including multiple offenses (but in reality it seems that they were saying that you loose benefits and might have to get your own job if you get a divorce). If this is what the magazine represents, I would NEVER recommend it to any military spouse!!

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I disagree with the negative reviews, and I realize that as a business owner its hard to make everyone happy. I think its important to try and get the nuggets you need out of the magazine and if something is "missing" in your eyes, think of how you may be able to make a contribution to the military sposue community yourself. Its a group effort to meet each other's needs. As a career and life coach in the military spouse community, I often recommend that spouses read Military Spouse magazine to get a sense of the broader military community beyond their current circumstances and was suprised to read any negative reviews on the publication. I think they do a great job!