Military family forums rarely make news.

Yet an idea raised by Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. Army’s chief of staff, at a 2013 family forum is likely to resurface soon with the potential to ripple across the U.S. economy. Elected officials “better start paying attention to the schools that are outside and inside our installations,” Gen. Odierno remarked at that time, “because as we evaluate and as we make decisions on future force structure, that will be one of the criteria.”

The Army has used the 18 months since Gen. Odierno made this comment to reflect on its evaluation of schools in its host communities. That original study may be released soon.

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