new wife moving to GL soon

[envy0629]

Hi everyone my name's Nicole.

I have a few questions, needing help. My husband and I just got married last weekend, basically whats next? He's in ATT school in GL, will be in GL at least until next summer. I'm wondering how long is the process with paperwork until i can move there? We'd like to live on base housing.

 

Is deers the paperwork we need to get done in order for me to move?

Any advice or comments would help.

 

Thank you :)

[Ash]

It is hard to figure out what the best thing to do is when all your options and the rules etc are never totally clear and we can all tell you what we know but information is notoriously subjective in the Navy, so I'll tell you what I did and how I feel about it now just to give you yet another perspective.... :)
Ok, so my husband left for boot camp at the end of Oct last year, we were living in OR but I didn't want to be there by myself so we packed the car full of the stuff I didn't want to be without (we have a toddler too...so that car was FUUUUULL lol), put everything else in storage and drove me down to my mom's in CA where I was planning on staying through boot camp and until he actually got his live ashore approved. Of course as his PIR got closer I got antsy to get out there and be with him, plus we had assumed he wouldn't be graduating until January but they had pushed his division through so they were done right before Christmas, which meant he got to take up to10 leave days. But he would end up owing some of those back b/c he'd only earned like 5 and he didn't want to do that, so it wasn't really enough time to be worth flying him out to CA for Christmas...So I decided I would just move out there before his PIR and have the apartment ready and we could just stay there, not have to waste money on a hotel or anything or me flying back and forth an extra time just to be they're for his PIR/leave since I would have to do that to move out there eventually (because of my son, my dad and I drove my car packed with all the stuff I'd taken to CA then I flew back to my mom's to pick up my son and flew back out here with him). So I found an apartment and got that all set up without ever seeing the area, that was interesting but I lucked out and the place I went with is in a really safe, nice area. So I've been here since December but we still haven't moved all our stuff that's in storage out here because we wanted to do a PPM/DITY but my husband can't get leave to go out there with me to do it til he's done with a-school (he's almost done now, only a couple more weeks) but we're not even positive that the Navy will still pay for it because we've been here so long. He asked and they said that we could do it any time but I want to confirm that before we count on it being true. Plus at this point we've bought so much stuff that we'd be fine here without our stuff until our next move, our concern with that is if we get eat coast, we don't know if the Navy will pay for the stuff being moved between OR and Great Lakes since we should have already moved it. We're not sure if they'll only pay for Great Lakes to wherever on the east coast. If we got west coast it wouldn't be a problem but who knows what we'll get. We need to go to the transportation office and ask all our questions but haven't had a chance yet. (We have also thought about doing a government move but because everything is in storage we'd have to name someone out where it is to take our place when they come out to survey, pack, and load our stuff and because it's in storage someone would have to go sit around at the storage area 3 different times waiting for them to show up, from what I understand they give you a block of time for your appt not a set specific time, and I don't want to ask someone to do that. Or I could fly my son down to my mom's, fly up to OR and be there for all the appts myself, except I don't know if they do them close together, like all in a week or if they're spread out over a couple weeks...then fly back to pick up my son and home from there...which would probably cost as much as just paying out of pocket for the distance between OR and Great Lakes if they won't pay for it....so not really a good option)
So, knowing what I know now, I should have stayed at my mom's until he got his live ashore chit approved (especially because it took almost 2 months because his ship only had one yeoman who knew how to process it and was never there). Then I could have just done the flying up to OR for the government move appts from my mom's, my son would have already been there, so I would have only spent an extra $200 on plane tickets. Plus we wouldn't have spent all the money we've spent buying new stuff out here...plus the money we would have saved on rent for the extra time I was at my mom's. So really, I should have waited...but c'est la vie! Live and learn haha

For you, one thing you could think about, if your furniture and stuff isn't worth moving out (and if you're not sentimental about it) you could sell all your big stuff and pack up small stuff like clothes (those vacuum pack bags are awesome when packing clothes) etc and look into UPS freight shipping for anything you can't fit in your car. It should be somewhat cheaper than regular UPS. A friend who moved out here shipped some stuff just with the postal office and I believe it was about $100 for 50 lbs, if that gives you an idea of what you'd be looking at? Or, if your car is big enough, possibly getting one of the little uhaul trailers that attaches to the back of your car, if you feel comfortable pulling something like that? I don't know where in CA you are but if you're southern like I was, you can take the....60 I think? The one that follows along old Rt 66, there's only a couple not too bad mountain passes. That's the way we took b/c it was mid winter and wanted to avoid any snow and stuff we could.

Anyways, this is crazy long but I hope it helps some :)

[envy0629]

P.s. his heart is set on living on base -___- lol does anyone know after he's done with the paperwork will I be able to know any good details about my new home besides the tiny details he'll know. Like, will there be anyone I can contact?

[EmilyFCwife]

http://www.fcnavygreatlakes.com/
That is the website for the housing there, it is privatized, meaning not "owned" by the Navy, it's the same group that owns the housing in Hawaii where we are moving. Housing in Great Lakes varies depending on how many dependents your sailor has. I've seen a few different types, they are okay. Some are redone, others are pretty old. Some are apartment style, some are free standing homes(those generally are for higher ranking) it all depends on what's open and what you qualify for. If you email forest city they should be able to send you some pictures of the places you want to know more about. If there is a wait list you won't be on it till your hubby does all the paper work. You could ship all of your stuff and then go stay in a hotel there, if you have an id you can stay in the Navy lodge or Navy Gateway. They are pretty cheap and one is on base, the other is in housing.

[Angie]

Students are NOT allowed to stay at the Navy Gateway Inn on base!  So if she stays there he can NOT even be around that place, which means he cant' go in it at all! 

[envy0629]

ohhh wow cool, thank you for all the info! really helps. i've never seen that website before. :)

[EmilyFCwife]

Anti- They are supposed to have a car to be live ashore, but I knew a couple there and the sailor didn't even have his driver's license not sure how they got that worked out, but someone with a car is a must I do believe.

And SHE can stay at the Navy Gateway, when we were there the sailor could also if he got a special request chit, I don't know if that's changed but that's how it was in January. 

[Angie]

YES it has changed sense January!  HE can NOT stay there.   You are correct she can stay there though.

[skell456 (AO wife)]

I don't know if this will help, but here is my two cents.  A)  Do not move all your stuff all the way from Cali to GL that is a whole lot of moving for such a short time.  I know 10 months or so does not seem like a long time, but it is not.  You never know if his orders are going to change my husbands have changed 3 times so far.  They have hotels in the area that rent either monthly or weekly that really saves a lot of time and money in the long run.  So figure it's 700 a month, but you have no other bills to pay.  This is what we are doing now anyway.  My husband stays on base and I go get him everyday when liberty is called and drop him off at his time to check in and we get the whole weekend together it is really easy actually.  We have a 3 year old son and it's like being on a very long vacation. LOL!!  All of our stuff is in storage back at home.  We decided to do this because we are waiting to get orders to his permanent duty station before we move all of our things because it is so expensive and time consuming.

B)  I do not know if they do it there, but they have something here called the brown bagger chit.  Ask about that and see I do not really know all the details to it, because we are fine doing what we are doing. I just know it has something to do with married couples and there living situations.  I would wait for base housing for his permanent duty station you would have a better chance then.  Good Luck!!!!!!!

[skell456 (AO wife)]

Opps ment to say does seem like a long time. LOL

[envy0629]

thank you for all the info. i'll look into that chit. but i'm pretty sure he's getting our home tomorrow for on base house :) we don't have alot of furniture, that's why i'm so concerned. and you are very correct, it is very time consuming.