Military question for the spouces.

[jen0610]

It's been a number of years since DH was in, so I just want to double check some facts.

Our neice just announced she and her BF are going to get married. He's currently finishing up MP training. Never would have thought she'd marrried an MP like her aunt did.

But, in talking with her, there are a couple of things I want to make sure to point her in the right direction.

His orders are sending him to HI. Not sure which of the 2 bases he going to, she wasn't sure. But we did tell her, that right now, being single, he will not be able to get anything for housing until after they are married and he has reported to his duty station. Only then, will he be able to add her to his orders, so that they can get household goods moved.

I know back in 93, one of our friends was being stationed in HI and she was a single mom. Even being a single mom, she was told at a minimum 4-6 months before post housing would be avaiable. Is the wait for post housing still out there or is it better/worse. With his rank, they aren't going to have a lot for an aparment, if no post housing is open.

I know when we were in Panama, the commissary took any grocery coupon for 6 months past their experation date. Does this still happen and does HI do it, if anyone knows. I know stateside they didn't, but not sure about HI.

And this is the big question. In talking with her and her sister, something was mentioned about her schooling. From what we got outta her, the BF has told her that the Army will help out with her school cost. Now, I know the enlisted member has access to the GI Bill and everything, but I didn't belive or know of any assistance to dependants.

They have been together for some time, but they are both young. I think the getting married time frame was pushed up by the appeal of getting her schooling paid for. I think that they would have gotten married, but doing it sooner only because she is under the understanding that the Army is going to fully pay for her schooling. And before I go bursting her bubble, I wanted to double check what I knew from years ago.

So, any light any of you can shead on these items, I would greatly appreciated it.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Active duty army spouse here.

1. If he gets married before he moves to HI, he can have his orders altered to include dependants before reporting in to the new station. It will be a major PITA if he waits until he gets there to have the orders changed and have his wife and household goods shipped. We are talking months or longer. The arm will only pay for 1 car to be shipped, don't forget to mention that.

2. I have good friends that live in HI, they are an E5 family and they had no waiting list for housing. Scholfield has built alot of new housing and the wait should be minimum hopefully. If he is married before he goes to HI, he can call the housing office there in HI to see if he can get on any waitlist if there is one.

3. no idea about the coupons but HI is considered an OCONUS so I would think they take expired coupons.

4. About the education funds. The soldier can sign over his GI bill or even portions to his wife but he needs to think about that before he does this. He has to be in a specific number of years and I believe he has to agree to stay in some specific number of years if he does sign some of it over. I would highly encourage him to talk to his financial office at his ACS. They can tell him the specifics about the GI BIll.

For the last year or so there has been a program for military spouses called MYCAA--Military Spouse Career Advancement Account that would give $6,000 to military spouses that wanted to pursue higher education including Masters, PH.D, licensure, and yearly extended education credits. However,it is frozen right now unless a spouse is already registered in the system. As of right now, there is no word on when it will be opened back up for new registration.

If they are going to get married, I would recommend they do it as quickly as possible to get orders altered before the PCS move.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

When we were in Alaska they didn't take expired coupons.
I did get spouses tuition assitance in Alaska they may have it in Hawaii they don't have it stateside but one of the benefits of being overseas
It didn't pay for all but I think 50%.
Housing I don't see them having a problem getting right in. I think most places usually has avaiable housing.

 

[jen0610]

I was hoping you'd be on here today, Tina. You are such a wealth of information.

Their plans the way we understand them are. He's graduating from AIT within the next few weeks. Then he has leave for 20 days. During that 20 days, they are going to the JOP and getting married. He told her that once married, she would have to go to the closest post and get her ID card, so that he could get her added to his orders.

We told them about only one car and that everything that they want shipped on his orders for housing, had to be at one place. They won't cover going to 2 different location to pick up household belongings.

The schooling is the big issue that we see them having. He was originally going on orders to TX, but as we all know that order changes can and will happen, those got changed to HI. When he was originally on TX orders, this fit perfectly into her going to equine school there in TX. HI, not so much. But she is under the impression, by the information he is telling her, that she will still be able to go to school in TX and have the cost of this covered by the military. This is where DH and I both are thinking that this isn't going to happen.

