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Military gears up for 2010 Census

  • Published
  • By Jordan Reimer
  • AFNS/PA
American Forces Press Service --  The Defense Department is working with the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure that all military personnel are accounted for in the 2010 Census.

All service members and their families, whether stationed domestically or overseas, must be counted and attributed to their proper place of residence, said Mary Dixon, director of the Defense Manpower Data Center.

"The Census is important for making sure the federal government and the states are allocating funds to those communities where bases are located, so they can properly support our military members," she said.

The constitution mandates that the government take a census of United States residents every 10 years. All residents, regardless of citizenship or legal status, are legally required to take part in the census.

Census information primarily is used to reapportion the number of seats allotted to each state in the House of Representatives. The government also draws on the data to distribute about $400 billion in aid for programs such as Medicaid. State officials use the records to determine how to allocate funds to cities and neighborhoods for critical projects such as infrastructure, hospitals and schools.

Officials from DOD and the Census Bureau established a joint working group in 2004 to coordinate the process of counting military members and their families. All four military services and the Coast Guard are included. The Defense Manpower Data Center -- whose staff collects, archives, and maintains manpower and personnel data -- represents the Defense Department on the committee.

Defense officials said the department is on track to submit the count forms to the bureau ahead of the July deadline.

All service members who receive a census form are required to fill it out and mail it back to the Census Bureau. The data of military members stationed overseas -- who will not receive any forms -- will be processed administratively. Service members who live in group quarters will be required to fill out a "military census report" that will be distributed and collected by their installation's service representative and submitted on their behalf to the bureau.

Service members who are not U.S. citizens will be counted in the census. Service members stationed overseas still are considered U.S. residents because they normally reside in the United States but are assigned abroad.