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All,

 

Question for you guys: I was picked up on the WOSB back in July and start IERW next July. I am currently married to an Air Force officer (she's in entomology). By the time I am done with flight school and everything, she will be due to PCS.

 

This is where my dilemma is: she's extremely limited where she can go (so she's being told), but we were having a discussion and we were trying to figure out what Joint-bases we could be assigned to. I know there's a CAB at every major installation (Lewis, Riley, Carson, Hood, etc.) but the only Joint-Base I can think of is Lewis. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

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All,

 

Question for you guys: I was picked up on the WOSB back in July and start IERW next July. I am currently married to an Air Force officer (she's in entomology). By the time I am done with flight school and everything, she will be due to PCS.

 

This is where my dilemma is: she's extremely limited where she can go (so she's being told), but we were having a discussion and we were trying to figure out what Joint-bases we could be assigned to. I know there's a CAB at every major installation (Lewis, Riley, Carson, Hood, etc.) but the only Joint-Base I can think of is Lewis. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

It doesn't need to be a joint base for both of you to get stationed near each other.

 

Hawaii for example has the 25th CAB, Hickam AFB is about a 20-40 min drive down the road depending on traffic.

 

Some other places you can get stationed near Air Force bases.

 

Ft Carson <--- Peterson AFB, USAF Academy

Seoul AFB, Korea <---- Joint

Fort Bragg <--- Pope AFB

 

ect....

 

I would suggest to you to pick an airframe with a lot of option for duty station to increase your chances i.e. UH-60.

In the end, Army HRC will take your dual military requirements into consideration but, They may say needs of the Army and send you somewhere completely different then your wife.

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From my experiences the Army usually will do what they can within reason to accommodate the married army couples program and having joint domicile. Although I'm not sure how it works if your spouse is in another branch. The only time I have seen it work was in my last unit and they were Army and Air Force stationed in Germany only about 45 minutes apart. They just lived in between the two installations. Not sure how he made it work though (he was a chinook crew chief in an all Blackhawk battalion) as far as paperwork between the branches.

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My experience has been that the Army is literally afraid of offending spouses. I'd be extremely surprised if this didn't work out in your favor.

 

First step IMO, find out where she can be stationed. If she is so limited than it should be pretty easy to find out the locations she can go. From there, look on your orders for the email address you can use to ask questions/request changes to your orders. Being a W1 that should be Mrs. Garrett's email address at HRC. She's awesome, got me an early start date to the tune of like 4 months. Around the time of aircraft selection, shoot her an email with your situation and the locations to which you can be with your wife. Be very professional, be very kind, and at the end of the email thank her for everything she does for us lowly LT's and WO's. That's what I did and she hooked me up.

 

You probably won't get a response for a week or two so send it probably two weeks prior to selection. Then send her a reminder a day or so before and again be courteous and thank her.

 

Also don't address the email to Mrs. Garrett as I believe that email will go to her office and then get filtered to her. Just use a general salutation.

 

Good luck!

 

Let us know!

Edited by walkerman180
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I think experiences may vary in the Army when it comes to spouse support. Especially when you gain rank.

 

Walkerman,

I have to disagree with you, the Army (HRC) does not care about your spouse or offending them. They will do what they can within reason. But, if mama is offended HRC gives zero f*cks. This is the experience I have seen and what I've seen from my friends throughout the years. It gets worse with rank because there are less billets for CW3s and O4s.

 

I think what devestates people in general, is when people expect to get a duty station and branch says no. In the end, you have to be prepared.

 

The OP has a good chance though, there are a couple joint bases in the Army and enough Army posts that are close to AFBs. Keep in mind though, as you gain rank, it's gonna be harder to get you to the same spot.

 

Good Luck!

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Joe, fair enough, I can see how it would be exponentially more difficult as you gain rank. Keep in mind, I only amassed the amazing rank of Specialist before going over to the dark side.