 

[lovemygoofy]

The army just isn't going to pay for her to go to TX to school, no. Like I said he can sign over some GI Bill or if the MCYAA opens back up she may have acces to 6k to help with the costs. There definitely needs to discussion about this before a wedding happens seems like.


Don't forget to tell the soldier(I gues he is army) that he NEEDS/HAS to make sure his wife has POAs before he leaves for HI. Depending on the installation rules for getting an ID she may need a POA to enroll in DEERS/get an ID as well as their marriage license if he won't be with her.

Also, if he goes to HI without her and she has to ship the household goods, a POA may be required. Like I said it depends on the post. I had to have a POA to ship/receive household goods, another one to receive on post housing (though we'e never lived on post), and like 10 other POAs. It's better to have too many POAs than not enough especially when needed RIGHT then.

 

[natenapril]

When we were in Alaska they didn't take expired coupons.
I did get spouses tuition assitance in Alaska they may have it in Hawaii they don't have it stateside but one of the benefits of being overseas
It didn't pay for all but I think 50%.
Housing I don't see them having a problem getting right in. I think most places usually has avaiable housing.

STAP is what I use here in AK too. Maybe it's available in HI too. It covers 50% of her tuition.
Maybe that is what he was told about.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

I was hoping you'd be on here today, Tina. You are such a wealth of information.

Their plans the way we understand them are. He's graduating from AIT within the next few weeks. Then he has leave for 20 days. During that 20 days, they are going to the JOP and getting married. He told her that once married, she would have to go to the closest post and get her ID card, so that he could get her added to his orders.

We told them about only one car and that everything that they want shipped on his orders for housing, had to be at one place. They won't cover going to 2 different location to pick up household belongings.

The schooling is the big issue that we see them having. He was originally going on orders to TX, but as we all know that order changes can and will happen, those got changed to HI. When he was originally on TX orders, this fit perfectly into her going to equine school there in TX. HI, not so much. But she is under the impression, by the information he is telling her, that she will still be able to go to school in TX and have the cost of this covered by the military. This is where DH and I both are thinking that this isn't going to happen.

Tina is BY FAR the expert here but wanted to chime in on the highlighted above. Just curious who told him they would not come to 2 locations to pick up household belongings? Are those 2 locations in the same city? We are PCSing this summer from MD to GA and the transportation office told DH that they would pick up from 2 locations for our move. We are having them pick up from our house and our storage unit a few miles away.

I agree that she needs to get on DEERS as soon as she is married. We literally stopped at the AFB in my hometown after our wedding on the beach to enroll me and my kids in DEERS that same day. Quick and easy.

OP - good luck to your niece and her BF. I have friends in HI that loved it there so much that they bought a house and stayed after retirement.

 

[jen0610]

Tina is BY FAR the expert here but wanted to chime in on the highlighted above. Just curious who told him they would not come to 2 locations to pick up household belongings? Are those 2 locations in the same city? We are PCSing this summer from MD to GA and the transportation office told DH that they would pick up from 2 locations for our move. We are having them pick up from our house and our storage unit a few miles away.

I agree that she needs to get on DEERS as soon as she is married. We literally stopped at the AFB in my hometown after our wedding on the beach to enroll me and my kids in DEERS that same day. Quick and easy.

OP - good luck to your niece and her BF. I have friends in HI that loved it there so much that they bought a house and stayed after retirement.

No they are not in the same city. The address are about 10 miles apart, but are in 2 different towns. I know when DH and I did our first move with the Army, we were told the same thing. The 1st post DH had was Seneca Army Depot. They were getting ready to close the base, and they were not putting any one into post housing, which he was told when he asked prior to graduation. We were trying to figure out logistics of getting our stuff there and if it would have been better for me to stay put in IN as nobody knew if they would be there 3 months or 1 year and 3 months.

