Don't You Feel Special?

Apparently it is Military Spouse Appreciation Day. And here is one of the ways the Army is showing its appreciation:

Uppercasing 'Families' highlights support - Apr 24, 2007 - BY IMCOM-Europe Public Affairs

"The acting secretary of the Army and the chief of staff of the Army have emphasized that Army Families are a key component of our readiness," noted Lieutenant General James L. Campbell in a recent message.

Army Families "shoulder a great burden of sacrifice, supporting their Soldier and often enduring long periods of separation from their loved ones," Campbell said, adding that top-notch care and support of Army Families demonstrate "our sincere appreciation and gratitude for their many contributions."

Therefore, Campbell directed that the word Families now be capitalized.

For the Army in Europe, this rule applies to all documents in various medium, not just correspondence, said Dwayne Viergutz, chief of Installation Management Command-Europe, document management branch. Examples include: briefing slides, executive summaries, forms, information papers, publications and Web sites.

The support bulletin board I visit is (rightfully so) laughing at this latest "PR" move. Let's increase the length and number of deployments--but we'll capitalize "Families," so it is all good.

Seriously, do they even think before they put this out? Or are they trying to be funny? Really, with a few more sentences, this could be on The Onion (a satire weekly with fake "news").