New Information on BAH

BAH- You are entitled to BAH from the moment his feet touch yellow footprints. Tell you husband to take a voided check with him. If you need the BAH payments for bills he will have to request from his DI to take the voided check with him to the RAB office (Recruit Admin Branch 619-524-8174). They will be able to set him up about 2 weeks after boot start with payments that are sent home to you. I did not get this benefit. It has taken me nearly the entire 3 months of my husband’s boot camp to find this information. Luckily we only have 3 weeks left (as of 3/21/12) and our BAH and FSA is being paid directly to his account at boot camp. Never fear ladies, you ARE being paid!


Wife’s Guide to USMC Boot Camp (incomplete)

So your husband is off to Marine Corps Boot Camp? (Any boot camp really)

 

To Do BEFORE he leaves: 

Draw up a Power Of Attorney and have it notarized

Fill out form DD 1172-2 and have it notarized

Place social security cards, birth certificates, marriage licenses, POA and 1172 in some sort of portable protective sleeve (i.e. an accordion folder).

 

 

Power of Attorney – Get one before he leaves. Have some sort of signed and notarized document stating that you are his power of attorney while he is gone. This will grant you access to his bank accounts, allow you to sign for him if anything happens in an emergency, and also allow you to get your dependent ID which will allow you to be enrolled in DEERS and the Tri-Care program. *** Please note, this is the statement from all ID card issuing offices If your Military Sponsor is unable to accompany you to your visit(i.e. bootcamp), a valid “General” or “Special” Power of Attorney will allow you to conduct business on your sponsor’s behalf.The POA must state you are authorized to conduct DEERS updates/card issuance/enrollments. You may get this document at your local Legal office. Please, for the love of all things holy, have this statement placed in your POA. The run around you get if you have a POA without this statement is ridiculous. Make sure you have this before he/she leaves!

 

DEERS - This is going to sound funny. You do not have benefits of your Marine until you are enrolled into DEERS. You do not pass go, you do not collect $200. You are automatically enrolled in DEERS during your ID card processing. You really will want your 1172 form with you for this process if you get grief over your POA “not being worded correctly” (experienced this) http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/forms/eforms/dd1172-2.pdf filled out and notarized before he leaves, ladies! Instructions to fill this out are here: http://www.cac.mil/docs/1172-2-Instructions.pdf. Fill out sections 1, 2 and 4. This little puppy right here is a voucher that will save your butt a million times. It’s called the DD 1172-2 form if that link ever stops working. Google it and a PDF should pop up. Print it out, fill it out and notarize it. Take it to your nearest RAPIDS office and get enrolled in DEERS after he leaves. Sometimes, people will just hate your POA and the 1172 form is what will get you out of hot water.

 

Military ID - To use TRICARE, you must be registered the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) and have a valid uniformed services or military identification (ID) card. The ID card states on the back, in the “Medical” block, whether you are eligible for medical care from military or civilian sources.When getting care, your provider will ask to see a copy of your ID card and will make copies for his or her records.  Please ensure you have your ID card with you whenever you are getting care or having prescriptions filled.

Ladies please realize that he is in the United States Military now. Just because he is not officially a Marine until he graduates, does not mean you both haven’t signed up for the military. Benefits start immediately (though they may not be in the system until 30 days into boot) and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Go to this site: https://rapids-appointments.dmdc.osd.mil/appointment/default.aspx to make an appointment with your closest ID card issuing office. Have your social, marriage license, Power of Attorney, Form DD 1172-2, and Driver’s License ready when you get there. Don’t expect anyone at any of these offices to be in a good mood. It’s the DMV of the military.

Tri-Care- The second you have your military ID in your hot little hands, you are enrolled in Tri Care Standard.

Let me explain the difference between Standard and Prime in simpleton terms. Tri-Care Standard will allow you to see doctors off base and doctors of your choice. It also means that there is around about a $1000 deductible for catastrophic events. For just regular visits there is a 15% payout. Meaning the military is going to pay 85% of your bill and you will pay the other 15%. You have a copay of $15 for each visit, each time you pay $15, your $1000 catastrophic deductible goes down by, you guessed it, $15!

Tri Care Prime is completely different. You HAVE to see a base doctor at the base clinic. So if you’re needing to see your regular family physician off base you have to call the base hospital doctor and have them refer you to that other doctor. There is no way for them to just see you up front. The benefit of Tri Care Prime is that your medical is 100% covered. No out of pocket expenses.

It’s really up to you and your family which package you’d like to enroll into. If you choose Standard now you can always enroll in Prime later. So long as you enroll by the 20th of the month, your coverage for Prime will begin on the first of the following month.

