Military Moms - Sept. - Oct. 09 - Page 11

[mmgrimm]

My DH likes to tell me the day before payday "I hope the Army pays us tomorrow!"...Can u guess how many times we have had problems with pay? If u owe the Army money they take it yesterday...if they owe u money u may see it one day!

EdnaMarie- I would wait until u get to Germany to see about housing. We got there and on post housing was full so the Army went out and leased us an apartment on the economy. Which gave us the luxury of off post housing without the expense Where in Germany are u getting stationed? We were in Schweinfurt!

[Soul-O]

Originally Posted by mmgrimm

My DH likes to tell me the day before payday "I hope the Army pays us tomorrow!"...Can u guess how many times we have had problems with pay? If u owe the Army money they take it yesterday...if they owe u money u may see it one day!

I feel like stating this publicly will jinx me forever, but...

Aside from some back TDY pay that wasn't received in a timely manner, we haven't had any pay snafus yet. When my DH was promoted, and when he was commissioned, the pay was always correct. I suppose my luck is bound to run out sooner or later, no ? I asked DH about it last night, and he is not anticipating any problems. He's also an eternal optimist.

[mesa]

We leave for Korea on Tuesday! The local post is giving me a hard time about shipping our HHG, they're saying that we're not entitled to any, just 500 pounds of unaccompanied baggage. Here's hoping that they get some sense beaten into them today by my peeps in Korea, LOL.

Cross your fingers, I'm not taking much, but what I am taking, I really, really *need*.

[Sarah W]

Originally Posted by mesa

We leave for Korea on Tuesday! The local post is giving me a hard time about shipping our HHG, they're saying that we're not entitled to any, just 500 pounds of unaccompanied baggage. Here's hoping that they get some sense beaten into them today by my peeps in Korea, LOL.

Cross your fingers, I'm not taking much, but what I am taking, I really, really *need*.

This is not correct. Did he give them his old orders and not his amended ones? That may be the problem. Since he's accompanied, you're authorized that HHG allowance.

[EdnaMarie]

Mmgrimm- no such luck. Baumholder just had a ton of people leave and they have blocks and blocks of houses free for the taking on base. I mean I shouldn't complain but I'd love to live off-post. We'll see.

[~Katie~]

Originally Posted by Soul-O

I feel like stating this publicly will jinx me forever, but...

Aside from some back TDY pay that wasn't received in a timely manner, we haven't had any pay snafus yet. When my DH was promoted, and when he was commissioned, the pay was always correct. I suppose my luck is bound to run out sooner or later, no ? I asked DH about it last night, and he is not anticipating any problems. He's also an eternal optimist.

I don't think you'd have any problem either, it's pretty straight forward given that you don't have any special circumstances.

[FiveLittleMonkeys]

In over 12 years, we've also never had a pay issue, other than an allotment that was done incorrectly. Enlisted, officer, promotions, flight pay increases - not once!

Of course, now that I've said that, we'll have a "no pay due" on the 1st!!

[Soul-O]

Originally Posted by FiveLittleMonkeys

In over 12 years, we've also never had a pay issue, other than an allotment that was done incorrectly. Enlisted, officer, promotions, flight pay increases - not once!

Of course, now that I've said that, we'll have a "no pay due" on the 1st!!

LOL! My thoughts exactly. However, it's nice to hear that, even in an organization as large as the U.S. Military, pay can be doled out correctly every time. May your good luck continue.

[mesa]

Originally Posted by Sarah W

This is not correct. Did he give them his old orders and not his amended ones? That may be the problem. Since he's accompanied, you're authorized that HHG allowance.

nope, I'm the one that gave them the orders. I gave them the CSP orders, and then they wanted the original orders, and THEN the pinpoint orders...and then they wanted to know how long we've been married () and whether or not the Army was paying for the move (umm, duh? isn't that the point of csp?)

then she got into a long email debate with the head of transportation in Korea, who finally asked her, "if you know something about command sponsorship and Korea that no other CONUS installation knows, please let me know so we can get this case back on track. We process hundreds of families every week, and have never had this issue before"

soooo, yesterday, I emailed her a couple of times asking for an update, and she finally consented to the shipment. Gah!! I'm so ready for all of this to be D.O.N.E.

