Girlfriends, Fiances,and Wives of Sailors

You can use his SSN as your medical ID number.  Some pharmacies will work for you if they know your ID is forthcoming.  Some won't.  

A step-child can be on Tricare without being adopted by the service member.  He will need to be on the page two.  Just as long as you are the custodial parent, it is allowed.

Hey everyone, I'm new to this whole experience and my boyfriend just deployed.  I'm having such a hard time at this whole thing. Any advice?

Deployed as in his ship went to sea, or did he just leave to boot camp?

not boot camp. he's been in the navy since 09

Just checking, sorry.  Sometimes new ladies use deployment to refer to going to basic.

Do you have his ship email address yet?  Ask him if he can give your contact info to the ombudsman, some are willing to include GFs in the information loop.  Best of luck!

Yes, he has contacted me through the email, thank goodness! but it's all so new to me still and its very hard.

Hi everybody! I've been watching this page for a while, but haven't actually posted anything.  My boyfriend just deployed this week, and I'm going crazzyyy. It's our first deployment together.  When he left he didn't have an email yet, so as of right now theres no way for us to keep in contact...has this happened to anyone else? if so, how long did it take to hear from them? thanks :)

alrighty thanks so much! 

Yeah, it depends on what all is going on with the ship, if they are on top of it, if he is new to the ship or coming from a squadron or other ship then it can take a little bit of time to get it all set up. They have a lot of sailors that will be needing one probably. Typical Navy, hurry up and wait! hope you hear from him soon!

Okay thank you!!  Waiting is difficult, but then again it's not like waiting wasn't expected.

HI, my husband has been fast attack for all his military career so far. However since we have had 2 little ones he is considering switching to Boomer as he heard its better for family life. Can anyone tell me which ports have boomers? i know of georgia and washington do but i was wondering if there was anywhere else?

Kingsbay and Bangor are your only two options, Mrs. Coop :)

Does anyone know if there is an online site that we can go to to see what apartments or houses are available on base in Great Lakes? The husband is going to be getting us our place soon but he is really stressed out with ATT school so I'd love to be able to help out in any way I can.

That Facebook page is awesome! They have so many pictures of different housing in different areas. 

Also, sometimes the housing people will have websites with pictures. Up here in WA, it's Forest City that manages the housing, down in GC its Balfour Beatty. So if you can find out who manages it, you may be able to do a quick google search to find a website for that specific housing is available and what it looks like on base. :)

I searched it myself. Found two useful links for you besides the Facebook page "Moving House for the Military Spouse"

Forest City Great Lakes - The website to Forest City who manages the housing.

Housing Info - The link to the command's webpage for housing.

I just got my first email from my boyfriend :) sigh of relief for sure!!!  but i feel on top of the world right now :)

Am I the only crazy person who is wearing a dress for graduation on February 1st?! I've been living in Chicago for 20 years now and I know what Chicago cold is like. It's not my first time wearing a dress or skirt in mid winter. But I really want to look good for my future sailor!

When our son had his PIR, it WA  December and I wore a skirt, hose, an  heels, so no, I don't think you're crazy :-)

Hello Ladies, I wanted to ask if anyone knows the requirements for live ashore? I know that he has to fill out the pack and put in the chit but I want to know what are the requirements in order for him to actually be approved? (FYI we been married for almost a year, with a daughter and a baby on the way, and his school is going to be longer then 6 months, also he is E2 if any of that helps)

Tricare does not pay for contacts, just the eye exams.  I'm on Prime, their vision coverage sucks.

We're retirees, so we can't use the base eye doctor.  I think you may be able to, but you;ll need to ask.  Basically, you call Tricare for the names of docs on their list, or you just ask the doctor you'd like to use.  It makes a difference what type of eye doc they are, off the top of my head, I can't remember optometrist or opthamologist.  

Your husband will get free glasses.  Dependents do not.  

http://www.military.com/benefits/tricare/tricare-vision-benefits.html

It's been our experience that Stateside, Active Duty dependents have to go off base for their eye exams. Overseas, we went on base. Though there is a lady here at Ft Meade who said base medical was able to see her for her eye exam. (I don't know if there were special circumstances or not.)

We call Tricare or look on their website to find an eye doctor in their network, then we get one free exam a year (on prime). We pay the difference for the contact exam part of the appointment, and we pay for our own glasses and contacts. I've found its cheaper to get my prescription from the insurance covered doctor, then go somewhere else to buy the glasses.

If you are overseas and you are currently wearing contacts, they will renew your prescription but they won't do the initial contact exam (where they teach you how to put them in and everything) - at least that's the policy our last base had, and we were overseas.

cafepress.com and zazzle.com too!

I don't care for the quality from cafepress, their shirts shrank and faded.

So we found out that in order for him to live ashore one of us needs to have a driver's license (which neither one of us has yet) but does anyone know if we need a driver's license in order for me and my daughter to get a house on base, without my husband living with us?

