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Comment by Anti M on April 10, 2018 at 11:42am

I was in the Navy just over nine years, I was an ET1.  My husband was also an ET, which is how we met, on Diego Garcia.  He served 20 years, so is a retiree, and I am now a retiree dependent.  My nephew and my acquired kid are both Navy, an EM1 and an ET1.  My dad was in the Navy for 29 years, through three wars, with a short break between WWII and Korea. My maternal grandfather was a boatswain mate in WWI, and my paternal grandfather was a purple heart marine then.  Well before my time.

Comment by Phoenixmom on April 10, 2018 at 10:24am

Good Morning Ladies, Allison I am so Glad that things are going well with you, just knowing you are with your Hubby makes it even better!

Anti M you are so knowledgeable, how many years if I may ask were you in the navy? And you also mentioned your Hubby was also, Right? that is so amazing on all the things you have learned and experienced.

Comment by Anti M on April 7, 2018 at 9:16am

LOL, you're not in Japan.  There's all sorts of jobs there, the biggest one is teaching conversational English, followed by modeling, and even hostess jobs in Roppongi.

Comment by Allison on April 7, 2018 at 2:15am

If you’re healthy and don’t require any special care that isn’t offered at the overseas duty station your sailor has been assigned, the process is usually pretty quick…a doctor will sign off on the medical screening right there and then it’s just as long as it takes for your DOD passport and Visa to come back. 

I enjoy living over here. It can be hard sometimes, but the Navy has great resources to help us with everything. 

One piece of SOFA here is that dependents can only work on base, we can’t even work from home for most US companies. Then, there’s a certain percentage of jobs that must be filled by local nationals, and it’s very high here, so you’re talking all the wives/husbands and teenagers of active duty, retired, contractors, and others competing for a very small number of jobs. It’s very difficult to find something besides working at the food court…those jobs are usually open because they don’t pay very well at all. 

Comment by Phoenixmom on April 6, 2018 at 11:13am

Thank You for explaining, Anti M.

Comment by Anti M on April 6, 2018 at 11:04am

Permission to go overseas as a dependent has a lot of variables.  For the Navy, a sailor must be an E-4 or above to take dependents overseas (there are exceptions, but not many).  So if their orders are issued as accompanied, and the dependents pass their overseas screening, they go with them right away.  If the sailor is single when the orders are issued, and chooses to marry on leave after school, then the dependent might not be eligible to go at all if the command doesn't approve command sponsorship.  That's why many couples rush to get married in A school, before the orders are cut, just incase the detailer sends them overseas.

It is far more complicated than that, but that's one glimpse of the process.

Comment by Phoenixmom on April 6, 2018 at 10:16am

Good Morning Anti M, I see that is Great that the Navy allows that I guess all military do? I am really happy for Allison, I bet it can be hard living in another place like that. How long does one have to wait for permission?

Allison doing great things along with Hubby, so happy for you!

Have a Great Day Ladies! Happy Friday!

Comment by Anti M on April 6, 2018 at 9:24am

Phoenixmom, Sailors can be stationed overseas with their families, we have a number of bases and homeports in places like Japan, Guam, Italy, Spain, which allow dependents to live there.  The SOFA is the Status of Forces Agreement which does a lot of things concerning the military, including where and when the dependents can work, and that they have a special visa which allows them to live in that country.   SOFA is the big reason a spouse can't just go live overseas with their sailor, they must have permission in the form of command sponsorship.   

Allison, glad you found a good job!  Working overseas can be so frustrating.  I went from being an ET1 to a substitute teacher at the high school.  

Comment by Phoenixmom on April 5, 2018 at 10:38pm

So happy for you, you say overseas, don't understand, you are with your husband, that's great for How long now? Well that is great, your husband is doing very well for himself. It was great speaking with you, best wishes to you and hubby.

Comment by Allison on April 5, 2018 at 7:57pm

Oh carrier, I’m sorry, it’s very late over here, and I’m reading with only one eye open at this point lol. 

I’m doing well. I finally got a job, it can be difficult sometimes overseas with the SOFA agreements and such. Fortunately, I found something I was interested in, payed well, and was American hire, so I feel like I won the lottery! 

Husband is working on qualifications. Even on his off days, he has to go in for a couple hours for that, and I just got all his uniforms together today, so this time next week, he’ll be in his Type IIIs, which he’s very excited for. Life’s pretty boring over here though right now, but I’m not complaining…sometimes with the Navy, boring is best lol

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