When he actual reported, he found out he would be there at minimum 10 months and that there was plenty of off post housing options. When he arranged for the household goods to be picked up, he was told that they would only pick up at one location. Most of the stuff was at my parents place, but his parents had bought us a couch, a couple of chairs, a dining table and his tv and stereo were all at their place. We moved all of that over to my parents place and had everything picked up from there. But we delt with that just over 19 years ago, so things may have changed.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

No they are not in the same city. The address are about 10 miles apart, but are in 2 different towns. I know when DH and I did our first move with the Army, we were told the same thing. The 1st post DH had was Seneca Army Depot. They were getting ready to close the base, and they were not putting any one into post housing, which he was told when he asked prior to graduation. We were trying to figure out logistics of getting our stuff there and if it would have been better for me to stay put in IN as nobody knew if they would be there 3 months or 1 year and 3 months.

When he actual reported, he found out he would be there at minimum 10 months and that there was plenty of off post housing options. When he arranged for the household goods to be picked up, he was told that they would only pick up at one location. Most of the stuff was at my parents place, but his parents had bought us a couch, a couple of chairs, a dining table and his tv and stereo were all at their place. We moved all of that over to my parents place and had everything picked up from there. But we delt with that just over 19 years ago, so things may have changed.

Ugh. DH is actually at the transportation briefing on post now. I just texted him and told him to verify that they will pick up in 2 locations even though they already told him they will.

Hope it all works out for your niece. Is she able to go to any online schools while they are in HI? There are several that take the GI Bill. DH is finishing up his MBA at FIT which has a campus here at APG but he will take his last class completely online this summer. Sounds like she has a specialized field of study - good luck to her.

 

[surfergirl602]

Make sure he also checks his weight limit for household goods because if they pick up his stuff while still single, the amount will be much lower than with dependents. Loading both of their stuff could put him over weight and he'll have to pay the army for the overage.

 

[Longsx3]

Everything Tina said is correct and I wanted to add that it will be awhile before she could access his GI BILL funds.

http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/CH33/transfer.htm

Any member of the Armed Forces (active duty or Selected Reserve, officer or enlisted) on or after August 1, 2009, who is eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and:

•Has at least 6 years of service in the Armed Forces on the date of election and agrees to serve 4 additional years in the Armed Forces from the date of election.
•Has at least 10 years of service in the Armed Forces (active duty and/or selected reserve) on the date of election, is precluded by either standard policy (service or DoD) or statute from committing to 4 additional years, and agrees to serve for the maximum amount of time allowed by such policy or statute, or
•Is or becomes retirement eligible during the period from August 1, 2009, through August 1, 2013. A service member is considered to be retirement eligible if he or she has completed 20 years of active duty or 20 qualifying years of reserve service.
◦For those individuals eligible for retirement on August 1, 2009, no additional service is required.
◦For those individuals who have an approved retirement date after August 1, 2009, and before July 1, 2010, no additional service is required.
◦For those individuals eligible for retirement after August 1, 2009, and before August 1, 2010, 1 year of additional service after approval of transfer is required.
◦For those individuals eligible for retirement on or after August 1, 2010, and before August 1, 2011, 2 years of additional service after approval of transfer are required.
◦For those individuals eligible for retirement on or after August 1, 2011, and before August 1, 2012, 3 years of additional service after approval of transfer required.

However I would assume since they are new to the Army and once she marries she would be considered independent that she would qualify for plenty of financial aid. If she has not completed her FASFA she should wait until they are married.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

DH just texted and has filled out all of the paperwork listing both locations for pickup and was told that was fine. Not sure if that varies by post or moving company but it may be worth checking into further.

Moving dates are set. Now to find housing.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

Plus not sure how the army does it but that first year I was active duty in the air force I was paying INTO the GI Bill so there was no way I or anyone could of used it.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Hawaii will not take expired coupons. They are considered OCONUS but do not follow that rule. IIRC they are also considered CONUS for dental insurance purposes, so you do not have free copays.

 

[castleview]

Active duty army spouse here.



4. About the education funds. The soldier can sign over his GI bill or even portions to his wife but he needs to think about that before he does this. He has to be in a specific number of years and I believe he has to agree to stay in some specific number of years if he does sign some of it over. I would highly encourage him to talk to his financial office at his ACS. They can tell him the specifics about the GI BIll.

