new to this 'military' world..questions?
oliverjam92
member
ok, well my finace and i are getting married nov 13th, he comes home from AIT nov 4th. his duty station is at Fort Benning, Georgia. So far, we plan on leaving to go there together,,but i'm worried, how long will it take the army to get our marriage papers and when will i be aloud to go live with him? and do we need on-base housing for him to come home or what..
also, i'm 22 weeks pregnant, and i was wondering how the army does the whole prenatal care and delivery thing? is it the same as in other places, or no? for some reason i picture people in military attire walking around and the hospital being a very disciplined place. it kind of scares me :P
anyone who knows anything about any of those questions, please feel free to respond! haha :]
Re: new to this 'military' world..questions?
He will have to bring in his marriage certificate and get you 'into the system'...on his insurance, a military ID card, start receiving BAH etc. Most places have a very long waiting list to get into military housing...I'm talking 10-12 months. As soon as he is married he can move out of the barracks...he will need to get his comrats (meal card) switched over. BAH for us took about 15 days to kick in. The Naval hospital where I'm at has a lot of uniformed people working in it but also a lot of civilians. Our Dr. wore scrubs and a lab coat just like every other Dr. but was a Captain in the Navy. It is a little more disciplined in a sense I guess i.e. normal military respect rules apply. When I was there I had no issues...it is just stuff you get used to being a military wife! I am stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC with my husband who's in the Marine Corps if you have any other questions!
In addition to this, your marriage certificate will need to be the certified or official copy. I know all states are different, but where we got married (AZ) we signed it the day of, the Chaplain mailed it off, and then like 4 weeks later we received the certified copy of it in the mail. So we were not able to get my into the system as soon as we were married. Also, I got my new SS card and drivers license before we went to do all this, I have no idea if you have to have that other stuff before you can be put into the system, but it sure did seem to make the process smoother. Also, I had to be there with him, I had to sign some documents and get my picture taken for my Military ID, so you will have to find a time that you can both go, and they are only open M-F until 4 (at least here at Nellis).
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!!
Your DH will need to have the original copy of your marriage certificate...make copies, get them certified and leave one in a lock-box so you always have an official copy. When he is in-processing he needs to tell his in-processing SGT that he needs to get you registered in DEERS and TriCare...etc. (In fact, have him start talking to someone NOW who can give him guidance as specifically what to do and when...we've been in this game awhile so my memory is failing a bit, LOL). You WILL be allowed to go with him, but his orders need to state ACCOMPANIED...that's one of the reasons he needs to start talking NOW so that his orders can be appropriately adjusted. You do NOT need on-post housing, but he can go to the Ft. Benning website and get on the waitlist.
You'll see some soldiers in uniform, but fear not! You are a SPOUSE (or will be soon
) and your doc will most likely be a civilian contractor...not always...but they'll be dressed in scrubs just like everyone else. I don't know if Ft. Benning has a training hospital or not...here at Ft. Hood we do, so if I've got a doc/PA in training, he/she is in uniform, otherwise, you'd never know unless you see their id card with their rank.
PM me if I can be of any further assistance!!
The Dogs and Us
You are absolutely right...I should've phrased that differently...start talking now so he knows what to do to get his orders changed to accompanied as soon as you're married! (Good catch, and THANKS!)
First congratulations!
Until you receive your official marriage license and are in the system you do not exist in the eyes of the Army. Your DF will not be able to get accompanied orders until then. After you do get into the system you and your DH should stop by JAG to get a Power of Attorney. Then you can take care of issues yourself if you would otherwise need your DH.
As for prenatal care it is the same as anywhere else. You can take a look on Tricare's website to see the differences between Prime and Standard. They also list was is covered. At my MTF they have a policy that they will not tell you the gender of the baby! So we went to the nearest city an hour and a half away at got an elective 3d/4d one. Since Tricare says that they will not cover u/s that determine gender they made the policy.
BFP 2/17/12 EDD 10/24/12 MM/C 3/22/12 D&C 3/27, 4/4, 4/9
my currently-reading shelf:
Our MTF has no such policy, seeing as how we learned the gender of this baby at our anatomy scan ultrasound 17 weeks ago. Are you sure you didn't misunderstand the policy at your MTF? An anatomy scan is an essential part of prenatal care, and is when most women find out the gender of their child. Learning the gender is not the reason for the ultrasound, it's just an added bonus.
FWIW - I also did not find out the gender of my DS at my 20 week ultrasound. I had to take the pictures to my OB and they confirmed the sex for me, not the U/S tech.
in my experience, which was Air Force so it is slightly different, we got married between husbands tech school (like AIT) and his reporting to Nellis. He took leave between those dates, which gave us enough time to get the certified marriage certificate rom the county courthouse. i think they actually did a rush for us since the hubby was military and had orders, so be sure to ask about that.
he requested a DITY move (do it yourself) rather than having the AF ship his stuff. that way we were able to rent a Penske and load it up with all of our stuff and drive it from TN to Nevada. I wasn't on his orders, but since he did a DITY and it was stateside, it was like I was just tagging along for the ride. We got there with marriage certificate in hand and got me into DEERS and Tricare before he even checked into billetting. And we had no problem.
Of course, each branch operates differently. So, my story may not have been much help.
That is incorrect.
The Standard of Care in the Military Health System (and civilian world for the most part) is to cover 2 Ultra Sounds during a healthy/normal pregnancy.
For additional U/S to be covered there must be a medical necessity.
So if your healthy baby does not show off his/her 'parts' at the 20 week Diagnostic U/S, then you are not going to get an additional U/S JUST TO FIND OUT the gender. If you want to know, you will have to pay out of pocket.
However, if you really want to know and are low on cash, you can look around for an U/S tech school in your area. The students will practice on you for a discounted cost.
My daughter got married last year, just before her DH went into the military. They took the license to the county get certified copies themselves, the next business day after their wedding. They then went to the social security office, you must have your original SS card plus the certified document to get a new SS card with your married name.
The next stop was the drivers license office. Then they went to the bank. They were able to get all the name changing done in a single day. The key was taking the license to the courthouse themselves. Doing that saved weeks of waiting for it to come in the mail.
No one said you can't go with him. In fact, you can go with him. However, there are things that you and he need to do once you get there.
Read through the above posts, make a list of the things that were suggested to you, review it with your new husband, and get those things done. No one is going to do all of this for you, and if you want to live with your new husband you are going to have to learn to sort through this stuff on your own. A military spouse needs to have a certain level of resiliency and be proactive... your reply makes me think that you are not quite there yet. Good luck.
Ditto. Ultrasounds for entertainment purposes are not covered (for instance 3D/4D) but those that are done for medical purposes are. We were told the gender at our anatomy scan, so I don't really know why this particular MTF had a policy against this.