 

However, I maintain my previous statement, the OP should contact HRC, be repectful and courteous and chances are good for them.

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Just wait, Walkerman. There are things I could say but I won't. Suffice to say, do NOT plan on going to a place close to your spouse. You'll see when you get to that point. But the lady you mentioned is not the one in charge of 2LT/WO1 assignments post-flight school.

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Just wait, Walkerman. There are things I could say but I won't. Suffice to say, do NOT plan on going to a place close to your spouse. You'll see when you get to that point. But the lady you mentioned is not the one in charge of 2LT/WO1 assignments post-flight school.

 

I'm curious to see how this works out for the OP because like I said, I've always thought the Army was way to PC when it came to spouses. Yes I recognize it will always place needs of the Army first, but I've seen a "need of the Army" created in a scenario similar to this.

 

Lindsey, that bit about the HRC lady is news to me. I stand corrected.

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Maybe that is true of the Army in general but...man I just don't want to say specifics because they aren't good words. Just don't plan on it. If it happens, great, but I have seen so many of my friends get...well, not get assigned with their spouse, even when they were MACP.

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The army is very PC if your spouse is also in the army. Being another branch seems to be the breaking point of their patience.

Not even dude, mabye all you guys just got hooked up over the years but a ton of people I know have been screwed over. Expect the best, prepare for the worst.

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So.. said woman really likes to screw over dual military couples. There is plenty of evidence to prove this. My spouse got orders to Korea and "MACP will match you up after" because I "could not leave my current duty station as I am SOOO important." Not true. I'm not that important. We ran everything up both of our chains of command. Brigade commander told me he'd sign off on anything so I could go somewhere else to be with my spouse. Division leadership gave me a green light to leave. Everything short of the CG himself (and I brief him monthly so he knows who I am). And said woman also lies. She purposefully tried to pit my spouse and and me against each other. Said woman also lied to my branch manager about me (I'm a bad officer and whatnot) and my branch manager sent one hell of a nasty email to me and CC'd my bosses (thankfully as I am NOT a bad officer and my bosses were already filled in on the situation.) All conversations were documented by my spouse and I. Fort Rucker's party line is: "you need to expect to be separated from your spouse." This is not following every single Army regulation that references "dual military" or "joint domicile." Yep, those regulations are signed by the Chief of Staff of the Army or someone else who WAY outranks said woman. We also called the person who "wrote" the MACP program and no good news there. We have documented everything. Next step: Congressional. Don't get me wrong, I know what this is as I've had several against me. Most fun was the Soldier that wrote a Congressional while on leave claiming that I didn't approve his leave. LOL. I've had worse Congressionals against me but not for this forum. My spouse and I discussed this for weeks and named every name that we could and with times/dates/name/rank/position (mostly Rucker people as all my people were on my side) and we emailed each other different versions and corrections of the Congressional and all the evidence. We had one hell of a convincing case. We were within 24 hours of hitting the send button and my branch manger called me all excited. The officer in Korea is putting in a refrad packet, so that means an empty slot for me! So.. we are both going to Korea. Yay! Was it worth it? I don't know. BLUF: You need to use your best judgement, READ EVERY SINGLE REGULATION that even mentions your issue and don't be afraid to call people on it, but still know your place.

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The above example is only one of MANY I've heard of. I'm not saying that any of us deserve anything...just do not *expect* anything either. Also, I'm not MACP or married or anything so I've got no dog in this fight...just seen too many of my friends go through this to know that, in this case, "the Army looks out for dual military" is not necessarily the case.

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  • 1 month later...

All,

 

Thanks for all the input. I don't start IERW until next summer anyway (currently rotting away as an assistant S3 on staff in Kuwait, yay). Yeah, from what I've been able to gather, it's a crap shoot with being dual-military, more so as two officers (one of which is about to become a Warrant - ha, best decision ever) in two different branches. Currently my wife is looking into converting into Air Force Public Health so her options will open drastically.

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