U.S. Military (Ret.): Online town halls help spread information to military retirees - Military Retirement - Navy Times

U.S. Military (Ret.): Online town halls help spread information to military retirees

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service recently held its first online “town hall” meeting to give military retirees and those preparing to retire the chance to chat live with military retirement experts.

For an agency that often has a reputation for not being very user-friendly, the event was an encouraging step to broaden efforts to respond to the needs of DFAS customers.

The town hall was May 8 through the DFAS Facebook page and was open to retirees who have Facebook accounts and could log in.

I sat in on the two-hour event, and I can tell you that there was no shortage of good questions and answers — about 65 total, in fact.

“We’ve been focused on finding ways to enhance customer service and improve communication with military retirees over the past two years,” said Col. Ralph Lunt, deputy director of DFAS retired and annuitant pay. “The town hall is a new way for us to listen to the issues facing our customers and provide answers to a large number of retirees quickly and easily.”

The discussion topics of interest to retirees and soon-to-be retirees included combat-related special compensation and concurrent retirement and disability pay — programs that even the pay experts admitted are very confusing.

You can check out the DFAS Facebook page and review many of the questions and answers that were discussed. Log onto Facebook and type “DFAS” into the search box.

Many more questions were received than could be answered in two hours. DFAS officials promised to answer all of them within several business days.

You must have a Facebook account to submit questions or make comments in these town hall venues. And it’s just a reality that some retirees — especially older retirees — are not computer-savvy.

DFAS holds several dozen face-to-face retiree seminars at military installations around the country and overseas each year. You can see the 2012 schedule by clicking here.

There’s no question that social media sites such as Facebook can disseminate large amounts of information to large numbers of people quickly. Over time, an increasing percentage of retirees will be familiar with using social media, and DFAS deserves credit for using this tool to better serve its customers.

Keep an eye on the DFAS website and the DFAS Facebook page for updates on future online town hall events.