The Defense Department announced seven initiatives to improve quality of life for service members and their families in a Sept. 13 memorandum.

"Early in my tenure as secretary of defense, I made taking care of our people a top priority," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in the memorandum. "Doing right by our all-volunteer joint force and their families is a core readiness issue.”

The seven new initiatives include offering health care flexible spending accounts for service members, increasing free internet access in barracks, lowering the cost of permanent change-of-station moves, lowering uniform costs for enlisted service members, offering more affordable child care and childhood education options, increasing spouse employment and career development opportunities and improving conditions at remote and isolated installations.

For the first time, DoD will make available to troops health care flexible spending accounts. There will be a special enrollment period in March, and those who opt for the benefit can set aside up to $3,200 in pre-tax earnings per service member to pay for health care costs such as co-pays, glasses and annual deductibles.

DoD also is implementing a series of pilot projects to provide high-speed wireless internet access at no cost to troops living in the barracks. For troops moving to a new duty station, DoD will increase temporary lodging expense reimbursement to 21 days, up from 14 days; authorize increased temporary lodging allowance, if needed, for those moving from a duty station overseas; and initiate a study to review increasing the household goods weight allowance for service members.

The memo also expands spouse eligibility for My Career Advancement Account financial assistance, which helps military spouses pay for a license, certification, associate degree or testing needed to advance their careers.

DoD also is working with Congress to fund compensation increases for DoD child care providers and add key positions such as lead educators and special needs inclusion coordinators.

The department also will review risk and protective factors and prevention capabilities of harmful behaviors at three remote installations. Results from the review will be used to inform and improve quality of life at those locations.

Also under review are the quality of standard uniform clothing items issued to enlisted troops and uniform replacement allowance rates.

DoD has “made enormous progress” to improve quality of life for service members and their families, “but we have more to do,” Austin wrote in the memorandum.

The initiatives are a part of wider DoD efforts to improve quality of life for service members and their families through Austin’s “Taking Care of Our People” priority that began three years ago, according to a DoD news release.

“Taking care of our people is fundamental to the department's ability to recruit and retain the most talented American patriots and to ensure that the U.S. military remains the most lethal fighting force on the planet—and it is simply the right thing to do," Austin wrote.

Read the full memorandum here.