Military Families
hippiegirl884
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new to the board (intro)
hippiegirl884
member
Hello
I lurk mostly but I thought now would be a good time to introduce myself. I'm a new mommy and new army wife. My DH left for basic about 8 months ago and is now in Germany. I am patiently (as best as I can) waiting to move over there with him.
He has not been around for the birth or the first 6 months now and I miss him a lot, especially these last couple nights of teething. Do any of you fine ladies have advice about moving, getting passports, living overseas, winter in northern germany with a 6-12 month old, helping DH adjust to being a daddy, etc...
thanks and I look foward to getting to know you all 
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Re: new to the board (intro)
Welcome...
We just back from living overseas. It is COLD in Germany in the winter.
I would suggest shipping your household goods as soon as it's possible so that way you are not waiting forever on that end. I always find that it's easier to sit at your current base with nothing than your new base. Also, it can take up to 8ish weeks for it to get there.
I am currently in southern Germany, and it is already getting cold. If you are going to be in Northern Germany, I would definitely recommend some very warm clothes. We get lots of snow. Ship your household goods and unaccompanied baggage ASAP. It can take up to 45-60 days to get your stuff. Also, if you are trying to mail anything to yourself in Germany, note that parcel (the slowest and cheapest) can and will take over 30 days to arrive.
To come over to Germany, you will need to get an EFMP screening for both you and your LO. Also, you will need to get no-fee passports to come over here, which can take about 6 weeks. If you want to travel, you will need separate tourist passports for yourself, LO, and DH. Germany is a great place, but can be very different from living in the States. Enjoy the time here and do a lot of traveling.
Thank you both for the advice. I am also going to be in Hohenfels, but I thought that was northern (I should look at the map better
).
I already have the efmp screening done and I'm now just waiting for the notorized paper from my DH so I can get the passport for my LO without him there. I am also planning on mailing over some of the baby things that are essentail. Do you know about cribs? Do they loan some for the time being? Also, what does housing look like over there?
One last question...flying over there with an infant, would he get his own seat or would he be a lap infant and I buy an extra seat for him.
thanks again for helping!
The ACS here at Hohenfels is great about lending things for incoming families. They don't have cribs, but they do have pack'n'plays and high chairs, along with other household needs. I am not sure what you have heard, but be prepared that Hohenfels is a small base. It is nice though, because you get to know a lot of people.
As for housing, it varies from place to place. I am assuming your H is a PVT or PFC if he just got out of basic (let me know if I am wrong). If that is the case, you will probably be living on post, which is either stairwell housing or townhomes. There is not a lot of housing on post, so you could also be living outside of base in one of the towns nearby. Housing is actually pretty big over here compared to base housing in the States.
Talk to SATO about your son. I think you can get your own seat for him. I would definitely bring his carseat and stroller though. You can borrow some from ACS, but most people are more comfortable with their own.
If you want to find out more about Hohenfels, there are a couple of Facebook groups you can join. There is the U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels page, that is the official page. Their discussion page is often answered by people at ACS. Also, there is the Army Wives of Hohenfels. Both of these are great resources to answer other questions. Also, if you want, feel free to PM me anytime.
He is an SPC so I don't know if that makes a difference. Thank you for the facebook group info.
I heard it was very small but so far they have been able to give my H a lot of good info, but communication is still delayed some between us. I'm very happy to hear that housing is not too small. I have been worrying about all the baby stuff and wondering if I should start pairing down some of the stuff, but I'm not sure we are done having kids and I don't want to get rid of too much stuff.
Get the EFMP screens done asap and email them to him. Most places will not give you the no fee passports unless you have approved CS. Some will actually process and hold, other won't touch it until you have proof. Not sure how the signature is going to work...passports require original signature in front of the agent. Maybe a POA? You can travel on the no-fee, my family did the entire time we were there. However, it is recommended to get the tourist passport.
Ensure that you keep the itinerary showing you came into country so that when he in processes you the COLA gets started properly.