Military Moms - Jan-Feb '09! - Page 32

[lalemma]

My husband did DLI, but we weren't married at that time. So I'm not sure about the answer to your question - I know that people certainly saw their partners while they were there, but I don't know what the situation was with people living together. I am almost entirely sure there were people who lived with their husbands and wives and kids while they were in school, but I'll have to ask him.

The recruiter's answer about Tricare covering stepkids doesn't seem right, either. This isn't a situation I've been in, but I checked the Tricare website, and it says:

Stepchildren
Stepchildren do not have to be adopted for them to be covered by TRICARE. As long as the sponsor and the mother/father of the stepchildren are married, the stepchildren are covered by TRICARE. If the marriage ends in divorce, the stepchildren lose eligibility on the date the divorce decree is final.

So that seems pretty clear to me. Sometimes recruiters aren't as informed as they could be about the details, unfortunately.

[lalemma]

So I asked my husband, and he says that the recruiter is probably thinking of DLI as any other kind of AIT (and you normally aren't allowed to bring your dependents to an AIT that's under something like 6 months), and that he's wrong about that. A PCS move and housing with dependents should be authorized.

ETA: Remijo, I'm PMing you a bit more info that's DLI-specific.

[EdnaMarie]

Lovesongbird, I PM'ed you with a midwife & her number. She could probably refer you to someone even if for some reason she can't take you.

[lovesongbird]

I got your PM and sent one back. lol THANKS!!:

[AllisonK]

Originally Posted by remijo

Hi... So DH is talking to a recruiter this morning about going into OCS for the Navy. He is 30, has his master's degree, and is in super great shape. It was kind of a weird thought - going from looking for civilian jobs to this. We figure it will be a great way to travel and increase his career options.

Hi Just wanted to say that I feel ya on the it being weird going from civilian to military. DH is 30 has his masters and has been working in his current field for 6 years now. He is in the process of joining the Navy and will go to ODS if all goes as planned. He is super excited and I am to a point. Its a whole new world for me as I have no prior knowledge or experience with anything military.

Okay back to my occasional lurking on this thread...

[KarlaC]

Originally Posted by remijo

Does anyone have a spouse that has gone through DLI in Monterey? The recruiter is telling us it will be two years before I'll be able to see him (except for whatever visits I can swing) because I can't go with him to this?

Also, the recruiter said that my son (from a previous marriage) won't be covered under tricare and isn't considered a dependent of my DH unless he adopts. I have sole legal and physical custody. This just doesn't seem right to me. Please, I'd love insight from moms/wives who have been there. Thanks!

Wrong unless something has drastically changed in the last year & I haven't read anything about any changes like that. Both my dd's from my first marriage are covered under Tricare. All I had to bring was their birth certs showing I was their mother. Recruiters come up with some crazy things.

[Sarah W]

Sigh...when it rains, it pours. So, our renters have given notice and they're moving out at the end of the month. It's not so bad, but yesterday our Prop Mgt company e-mailed me to say that the A/C in the house isn't working. Great. Hopefully, it's just a fuse or something easy because it's only 4 years old.

They said rentals in Yelm have been a little slow lately, so we'll see how long it sits. We were in WA in Feb and drove by the house. The tenants had taken wonderful care of the house, the yard looked great, so that's a plus.

[abarnes]

Stopping in to say hi. I've only posted here a few times but we recently made our move from (Eglin AFB) Florida to (Yakima Training Center) Washington. We got our household goods delivered on Thursday so we're busy unpacking and learning the area. I have to say, it's :, really it's about 75* but when the wind blows, I get chills. I need to get used to the cooler weather again!

[remijo]

So can anyone offer insight into the differences between navy/army for an officer? My DH is checking into all the options. I am curious about bases / deployment. I have to admit that the Navy has a little better locations for bases (coastal as compared to midwest - I grew up in Nebraska so I'm not interested in going back if I don't have to (although I will do what I have to do)). But the Army seems like it needs officers more so he might have a better/faster chance of getting in. Also, with the Navy, I think he would be deploying every six months or so but only for six months at a time. My understanding is that with the army you can deploy less often but for longer periods of time? I'd love to hear experiences as a wife, all I can find are viewpoints from the terms of the men in the service. TIA. Also what are his chances for getting deployed immediately out of officer school? I know it is different for everyone and no one can really answer that question definitively but I'm wondered if anyone has encountered it.

I should add that we would love to move alot and also love to live overseas.

[remijo]

BTW, thanks for all the great advice already!

[Maluhia]

Originally Posted by remijo

Does anyone have a spouse that has gone through DLI in Monterey? The recruiter is telling us it will be two years before I'll be able to see him (except for whatever visits I can swing) because I can't go with him to this?

Also, the recruiter said that my son (from a previous marriage) won't be covered under tricare and isn't considered a dependent of my DH unless he adopts. I have sole legal and physical custody. This just doesn't seem right to me. Please, I'd love insight from moms/wives who have been there. Thanks!

Your recruiter is wrong. There is family housing there that you will live in and stepchildren are covered under tricare as long as they are under 18 (or 21 in college).

Originally Posted by AllisonK

is in the process of joining the Navy and will go to ODS if all goes as planned.

OCS? Officer Candidate School.

Originally Posted by remijo

So can anyone offer insight into the differences between navy/army for an officer? My DH is checking into all the options. I am curious about bases / deployment. I have to admit that the Navy has a little better locations for bases (coastal as compared to midwest - I grew up in Nebraska so I'm not interested in going back if I don't have to (although I will do what I have to do)). But the Army seems like it needs officers more so he might have a better/faster chance of getting in. Also, with the Navy, I think he would be deploying every six months or so but only for six months at a time. My understanding is that with the army you can deploy less often but for longer periods of time? I'd love to hear experiences as a wife, all I can find are viewpoints from the terms of the men in the service. TIA. Also what are his chances for getting deployed immediately out of officer school? I know it is different for everyone and no one can really answer that question definitively but I'm wondered if anyone has encountered it.

