13 Reasons You Should Take the #BSFSurvey

The annual Military Lifestyle Survey, from the nonprofit Blue Star Families, is open and taking responses until May 25. But why should you contribute to the #BSFSurvey?

We have 13 reasons why we need you:

1. The Blue Star Families annual Military Lifestyle Survey is considered a preeminent resource and snapshot of the current state of the military family. CEOs, politicians, and leaders across various sectors look to the #BSFSurvey to inform them of trends happening in the military community.
2. The survey is valid and research-based, crafted with questions that are carefully selected and vetted. We partner with Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families to develop, field, and analyze the survey.
3. The #BSFSurvey helps to start conversations among decision-makers in our country. Those conversations often lead to action that makes a measurable, meaningful difference in the lives of military families.
4. The #BSFSurvey informs change and policies—including those from the White House and Capitol Hill—that make a difference to real military families.
5. You have experiences in your military life that are important and that should be shared. The annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey helps you do that.
6. The survey helps to tell the story of America’s military families and needs your voice to help make it diverse. Anyone with a military affiliation—active-duty members of every branch, Reservists, Guardsmen, veterans, retirees, spouses, and military kids—is welcome to complete the survey.
7. Did we mention we’re giving away five $100 gift cards? Just complete the survey and you can enter to win our drawing.
8. The survey is accepting responses until May 25, which means there’s plenty of time for you to take it. (And, if you don’t complete it in one sitting, that’s okay! It will save so you can pick up and finish later.)
9. When you talk (er… type) in the #BSFSurvey, leaders across America listen. For example, the survey helped to inform Senator Tim Kaine’s Military Spouse Employment Act, which was introduced to the Senate earlier this year.
10. Military families often have the best solutions for the problems and frustrations they face every day. We want to hear what those are in the #BSFSurvey.
11. The #BSFSurvey has been telling the stories of military families for 10 years. That means your voice will add to a body of research from which analysts can view the trends of military families.
12. When you take the survey, you’re telling your story to people who are listening and want to know about your experiences with child care, your off-installation community, health care, and other topics that affect military families every day.
13. Your voice is louder when it’s in concert with others’. The military community needs your voice.

From April 23 until May 25, those who are affiliated with the military community are encouraged to complete the #BSFSurvey.