BAH- You are entitled to BAH from the moment his feet touch yellow footprints. Tell you husband to take a voided check with him. If you need the BAH payments for bills he will have to request from his DI to take the voided check with him to the RAB office (Recruit Admin Branch 619-524-8174). They will be able to set him up about 2 weeks after boot start with payments that are sent home to you. I did not get this benefit. It has taken me nearly the entire 3 months of my husband’s boot camp to find this information. Luckily we only have 3 weeks left (as of 3/21/12) and our BAH and FSA is being paid directly to his account at boot camp. Never fear ladies, you ARE being paid!

 

The Unofficial Wife’s Guide to Boot Camp

This is basically a post about a future post. I’m going to stand up on my soapbox for a moment and whine about the serious lack of information for us wives who were married before I men joined the armed services. I have asked 20 different people the same question and received 20 different responses. I do understand the military is geared for the fresh out of high school, 18 year old, who hasn’t even thought about marriage. Surely we are not the first people to go through this. Of course we aren’t! So why the lack of knowledge? This is where I am going to start writing down everything I find out and publish it so that, in the future, some other poor wife can finally find the answers she NEEDS to know now! I think it’s something that should be taught to every recruiter because even though 99% of those guys coming through the door are 18, occassionaly you might have the 25 year old stroll through your door who has lost 140lbs and been married for a while and can finally feel confident stepping through your hatch.  I can’t wait to share my knowledge with you ladies. :) Good luck!

 

 

8 Questions for the future Marine’s Wife.

I feel like I’m asked constantly, crazy questions about my husband joining the Marines. I just want to start going over things I’ve found and answer some general question. I won’t claim to know everything, because I don’t. I just know that this wasn’t a decision we took lightly, nor did we rush into it. We both researched it for well over a year before making the decision.

Aren’t you scared something will happen to him?

Well DUH! If you think I’m not freaked out about him going to a country that’s a little less than welcoming than you’re crazy. But on that note, I’m also afraid that he’ll get in a wreck, his acetylene bottle might blow up,  he doesn’t have enough for his lunch, that he might have a blowout on the way to work, that his undies aren’t clean, and that he could possibly get blown up by a rogue pipeline he’s digging. If I were to fear this so much as to not let him go to work then he and I would never leave the house. I have faith that God will provide for us and God will protect us. “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Why did he join?

The simple answer: Because he wanted to join. The more lengthy answer: He never thought he could. He always thought he was too big and when one day he mentioned it was a lost dream I pushed him to try for it. When he realized it was still obtainable we sat down and gave it some serious thought. I can’t fully answer for him. I just know it was always his dream. He is truly amazing when it comes to jobs or careers that require a brotherhood. Firefighting was something he was so passionate about for so long that it broke my heart when he gave it up to move to a better job and better paying town. I’m happy that’s he’s going to have brothers again.

Isn’t he too old to start this now?

No. You can join the Marines/Military up until you are 28 or 29. He’s still a very youthful 26 and he’s not decrepit by any means! People make it sound like by his age he should be having incontinence problems and can’t keep up with his dentures. Granted, he’s got some age on these piss and vinegar filled, fresh out of high school, 18 year olds, but I really think this may give him an edge. Was your head on straight at 18? No, I didn’t think so. He’s got the maturity, calm, appreciation, and determination to fill any role handed to him and lead. God bless him, my man is a natural leader and teacher.

What about your future kids? You want them growing up around that lifestyle?

Heck yea! I can’t tell you how much I look forward to my kids running around on bases not having to worry (so much) about sickos trying to kidnap my children. They can play all day and I know that if they get in trouble someone will call me to tell me what they’re up to.

Can you financially handle this?

To which I really must reply, “is it any of your business?” And yes.

What about all that moving?

Trust me. I’m used to it now. Pipeline and Windmills had us all over the nation. This will be my 7th, 8th, 9th move? I’ve lost count. Besides, we do know that even the military is going through a recession. Most places you stay for at least 3 years before you have the option to move again. Honestly, after having moved so much, after a couple of years both of us find ourselves getting antsy for something new and exciting. Most people tend to take a vacation at this point, we tend to pack up and move. Perhaps God lead us to this path because he knew that my husband and I were nomads at heart.

 

What if he’s deployed?

Is it going to suck? Yes. Is it something that thousands, if not millions of other wives have been through? Yes. Will I survive 7 months without my husband? Yes. Will it be hard, tiresome, and grueling figuring out stuff on my own? Yes. Can I do it? Yes. Will I complain about it? Hopefully not publicly because Lord knows I grow very tired of people complaining about it.

 

Won’t you miss him while he’s at bootcamp/ deployed?

Uhh yea! Pretty much the same answer as above. But I do know that he is doing a service to our country. I do know that the Marines train their men to come home no matter the circumstances. I know that what he is doing is good. This is a comforting thought to me.

 

I hope I answered a few questions to the 4 readers I have out here in internet land. I hope you will continue to journey with me as I discover a new road God has laid down in my life and his… I hope to continue writing about it and maybe one day it’ll help another future Marine’s wife.