I should add that we would love to move alot and also love to live overseas.

My DH is Navy my BIL is Army both officers.
They both deploy, a lot. The Navy may publish the schedule more but the Army guys I know are going for much longer periods of time, and sometimes just as often.
I like Navy - the few places we've lived we've liked the area near the Navy vs. Army bases better (Hawaii, Washington State) and the career path is just as open either way as an incoming OCS grad.

That being said - he'll be behind his age peer-group because even if he gets an increased rank from his degrees, etc. he'll end up having to do jobs where his officer peers are 5-7 years younger than him. Just an FYI. My DH is 35 and is the XO of his ship - 2nd in command and within about 3 years he will be the Commanding Officer. That won't happen as fast for your DH but he'll still make it, just at 45/47 or so rather than at 40/41.


We are doing well here. Gearing up towards deployment, yada yada yada. I found out they won't be transferring to his next orders until next September so I'll get to move overseas/back to CONUS alone with the 4 year old while he is deployed. I see it as a way to get rid of things I want to purge and blame it on the movers

[~Katie~]

Originally Posted by remijo

So can anyone offer insight into the differences between navy/army for an officer? My DH is checking into all the options. I am curious about bases / deployment. I have to admit that the Navy has a little better locations for bases (coastal as compared to midwest - I grew up in Nebraska so I'm not interested in going back if I don't have to (although I will do what I have to do)). But the Army seems like it needs officers more so he might have a better/faster chance of getting in. Also, with the Navy, I think he would be deploying every six months or so but only for six months at a time. My understanding is that with the army you can deploy less often but for longer periods of time? I'd love to hear experiences as a wife, all I can find are viewpoints from the terms of the men in the service. TIA. Also what are his chances for getting deployed immediately out of officer school? I know it is different for everyone and no one can really answer that question definitively but I'm wondered if anyone has encountered it.

I should add that we would love to move alot and also love to live overseas.

My DH is an Army officer. He did ROTC in college so he didn't go the OCS route. They rank what they want to branch and where they want to go, and based on grades and performance and activities that determines where they end up. He ended up branching his #1 and Fort Bragg was our #4 if I remember correctly. As far as deployments are concerned my DH commissioned in December "07 and did gold bar recruiting until March, then left for BOLCII which is 7 weeks long. After that we all ended up moving to Arizona for BOLCIII at the end of April and stayed until mid-August "08. Then we moved to NC and we heard rumblings of a deployment in Nov. "09. He ended up deploying in May "09 so that gives you somewhat of a timeline of how it went for him, his deployment is just under a year but he'll probably deploy again in less than a year if what I'm hearing now is true. Its really going to depend on what unit your DH goes to and what he ends up doing.

The Army does have a great need for officers because they aren't retaining enough of them, captains in particular. Promotions happen pretty quickly though I don't know enough about the Navy to compare. My DH made 1LT 17 months after commissioning which is pretty standard. As far as my perspective, I'm definitely not a pampered officer's wife. That's pretty much all I have to say about that

**Edited to add info about peers**

The average age of the incoming officer is college graduate age, so 21-22. My DH was 24 when he graduated college because he went to prep school after graduating high school and then jumped around between majors and schools for a while. His peers tend to be younger and the NCO's he works with are older.

[Alohamelly]

Originally Posted by lovesongbird

YAY! Do you live on post?

Yes, do you? Are you on Amity's as well? Your username seems so familiar.

[EdnaMarie]

Originally Posted by abarnes

Stopping in to say hi. I've only posted here a few times but we recently made our move from (Eglin AFB) Florida to (Yakima Training Center) Washington. We got our household goods delivered on Thursday so we're busy unpacking and learning the area. I have to say, it's :, really it's about 75* but when the wind blows, I get chills. I need to get used to the cooler weather again!

LMAO- Yakima, cold? Welcome to Washington. It's been a bit colder than usual here, but wait 'til it snows.

Gosh I hope we get to stay, we all could meet up.

[abarnes]

Originally Posted by EdnaMarie

LMAO- Yakima, cold? Welcome to Washington. It's been a bit colder than usual here, but wait 'til it snows.

Gosh I hope we get to stay, we all could meet up.

Thanks When DH was in the Navy, Everett was his first duty station. It only snowed a few times but it got cold. I think anything North of Florida would be cold right now to me though LOL

[AllisonK]

Originally Posted by KailuaMamatoMaya

OCS? Officer Candidate School.

Nope. ODS, Officer Development School Its 5 weeks instead of the what is OCS 13? 15? Not really sure on the differences. I've been told less yelling, not as much PT, and its more of a getting info about the Navy, your job, being an officer kind of thing. I don't have a ton of info.

[EdnaMarie]

Originally Posted by abarnes

Thanks When DH was in the Navy, Everett was his first duty station. It only snowed a few times but it got cold. I think anything North of Florida would be cold right now to me though LOL

Everett doesn't snow because it's on the ocean. Snow on the beach is rare. But the wind is a dog! Yakima is different- it's on the other side of the mountain, and it's a continental winter.

[EdnaMarie]

DH got orders!!! GErmany! We're thrilled!

[Katsmamajama]

We loved Germany!!! I'm so happy for you!

[gagin37]

Originally Posted by EdnaMarie

DH got orders!!! GErmany! We're thrilled!

how exciting!