The AP reports today that the U.S. military has established a “Career Advancement Account” offering military spouses up to $3,000 a year to get career training for what they call “portable careers”–education, healthcare and so on–which are in demand in most cities and towns.

The military is trying to ameliorate the effects of the constant moves that can render a spouse unable to complete any sort of degree program. (The feminist in me wonders whether they’re doing this because they’ve finally noticed that military wives need careers too–or because more military spouses are now military husbands.)

Tragically, this does not mean that spouses get handed three grand to spend on their favorite underwater basketweaving course. It’s more like they get $3k worth of credit to spend at career education centers in eight participating bases across the US:

• California: San Diego (Navy), Camp Pendleton (Marine Corps)
• Colorado: Peterson AFB (Air Force), Fort Carson (Army)
• Florida: NAS Jacksonville (Navy), Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field (Air Force)
• Georgia: Fort Benning (Army)
• Hawaii: Schoffield Barracks (Army), Hickam (Air Force), Pearl Harbor (Navy), Kaneohe Bay (Marine Corps)
• Maine: Brunswick (Navy)
• North Carolina: Fort Bragg (Army), Pope AFB (Air Force)
• Washington: McChord AFB (Air Force), Fort Lewis (Army), Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton (Navy)

Your spouse not stationed there? So sorry.

Pardon the snark–I’m all for anything the military can do to make the lives of its families better. This pilot program is a great start, but I sure hope they expand it to more bases in more locations. Or, I dunno, let spouses in Timbuktu take courses online maybe, like more and more soldiers are doing? Just a thought.