Welcome to the MC&FP Style Guide

Updated Terms A-Z 

advisor – Not adviser.

active duty, active-duty – Lowercase in all references. As a noun, use two words: Military personnel serve on active duty. As an adjective, hyphenate: All active-duty personnel must participate. Do not hyphenate when the modifier is not already hyphenated in a cited title: In the “2021 Active Duty Spouse Survey,” PCS-related stress was reported as a significant factor.

USTRANSCOM – Acceptable for second and subsequent references when referring to the U.S. Transportation Command for internal audiences within the DOD. For public-facing products and on MC&FP digital properties, refer to the Defense Personal Property Management Office or other appropriate specific resource. Do not use USTC in place of USTRANSCOM in client- and public-facing content.

Writing for the Web — Understand that readers tend to skip over paragraphs that are too long. To make content more accessible:

Strive to create paragraphs that are no longer than three lines in a Word document. Paragraphs with four lines should be the absolute maximum and used sparingly. Break longer paragraphs into shorter paragraphs or lists for easier scanning. Avoid pages and articles that are excessively long. While the content might be valuable, if an article is not easy to scan, many users may not read it in full. Review content to see if it’s covered in other locations to help decrease the length of articles and pages.

For half-width content or content that occupies a smaller width area, such as verbiage placed next to an action card, paragraphs may extend to four to five lines. In a Word document, the content would take up two or three lines only. Published content with six or more lines, even shorter lines, appears too long to the user. The reader may skip the content.

Writing for Social Media — Use no cost instead of free in Facebook posts. Due to its algorithms, use either no cost or a variation of “take advantage of your benefit.”

Branding and Logos for MC&FP and Support Programs – Approved versions of MC&FP branding and program logos are available here along with complete instructions for using them. Users must meet the guidance this section of the MC&FP Style Guide provides. Of note, the DOD logo and the DOD seal are not interchangeable.

Follow these usage guidelines:

In keeping with brand standards, the DOD logo may be used in all communications across all media platforms. The DOD seal has very restricted usage. The DOD seal’s use is restricted to official DOD top leader correspondence, legal documents, reports, memoranda, ceremonial booklets, certificates and awards. The DOD and military seals may not be used on flyers or other promotional materials. These seals may be used only by the military departments for official purposes.

View more updates on the Branding and Logos page.

Approval Process – When submitting a document for review, ensure that it meets all requirements in this online style guide and use the following file-naming convention when saving a file:

MODES-Program-Product-Title-Date-Initials-Status

Contract name abbreviation (e.g., MODES)

Program name (e.g., TRANSCOM, FAP, SECO)

Product type (e.g., FactSheet, Flyer, PPT, TalkingPoints)

Title (e.g., TaxTips, TransitionAssistance)

Date (e.g., 5July2023)

Initials of staff member submitting document (e.g., jad, LS, LL)

Status (e.g., ForPMReview, ForOOReview, For508Approval, FINAL)

Examples:

Add your initials for projects in progress:

MODES-MyCAA-Article-MilitarySpouseSupport-5Oct2022-SKL-ForEditMODES-FAP-Poster-KeepFamilySafe-2Feb2023-WF-ForDesign

Remove your initials from the final version or for files going to the government for review:

MODES-CYF-FactSheet-SafeSleep-20Aug2023-ForPMReviewMODES-MWR-Article-DODMWRLibrariesSummerReadingProgram-6July2023-ForOOReview

Use of Shortcut URLs – Typically, 301 redirects are used for expired pages, after URLs have moved, and when consolidating duplicate content. It also makes sense to use 301 redirects for shortcut URLs that will always go to the same destination URLs.

MilTax vanity URL: https://www.militaryonesource.mil/miltax

MilTax landing page absolute URL: https://www.militaryonesource.mil/financial-legal/taxes/miltax-military-tax-services/

Updated Terms A-Z – Vist the following pages for new and updated terms

Terms P, Terms R , Terms S, Terms T, Terms V, Terms W, Terms X

New Visual Style Guides – Visit the Visual Style Guide Page to view new guides for DOD Logo and Seal Usage, Plan My Deployment and Plan My Move.

MC&FP Mission Statement – Quality of life policies and programs that help our service members, their families and survivors be well and mission ready.