People First Summit on Fort Hood

Fox 44 News (Oct 2022) | Allison Fox O’Connor

FORT HOOD, Texas (FOX 44) — The Human Capital Week was created to help leaders on Fort Hood learn more about the resources available for their soldiers.

One of the the key presenters was Dr. Elisa Borah, an associate professor at the University of Texas-Austin, who spoke about spouse resiliency, employment, and family wellness.

“The skill set, the logistical abilities that they’ve learned over time as part of their role as a military spouse,” she told FOX 44 News. “It sounds kind of silly, but really they’ve become like master organizers and very thrifty and very an economic model and organized around life.”

Borah explained there is a stigma when it comes to hiring military spouses, as the mindset of many businesses is that due to the spouse being active duty, the employee will not be at the company for very long.

But she touched on research that shows helping spouses with employment and other support needs will help service members themselves.

“That information can be used to lobby congress to appeal to lawmakers in our states, etc.,” she said. “And then once they see the data and understand the impact of spouses and needs not being met or being met, they really see that that really affects military readiness as well as military retention.”