The overriding goal of AFTEA is to support a national defense that will protect the security of the United States.
AFTEA represents the interests of members of the Uniformed Services in Congress, at the White House, the Veterans Administration, and the Department of Defense. We educate the public and members of Congress about the Uniformed Services and their most important asset, its people.
We monitor proposed legislation, and we lobby and educate members of Congress and Pentagon officials on behalf of our members. We give voice to our members’ concerns about military pay, health care, pension and disability, survivor benefits, education, housing, childcare, and other quality-of-life programs.
AFTEA supports a defense budget that will provide modern and sufficient equipment so that our military personnel can safely and effectively accomplish their mission. Further, we support increasing active duty, Guard and Reserve force sizes (end strength) to match the mission.
AFTEA supports military pay and compensation policies to attain and maintain the personnel skills that will allow the United States to meet its strategic goals. This includes compensation, benefits, quality of life, and other instruments to recruit, retain, and support high-quality people. It also includes providing service members and their dependents with high-quality, affordable health care. We support initiatives to:
We represent the interests of the military community (active duty, retired, guard/reserve, family members, and survivors) through testimony before Congress and personal contact with elected officials, congressional staffers, and representatives of the Department of Defense and other executive branch agencies.