Calling All Students to the Mars 2020 “Name the Rover” Contest

Posted by Edward Metz and Bob Collom

On August 27, 2019, NASA launched a national contest for Kindergarten to Grade 12 students to name the Mars 2020 rover, the newest robotic scientist to be sent to Mars.  Scheduled to launch aboard a rocket in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and touch down on Mars in February 2021, the to-be-named rover weighs more than 2,300 pounds (1,000 kilograms) and will search for astrobiological signs of past microbial life, characterize the planet’s climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. 

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A Simple Sacrifice: Easy and Affordable Ways to Help Veterans and Service Members

BY Kelli Brewer

Serving in America’s military is an honor and a patriotic sacrifice, but it comes at a cost. A great many of our veterans and service members bear the physical marks and mental scars of their service and carry them into private life. It’s a sad state of affairs that the government for which they served sometimes isn’t able to help meet their needs, and many suffer for it. Job loss, divorce, alcoholism, and dislocation are often the result. It’s up to members of a grateful public to give our veterans a helping hand. There are many ways to help without spending a lot of money or time.

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VA Education Benefits, The GI Bills

By Amy Stork, USAG Ansbach Public Affairs

The Ansbach Army Education Center recently held a GI Bill community session to discuss the differences in education benefits that are available to Veterans, service members and their dependents.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33), is available to individuals who served at least 90 days of active duty service after Sept. 10, 2001. To be eligible for 100 percent of the benefits, you must have served 36 total months of active duty or you must have been discharged after Sept. 10, 2001 for a service-connected disability after 30 days of continuous active duty service.

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Post-9/11 GI Bill Education Benefits Transfer Deadline Approaching

From Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs

The deadline for all Sailors who do not have the ability to serve four more years in the Navy to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to dependents is July 11, 2019. 

This deadline was established in a Department of Defense (DoD) policy which the Navy is implementing through NAVADMIN 020/19, released Jan. 24, 2019.

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