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Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
May 10, 2008 By Shelley Shelton, Arizona Daily Star
Holly Petraeus, wife of U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, was in Southern Arizona on Thursday and Friday promoting a consumer-aid program for military servicemen and -women.
She is director of the Council of Better Business Bureaus' nationwide "Military Line" program, which is designed to give young troops and their families the information they need to manage their credit, stay out of debt and steer clear of scams.
"This visit really is just to raise visibility for what they're doing in Tucson," she said Friday during an interview at the offices of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona.
Since 2003, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, Better Business Bureau representatives across the country have been visiting their local military bases to conduct workshops on being a smart consumer and tips for buying a car.
Financial problems can make it difficult for troops to get security clearance or be clear for deployment, said Petraeus, whose husband is the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
And the military community is a mobile population that frequently moves to a new area and doesn't know which businesses are unscrupulous, she said.
The Military Line program shows military personnel how to use Better Business Bureau resources including business reliability reports, charity evaluation reports and dispute resolution services.
Although most military branches already have their own consumer education resources available for their people, Petraeus said the Military Line program is meant to supplement that information and offers it in a different format — less lecture-style and more interactive, like a game.
The car-buying class is similar to a Monopoly game, for instance.
Participants draw "chance" cards that list choices they might make when buying a car, and they have to pay a banker for their choices, Petraeus said.
"We want them to be smart enough to recognize a bad deal," she said.
May 10, 2008 By Shelley Shelton, Arizona Daily Star
Holly Petraeus, wife of U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, was in Southern Arizona on Thursday and Friday promoting a consumer-aid program for military servicemen and -women.
She is director of the Council of Better Business Bureaus' nationwide "Military Line" program, which is designed to give young troops and their families the information they need to manage their credit, stay out of debt and steer clear of scams.
"This visit really is just to raise visibility for what they're doing in Tucson," she said Friday during an interview at the offices of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona.
Since 2003, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, Better Business Bureau representatives across the country have been visiting their local military bases to conduct workshops on being a smart consumer and tips for buying a car.
Financial problems can make it difficult for troops to get security clearance or be clear for deployment, said Petraeus, whose husband is the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
And the military community is a mobile population that frequently moves to a new area and doesn't know which businesses are unscrupulous, she said.
The Military Line program shows military personnel how to use Better Business Bureau resources including business reliability reports, charity evaluation reports and dispute resolution services.
Although most military branches already have their own consumer education resources available for their people, Petraeus said the Military Line program is meant to supplement that information and offers it in a different format — less lecture-style and more interactive, like a game.
The car-buying class is similar to a Monopoly game, for instance.
Participants draw "chance" cards that list choices they might make when buying a car, and they have to pay a banker for their choices, Petraeus said.
"We want them to be smart enough to recognize a bad deal," she said.