NEW TO NAVY! HELP!

[NavyStrong]

Hey Wonderful Navy Ladies,

My name is Jessica and I am a newlywed, just got married in Aug. My husband is currently in BC AT IL, and his PIR will be in 11/27. I am new to this NAVY/Military world. I am trying my best to figure out the terminologies, procedures and overall everything else that follows along after marrying a Sailor. 

I am not sure how/when I am supposed to get my Military ID. I heard that is better to get it soon, so that when PIR comes along I can be on base. I really need a lot of help finding out about health care and housing. We have a two year old son, so healthcare is a top priority! I am still in college in NY, so I will be staying here when he goes off to Pensacola for A School. My concern is after, when he gets stationed. HELP!!!  

[KEB]

Hi!!! I'm newlywed too and my husband graduates in a few weeks! I can help!

Call his recruiter and ask him to set you up at the DEERS office for an appointment. That's how you'll get your ID/ insurance. Once he's at BC you'll be on his insurance! You're on it now :) You currently have Tricare Standard. They just need to give you a military ID card for you to use it at the offices etc. You need to contact the Deer or his recruiter and find out what you need to do next. (I contacted my recruiter and he set me up with the Deers office. I called them and made an appointment for the next day. Boom!) My husband went into boot camp and within 2 weeks, talked to my recruiter and I was already making my doctors appointment! We have a child, so of course your children will be covered 100% as well. It will all be clear at the DEERS office. They give you a military ID card with his info on it and everything. Takes 20 minutes. They'll give you TriCare (your insurance) and a number. You have to call Tricare and make sure everything is squared away. They'll tell you that you can choose Prime or Standard. You'll be automatically enrolled in Standard. Standard is where you pick your own doctor (in the network) but you do have copays and you do have to pay a certain amount. Prime you pay nothing, but they assign you doctors. Alot of people do prime because they don't want to pay out of pocket. You get the same quality health care, you can change your doctor if you don't like them etc etc... You can stay on standard while you wait for Prime to kick in if you switch.

As for housing, you should be getting his paychecks on the 1st and 15th of each month. Depending how long he's been in you may not get it the 15th(tomorrow)... you may just get one the next month on the 1st. It'll include his basepay(depending on his rank going in E1, E2, E3), BAH (housing allowance based on where YOU live... you can google BAH calculators and see how much you'll get for rent etc based on your zipcode) and extra money for other things, I can't remember lol The money is a bit different when they're in boot camp, I think they take out for uniforms and other things that they buy in boot camp... so don't be alarmed at first if the pay is different than what you think. If anything is ever wrong with pay, he can talk to advisers afterward about it.

I'm from NY as well :)

If he goes off to A school to Pensacola for more than 6 months, they'll pay for your move to live down there with him (trucks moving people etc etc). If he's there for less than the 6 month time, you can still move there with him but you have to pay for the move. They may not let you live with him the first month. He's got to go through the A-School Phases of Liberty... you can google that and see what they are! Once he's done with that, he can live with you. :) When he get's his station for permanent duty, it'll obviously be longer than 6 months :) Of course they'll pay for the move and you can go with him. I think though he may have to take some family classes/moving classes? I may be wrong. I saw something on here about that... I'm going to ask my hubby after PIR to look that up for when the time comes for us to move to his permanent duty station.

Unfortunately it looks like my hubby will only have A School in Great lakes for a couple weeks... so we'll separated still until he get's stationed somewhere for duty :( Ugh, as if this torture of 2 months being apart wasn't bad enough as newlyweds!!!

The better your husband does in A-School, the better his chances are of getting the station he wants! They choose like top 1, 2, 3,4 of the places they want... :)

Anyway, I hope I helped! I know the insurance thing seems daunting, but it really isn't. If you contact his recruiter (or the recruiting office where he was before he shipped off) then they'll give you the DEERS number. You may just be able to call the DEERS office directly from google. Make sure you have his SS# handy! Once you're set up with insurance you can go to the TriCare website and find a provider who is in that network. I had a bunch in my area to choose from. It was easy!

Anywhos! That's it :)

Hope I helped!

[NavyStrong]

(KEB)

First of, I would love to say congratulations on your marriage and your commitment to love, it is a lovely new chapter in your life, especially a military one :)

And secondly, You have no idea how much you have helped me out right now! I give you a million blessings and thank you's! I called the recruiter and he told me I have to wait for a letter from BC that my husband has to mail to me, and with that letter I can call DEERS and set up an appointment to get my ID. My husband is going to A school in pensacola for exactly 6 months, so I wont be moving over there, however I will visit frequently. I'm so glad you took your precious time to lay this out for me like this, I am forever thankful! 

I wonder what are the top stations sailors love to go to? I haven't really done much research on that since I am so busy with school, work and mommy duties, but once he is out of BC I will definitely start checking out places.

I wish you and your family the best of luck, congratulations once again on your marriage, and thank you for all your help.

[Lily_ter'swife]

Hi jess,
I'm in the same boat, but we dont have kids yet! :) we got married the end june. Then 22 days later, I dropped him off at meps for bc. Tell your husband that when he gets to boot he needs to enroll you in the DEERS program.

Once in boot he will be able to send the paperwork. I got it by weekend 2.My husbands recruiters were and still are helpful.
Call them up and they should be able to find the right office for you to bring in the paperworkbr />

The office I went to was an army reserve place and man were those guys quiet. No chit chatting with them lol
I felt like such a noob! But the card printed right there for me :) I felt awesome! You are enrolled in the health care then. I would call tricare to find drs near you.

dental is optiinal, and you need to pay for it he should send that too, but you will need a power of attourney to get it. But if he calls to set it up, it only takes like 20 min and then you are done! :) lol I had my husband do it the night of graduation!

The military id is like your insurance card. For bc, you only use your DL and you have ti have the special parking permit you print off a week or so b4 graduation.
Dont throw out the first generic letter! :).the pw for getting your pass is on there!

Fyi you wouldn't be able to go to a school with him unless it was over 6 mo.

I'm at the part of trying to figure out the whole moving bid. so far I know nothing! :(

I'm very stressed out. Were supposed to be in norfolk maybe by the end of nov!

ALSO! I know not every sailor gets held, but my husband got held up for paperwork issue! I only got ti see him got like 5 min after graduation, and then me and his parents proceeded to wait for 5hrs! :( he was supposed to fly out the next day and we were not impressed! We did get to spend extra liberty time with him that weekend tho. He got stuck at GL for 2wks! :(

Best wishes girl! :)