More than four million additional people will get access to DOD commissaries in 2020

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will expand access to discounted, on-post stores for some 4.1 million veterans and some of their caregivers at the beginning of 2020, the Defense Department announced Wednesday.

The expansion, which begins Jan. 1, will grant veterans with a documented service-related disability, Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war and certain Department of Veterans Affairs-approved designated veteran caregivers access to commissaries, military exchanges, and some morale, welfare and recreation services on bases within the United States, the Pentagon announced. The expansion of access was required in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act named for the late Sen. John McCain.

"These new privileges recognize the service and sacrifice of these veterans and those that care for them," A.T. Johnston, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy, said in a prepared statement.

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