DH's Orders Have Arrived!

[DawnCt1]

Well finally the orders arrived today. It makes it more real when you are holding them in your hands but at least they are here and I can do what I need to do.
First off, I am going to Fax them to our mortgage holder and get our rate reduced. Its only 3/4% but its my $$$$ so I might as well take care of that.
I also charged tuition on a Visa card so I will call and see if they will lower that rate. I will have DH suspend his health club membership so we do not keep getting billed, take care of the ID's, etc for DSs and myself. I already had my picture id updated but want to get the DSs done as well. We will need another POA, because I am sure that the last one is out of date. If you can think of anything I am missing, please tell me. Thanks.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Does he have a cell phone? You can suspend service on those too. He may be issued one "over there" or can buy one if he wants.

You will need an "active duty" ID if he is usually a reservist. Is this what you got already? The dates on the ID will correspond with his orders. Your sons will get the same.

DH got new POA's during the mobilization process and mailed them to me.

It was all a quick blur for us, no time to think! Glad you are able to get things in order before he goes. I'll keep thinking. Good luck!

 

[DawnCt1]

Does he have a cell phone? You can suspend service on those too. He may be issued one "over there" or can buy one if he wants.

You will need an "active duty" ID if he is usually a reservist. Is this what you got already? The dates on the ID will correspond with his orders. Your sons will get the same.

DH got new POA's during the mobilization process and mailed them to me.

It was all a quick blur for us, no time to think! Glad you are able to get things in order before he goes. I'll keep thinking. Good luck!

I got the regular "dependent" ID a few months ago. I guess I will get it updated when we go to get the boys' done. I just faxed the mortgage thing. The cell phone gets paid for by the hospital so I am keeping that to hand out to who ever needs to use one for the evening.

 

[Otto's Doll]

Don't forget your car loan if you have it. Under SSCRA, that goes to 6% as well. Depending on how long he is gone, you may be eligible for Tricare as your medical insurance. (I haven't read your prior posts, so you may have already looked into all that.) We also picked up Tricare dental, which we still have. (DH was activated from 2003 - 2005). Our regular dental insurance is terrible and Tricare has worked very well for us.
We didn't go to Tricare medical until he was activated for 18 months, because the base is a bit of a trip for us and his regular job paid for our insurance for the first 18 months. We did use it for prescriptions though, and that saved quite a bit of money for us.
If this is all repeat info, sorry, but I hope the time goes quickly. Thanks for all you do as a military spouse... I know how tough it can be!

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Yes an active duty dependant card is what you need now. Can't remember why or if it is mandatory, but the kids and I got one. Mine was really out of date anyway, still had him as a Major. So I needed several updates on it.

DH's civilian job kept paying our health insurance, so I just used Tricare as supplemental also. Paid all our copays with prescriptions. $40 prescription copays add up quick! In fact that just ended Jan 1st, 6 months after his end date. We did change and use the military dental insurance as it was cheaper and better than what his civilian job offered.

 

[tracers]

Although I am a newbie around here, PLEASE drop me an e-mail or PM me if you need anything. I was the BN FRG Lead Volunteer for my DH's unit while deployed. 2003 -2005 Most people cringe when FRG is mentioned but we had a great group of people ... some speed bumps but we made out alright.
From the looks of things you have everything under control .... but if you need a shoulder to lean on ...... please don't hesitate

 

[Alice28]

to you! I am JUST coming off this whole deployment thing, and those first few weeks are such a freaking whirlwind.

You can definitely get your credit card balances lowered to 6%, and anything you charge from here forward should be 6%. (well, let me re-say that- we had 3 credit cards- AMEX and Visa were very nice and lowered the previous balance to 6% and all forward charges; Discover were jerks and since the card was in my name, they did nothing....I quickly paid that off and told them what I thought of them).

Get your new ID.....know who your family coordinator is.....Tricare isn't as scary as I thought it would be (navigating it, billing, etc)...the $3 copays for prescriptions are awesome!

Please, please, please feel free to PM me ANYTIME. I know what you are going through, and by reading lots of your previous posts, I think you and I have a lot in common (at least from a political standpoint ).

Take care!

 

[DawnCt1]

Wow guys! Thanks for all of the replies. We had a power failure yesterday and I was off line. DS 18 and I took a ride to Westover AFB while DH was at work. I had the orders but not the right form so DH will have to take some time off to go with us. Just thought it would be "something to do" while we had no electricity.
DH's employer will maintain the health insurance and I do love Tricare for the co pays. In fact, we didn't even do a medical savings account this year because of Tricare. I put two tuition payments on the Visa and only one showed up. I will wait a few days and ask them to lower the rate. I usually pay them off anyway but knowing the Army and potential pay delays, its nice to hold cash back until the paychecks are definately on track. We know someone who didn't get paid for 3 months. The system is only as good as that one person who handles the pay. DH set up "google talk" on the computers. Don't know if it work that far but it was free.

 

[tracers]

DH and I used web cam's ... it was great. We used Yahoo IM. The kids got such a kick out of seeing Daddy on the computer. It was tough on the days that it just wasn't going to work for us... one day we could see him but not hear him, the next day we could hear him and not see him... We took what we could get and were happy with it.
AHHHH the continued pay problems ..... we are still trying to get his travel pay straightened out ... almost a year later!
Keep your chin up ... you'll find more inner strength now than you ever thought you had.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We used MSN Messenger with the webcams and they worked for the camera, but not really for voice. We preferred to IM as we webcammed anyway. He had it in his office, and took it (Laptop and cam) to his room each night. Digital cams are also a must for both of you. If the webcams went down (and when internet gets bogged down, they may go poof) we would email. I could also call his office phone for free from my cell phone (it was relayed through Texas and I had free national coverage). When DH had to fly to Baghdad for meetings he could NOT instant message nor use the webcam from that particular office. Security issues. So we just emailed when he was there. Same was true for an office in Kuwait he had to go to several times. Communication for us was really great though. I can't complain.

SO, if goggle talk does not work, try one of the others. We had yahoo also but preferred MSN Messenger. Both free. Oh, I think you can get an AKO account too (DH had one of course). We never went this route, but depending on your DH's camp it may be another option to remember. I think it has some IM feature.

We never had a pay problem. Things kicked in when they were suppose to and were accurate. A good portion of tax that was taken out each month was given back to him in a separate check too. I had to get used to getting SO many deposits each month.

When will he be leaving? He probably will do a quick mobilization I assume. Don't hesitate to ask us anything!

 

[Alice28]

We never had a pay problem either- every check was correct and on time. Hopefully his travel pay will be paid on time and correctly- we need that $$ to cover us before his civilian pay will kick back in! And for us, it was a raise, a nice raise- it will be an adjustment to get back to reality here in a few weeks. He got a promotion in April, and that was right after he got the hazard pay added in as well, so all of a sudden it was an extra $700 a month!

We rarely got the chance to IM cause DH just wasn't at a base where he could get that much computer time. He did email daily but didn't have the time to IM. We used Yahoo and the AKO accounts for that...he had time to IM when he was training in Ft Bliss and in Kuwait for that week or two. But hopefully your DH will be at a place where he can- and I bought a webcam and then hardly was able to use it. At least they're cheap!

Take care~