I don't think they will let you do that, but I could be wrong.  The beat bet would be to contact housing where he's stationed and ask them.  I would also encourage at least one of you to get your license, especially since, depending on where you're stationed (and, for example, if your housing is inside the fence line) public transportation won't be available.  (Some bases greatly restrict what cabs can get on base, and don't allow public bus services.)  The good thing about that is, as long as you are 18 Or older, the process for getting a license is MUCH easier, quicker, and cheaper than if you are 16 or 17.  You don't need drivers ed, and you don't have to wait the 6 months.   We are going through this with our daughter.  She's overseas and doesn't have a US license (and they won't recognize the one she has, since its military issued, not an international or Japanese one).

Good luck!

Thanks sailorwifenmom! I'm actually hoping to go Monday to take the test for my permit. We're definitely over 18 :) (23 to be exact) but since I lived in NYC my whole life is has just been more convenient to use public transportation here but we are quickly learning that may not be the case for many other states. Getting my permit shouldn't be too hard, its the license part that I am worried about since I an terrified of driving and I don't know how long it will take for me to pass. I am hoping that we can still be able to move on base since I am expecting our second child and would love to be near him during the pregnancy. 

Here's the housing contacts:

http://www.cnic.navy.mil/GreatLakes/FleetAndFamilyReadiness/Housing...

Seahorse... her husband is a student at Great Lakes, where permission to reside  offbase/in base housing has very specific parameters. 

Be careful when getting a new ID in a new state.  It is one of the steps in changing state residency, which can cause problems later.  I mostly thinking of taxes and vehicle registration.  Both TX and FL have no personal income tax, so she's good there, but be careful about her voter registration, and vehicle registration/insurance.

SSN is federal, that can be done anywhere.  

I didn't change my name for a couple years because I didn't want to redo all my uniforms.  

Not sure if this counts as an advertisement or not, and if it does, I do apologize.  But, if there are any spouses in the Ft. Meade area that's interested in taking the COMPASS class, send me a message and I'll get the info to you.  They're getting ready to run one at Annapolis, and the Navy spouses here are more than welcome to go.  (If transportation is a problem, I'm willing to meet you / you an  your Sailor somewhere on base prior to the class, then some people could ride with me.)

Is anyone in Gulfport, MS? My hubby is currently there for training and I was wondering if anyone else's hubby was there as well?

Navywife2010, My husband is at Keesler AFB for A school. He's been there since Nov. and I went to visit for a week over Christmas.

Hello Everyone,

We currently have been receiving Chicago BAH since they assumed we would be moving to Great Lakes while my husband is in A school, since we are staying in NY would anyone know how long it would take to get the BAH switched over and if they would even switch it to begin with? Chicago BAH is definitely not enough for me and my daughter to get our own place here in NYC. We've been staying with my parents but with another baby on the way we can't stay with them for long there just isn't enough room for us to stay, which is why we are looking to get our BAH changed.

Thank You 

All he has to do is go to PSD and give them the address, let them know you aren't moving right away.  It can a couple weeks, or a couple pay cycles.  You can get full BAH even if you are living with your parents.  

Here's the calculator:

http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm

He'll need a copy of a lease though, but your parents can draw one up for you.  Or you can move and use the new one.  Ask for a military clause in case you must move.

Oh and make sure the military clause covers dependents, too.  There have been some cases of landlords trying to pull crap like "well, we're going to let the Active Duty member out of it, but the spouse doesn't "have" to go..." crap.  Most of the time, it doesn't work, but it's still a huge hassle.  There was a realtor who tried this on some friends in Norfolk a few yrs ago.  

I hope the housing office put him on their blacklist!

I'm pretty sure they did, because it was a huge mess, they had apparently tried it with more than one family.  They got it straight and were able to leave with him, but still, it was a pain in the butt for them.  

Angie - is this true when the dependents live in a locale with a lower BAH also?  I read this to address if they live in a place with higher BAH (D.C.) than where the service member is stationed. 

We are considering me moving home while he is deployed because we own a house there that the tenants will be leaving about the time he leaves for deployment.  The difference between the BAHs is about $1200/month, our home location being way lower.  It would make total sense for us to live in the house we are already paying the mortgage on instead of paying the mortgage and using the BAH for military housing at his station.  But it wouldn't be worth the cost of the move if we get the lower BAH. 

Someone on another site said it would be "BAH fraud" to move home where the BAH calculator says is only $800/month and still receive $2000/month for San Diego BAH, even if my husband is still stationed here, but deployed or living on the ship.  I plan on stopping by the housing office tomorrow and seeing what is actually the policy, but your timely post had me thinking.  Thanks!

The BAH for the schools would depend on the length of the school and whether the family is authorized to move... so a maybe yes and maybe no situation during training.