They're coming for UB today, NTS tomorrow, and HHG on Friday. Dog goes for his health certificate this afternoon, and van ships on Monday. We leave TUESDAY!!!

[crazyeight]

Hey! I know this has been asked a billion million times but oy it's so hard to figure this stuff out!

I am trying to figure out home birth info! Aggghhhh! Just being pregnant is confusing enough. Now they're throwing out things like global auths and needing to have a referral to any physician for pregnancy. I SWEAR i did not have to do this for dd. Things were easier it seemed! Anyways I'm supposed to have an appt with my PCM to get a global auth for pregnancy but it's just rediculous as this point. I'm 16.5 weeks and have NEVER met this pcm let alone the fact that base care has hit the bottom of the toilet. It'd take a month to see them! Ugh. Anyways my problem is if they do cover home birth. I swear they do right? CNM's only right? We have a freestanding birth center (that became covered when i was pg with dd) that have CNM's but they don't do home births and there are no CNM's that do homebirths listed on the triwest site. So how does it work? What magic words do I need? Do they cover 100% or 80%?

[Maluhia]

I've only ever rarely seen them cover homebirth and that is based on state, etc. and it's always a fight depending on rules they are forced to follow in some states. Good luck.

[MangoMommy]

Hmmm I think the friends I know paid out of pocket for the actual birth. They went Standard perhaps for prenatal care w/the CNM. Standard is a Global package, covers 100% except for some labs and you have to stay off Prime for a year if you are E5 and up.

[~Katie~]

Your best bet is really going to be calling the midwife directly. CNM's are covered under prime as far as I know. They're going to know how to bill Tricare and all of the intricacies involved. I ended up paying out of pocket for mine, though.

[EdnaMarie]

My midwife took Tricare in Washington state- she was an LM. She said the way she billed them, they covered most of it.

[MrsReady2bMama]

Hi there! I hope it is ok to post a question in this thread, though I myself am not a military mama (and God bless you women who are!!)

(If you suggest I start a separate thread or post elsewhere I'm open to that!)

I just wondered if any of you had suggestions for what might be best to put into a military care package for someone deployed overseas? My brother deployed to Iraq earlier this month, and I'm kind of struggling with something he might find useful and fun to receive over there. It's like, you don't want to send anything bulky that takes up a lot of room, obviously you can't send perishable items, we communicate fairly regularly on email/skype so while I will be sending a letter it won't be super exciting... ya know? I'll put in a recent photo or two of my daughter b/c she's the only kiddo in his life right now and he worships her (he and his wife have no kiddos yet).

Also, this time around I will be sending him a big surprise - the gender of his unborn niece or nephew in a sealed envelope, so he'll be the only one to know! How do I top that for future packages?!

Anyhow any suggestions would be super great. And again, please forgive me for thread-crashing!

~Gina

[Maluhia]

No problem - baby wipes, those little crystal light packets to flavor one water bottle at a time), snack food that is harder (beef jerky, thick pretezels, etc.) and PICTURES - looking at home, nieces/nephews etc. is great.

[Alohamelly]

My husband is in Iraq right now and there's a large PX on his base, so he doesn't need a lot. There are some magazines he can't get over there and some vitamins he asked for, so I'll be sending those soon. But most things these days, they can get over there. I think anything would be fine and just getting a package will be appreciated.

[Katsmamajama]

Some of the wives/girlfriends that are around here are sending "seasonal" decorations, like a theme box-- Halloween ones went out the beginning of October, Thanksgiving type stuff will go out in the next week or so, etc. etc.

Chocolate doesn't hold up at all. It's better to skip it-- the thought is nice, but it's usually one big blob by the time they get it.

Crystal Light/Gatorade tubes are good. The new Starbucks viva line is a bit pricey, but a great idea for your coffee drinking deployed person!

[Alohamelly]

A little Christmas tree would be nice! My husband didn't have one for his second deployment and he actually took one over this time.

It's so hard to know what ot send these days because they have jsut about everything over there - including Starbucks and other chains!

[EdnaMarie]

Can they download music? Would a Christmas CD be appropriate? I remember when I was in Afghanistan it took ages to download music and I didn't have a lot of Christmas music on my computer. I sure missed it.