For the last year or so there has been a program for military spouses called MYCAA--Military Spouse Career Advancement Account that would give $6,000 to military spouses that wanted to pursue higher education including Masters, PH.D, licensure, and yearly extended education credits. However,it is frozen right now unless a spouse is already registered in the system. As of right now, there is no word on when it will be opened back up for new registration.

If they are going to get married, I would recommend they do it as quickly as possible to get orders altered before the PCS move.

Not that my opinion matters, but if my son/daughter were young and thinking of signing over portions of their GI bill to his/her fiance, that would scare the heck out of me. Things can go wrong in relationships...or maybe I'm just paranoid. Sorry for the negativity.

Best of luck to the niece and her fiance, though.

 

[manning]

Active duty army spouse here.



4. About the education funds. The soldier can sign over his GI bill or even portions to his wife but he needs to think about that before he does this. He has to be in a specific number of years and I believe he has to agree to stay in some specific number of years if he does sign some of it over. I would highly encourage him to talk to his financial office at his ACS. They can tell him the specifics about the GI BIll.

.

It has been years since I was in the army. I would think twice about signing anything over to her if he plans to make the army his career. If this affects his ability to get a degree it would affect his promotability in the future. In my day it was rare to have a degree. now it is rare not to have a degree.

When I was in if you could breathe and behaved yourself (and halfway smart) you got a promotion. It was Vietnam and the army was expanding. I got drafted as an E1 and left two years later as an E5. Today there isn't any expansion and competition for promotions are keen.

 

[rparmfamily]

Aloha! I'm here now, at Pearl Harbor. Schofield is not too far, I have a bunch of friends up there and am up there often. (today actually) They'll probably go to Schofield Barracks. It's HUGE.

http://www.mwrarmyhawaii.com/support-services/relocating-to-hawaii
All about moving to HI with the Army.

Actus runs housing, have her call them to check on wait lists, how to get on it,etc. There is a lot of new housing, and they can live in Navy housing or AF housing as well. The bases are all pretty close to each other, except the Marine base.
http://www.armyhawaiifamilyhousing.com/

No expired coupons.

She needs to be command sponsored (on his orders.) They can't do anything about housing until she's on his orders.

I am nearly positive we don't do spouse tuition assistance. HI doesn't count for that. They do have MyCAA (which is currently not taking new applicants) and she can use some of his GI Bill but it's very very specific and I'm pretty sure she can't use it if he's just going in.

 

[rparmfamily]

I was hoping you'd be on here today, Tina. You are such a wealth of information.

Their plans the way we understand them are. He's graduating from AIT within the next few weeks. Then he has leave for 20 days. During that 20 days, they are going to the JOP and getting married. He told her that once married, she would have to go to the closest post and get her ID card, so that he could get her added to his orders.

We told them about only one car and that everything that they want shipped on his orders for housing, had to be at one place. They won't cover going to 2 different location to pick up household belongings.

The schooling is the big issue that we see them having. He was originally going on orders to TX, but as we all know that order changes can and will happen, those got changed to HI. When he was originally on TX orders, this fit perfectly into her going to equine school there in TX. HI, not so much. But she is under the impression, by the information he is telling her, that she will still be able to go to school in TX and have the cost of this covered by the military. This is where DH and I both are thinking that this isn't going to happen.

Isn't going to happen.

 

[rparmfamily]

Hawaii will not take expired coupons. They are considered OCONUS but do not follow that rule. IIRC they are also considered CONUS for dental insurance purposes, so you do not have free copays.

All true. We are OCONUS but not overseas. We get COLA, have regular United Concordia dental (he'll have to sign her up for it, about $9 a month), she can use Tricare Prime on base or at Tripler AMC.

Do they have pets? Please say they don't LOL. The quarentine is a killer here. And they need to ship cars and household good ahead of time, 3-6 weeks is the ave for getting your stuff.

We absolutely LOVE it here, we are doing back to back tours.

 

[Longsx3]

Plus not sure how the army does it but that first year I was active duty in the air force I was paying INTO the GI Bill so there was no way I or anyone could of used it.

There is no longer a payment required for the GI Bill.