Deployments are stressful for all parties involved,. There’s a potential of danger involved whether you’re the service member who is leaving or the family member staying back. The homefront certainly doesn’t even come close to the danger on the battlefield, however, military families left behind are subject to certain vulnerabilities. With the right preventative measure and safety tips, military families can have a little more peace of mind during this stressful time.
Protect your house
The bad guy may be monitoring you to see if your family’s car out front moves at all. Take an extra precaution and move your deployed spouse’s car every so often. Develop a rapport with your neighbors and look out for one another. Yellow ribbons may be a good in theory, but it’s best to not indicate on your house that your spouse is deployed. Get extra locks on windows and doors, if necessary. If applicable, invest in a home security system.
Keep kids in check
Kids are brutally honest. Parents needs to have a talk with their kids about discussing sensitive or private information during deployment. “Daddy’s deployed” is one thing. “Daddy’s Deployed, and he facetimed my mom from Fallujah yesterday,” is something you want to avoid. Online, children should be taught to Trust no one. Teach your children that anyone can pass for a friend online. Explain that they shouldn’t share personal information, and have them inform you immediately if someone asks to meet them.
Secure your identity
Identity theft is America’s fastest growing problem but for military families the threat is even greater. During deployment, things can get stressful, and perhaps you release a tidbit of your identity by accident. The identities of military families can give **bad people** sensitive or compromising information can end up in the wrong hands. This is why an identity theft protection system such as LifeLock is so valuable. After all, we are talking about personal AND financial identity. In this day and age, those are things that easy to steal but incredibly difficult to replace. Lifelock will help protect your identity with by detecting, alerting and restoring. Lifelock recognizes the threat to military families so they actually offer the military a great deal on their services. The military offer is 30 DAYS FREE, 15% OFF, PLUS A FREE AMERICAN FLAG. Promo code to take advantage of this offer is WESALUTE3.
OPSEC
OPSEC stands for Operational Security. This means that the service member and his or her family may not release information that could jeopardize the mission of the military. To the ordinary person, it may seem benign. However, things like troop movements, homecoming dates, locations can tip off bad guys and possibly deter our military’s efforts.
PERSEC
PERSEC stands for Personal Security. This is protecting your personal information. Avoid any types of military affiliation on your home and car. Take extra precaution on your social media accounts. In general, don’t advertise that you are living alone or otherwise giving out personal information to others who you may not know. This goes for facebook groups or online forums. Protect your passwords and update frequently. Enroll in Lifelock and let their advance technology monitor for any suspicious activity.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of LifeLock. The opinions and text are all mine.