I was not counting my OHA, becasue you really cannot count that becasue it is paid to your landlord not you. Unless you get the money in your bank account and convert it to WON, becasue we all know that ALL RENT paid will be in WON by regulation's. But then, now you would be loosing money converting to WON.

It really does matter, 10% of $600 is $60 so when you are used to getting $600 and only get $540 it does matter a little....

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

You don't lose because they give you the exchange rate for won on the first of each month. How did you get them to pay the rent directly to your landlord?

This is an Army program - for some reason the Air Force has never adopted it.

I understand that you do not loose because the exchange rate, but they base your cola on what the WON to DOLLAR is each month, what do you think your COLA will do when WON drops well below the dollar? Lets say $1 is worth 1500WON your COLA is going to drop like a rock. Just like now, $1 is worth around 950WON and your cola is up.

I told housing that i want my rent to go into my renters account when we signed the contract on post.

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

Do not know why they did not adopt it, but i'm sure people are making out on it, as i'm sure some Army folks have. But you have the option to pay your renter or have the money go into there account. With the way the WON is going, I'll be glad to have the Army pay them.

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

According to a new reg that went into effect in Jan 06 (there is a link somewhere in this thread that leads directly to the actual copy of the reg), yes, a NCS spouse in country gets OHA, with dependent rate. Now, I was under the impression that that OHA didn't kick in until your 91st day of your spouse being in country, that for the first 90 days you did get BAH for your last station,plus the fam sep pay, but if they're giving you OHA from day 1, that *rocks*! :)

The utility thing is a pleasant surprise! I wasn't certain if that was something we'd get if dh wasn't officially allowed to live off base!! :) It's nice to know that that cushion is available! :)

Full cola, that I expected :)

And yes, Willy , to answer your question, the way things are going, the only real difference between the benefits that command sponsored spouses, and non-command sponsored wives that go over receive are things that are more inconvienece than anything else.

a) Most obviously, a ncs spouse has to pay for their own plane fares over.

b) Medical and Dental is on Space A.

c) If you have school age children, they'll be Space A in DoD schools

d) Spouse employment is unlikely (though I'm told this is the same in cs situations as well)

and e) You're not allowed to use child care facilities on base (or weren't at the time of the writing of one post)

It's my personal opinion that if more spouses were aware of these facts, that there would be a lot more NCS spouses in country, when their husbands do remotes. One major problem is that without forums like this, and the desire to research and find out what *is* available for themselves, most spouses rely on their "Military connections" to find out information, and the information that is disseminated by officials is faulty at best, either by simply the information not being updated, or the obvious fact that it's hoped that negative information will discourage spouses to not try to go to Korea. The "talking papers" sent out by a first sgt. in Osan even stated that a spouse would have to leave the country every 90 days to "renew" their visa, which all of us here on this board know is false. My hubby emailed the 1st Sgt and told him about the A3 visa,and the change in rates that we had found, and the 1st Sgt. emailed back saying that yes, we were correct, the talking papers just hadn't been updated in awhile. Now, without the information that hubby and I had gathered (thanks, in no small part to you guys.. have I told you lately that I love ya? LOL! :) ) , I might have rethought my decision to go NCS if I had only gone by what the military was telling us.

I actually kind of had to laugh yesterday, hubby and I went to Outbound Assignments to turn in some paperwork about the acceptance of his follow-on (we got Kirtland, btw, in New Mexico... *G* break my heart, I tell ya! :) LOL :)) , and I actually found it hilarious when the lady who has my hubby's out processing folder started telling me how difficult it would be for me, that I wouldn't get any money, that I couldn't use the facilities in anyway, no medical, no commissary, no BX, etc. I replied, telling her about the regs I've learned of, found,etc...and the lady just sort of blushed, saying "Oh, I guess we just haven't had our information updated yet". One of the other sgts. in the office who used to work with hubby looked up and laughed and said "Whoa...she really *has* researched this and knows her stuff!"

It's just amazing to me how few people *really* take the time to find out what really is available for the spouses of those given remotes to Korea...

I don't expect a cake walk in our travels, I know that , as with any move overseas into a different culture, there are going to be challenges,and unexpected problems that rear their head, but honestly, if it's between spending a year alone, and going off on an adventure with my husband and family... I'm *SO* there! :) LOL :)

I'm actually planning to start a site/forum of my own when I actually get in country, to offer information to other wives planning to come NCS, including forms you may need etc. ...it seems like it's desperately needed. I just want to wait until I actually get there, because it looks kind of bogus with someone who hasn't been there yet, and isn't there, giving advice about being there! :)

Sooooo..to all you ladies and men who have begun the journey, brie, and Chuck's wives (both of them .. wait, that sounds wrong..both Chucks, and each of their wives) , we're breaking new ground here, it seems with publicizing our endeavours,and opening some doors for those who will come after us. Here's to us..the brave...the adventurous... the -insane-! :)

and welcome to our new friend, hope your hubby returns soon and safely from Iraq, until he does, you're both in my thoughts and prayers!

*hugs* and have a *great* day,everyone!

Dee :)

Long winded are we Dee..... LOL

Thank you for for clarifiying (SP) the 2 wifes of "chuck"

My family will be here July 4th!!!

The 90 day rules is what is supposed to happen, but i have been told different? I'll tell you at the end of July......

*****It's just amazing to me how few people *really* take the time to find out what really is available for the spouses of those given remotes to Korea...
*****

Dee, there are very few people that work for the Military who actually know what they are talking about. THey go by what was and not what is now....

INSANE????Sounds like you and my wife have something in common

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

Hi, short!
*hugs*
I'm Dee, spouse of Richard, we'll be coming to Osan on or around the first of November of this year, I'll be NCS just like you. Welcome to the forum, and to our little family of brave, bold,and crazy folks! (Well, crazy according to some of the military folks,and spouses you'll talk to anyway, I think we're probably the more sane of the bunch! :) )

I think everyone's pretty much answered your question about the BAH thing in talking about the OHA, but as far as housing goods go... here is what I got from outbound assignments, and our TMO here at Shaw.

You will often hear that if you have your household goods shipped or stored while you are in Korea, it will mess up your follow on. This is another fallacy! Straight from the mouths of TMO: they are the people who move your stuff from point A to point B, and that's it. They have nothing at all to do with your assignments. This was confirmed by a representative of outbound assignments who said flat out that we could even have our household goods shipped to our follow on if we wished.

Now, here's the rub in that situation... the Air Force will only move your things *one* time, hence the difficulties that spouses who choose to stay behind but move back home,etc, experience..they can either have the AF move their stuff to their residence, or to their follow-on but not *both*. If you have your stuff shipped to your follow-on , and then your follow-on gets changed, you will be responsible for the cost of having your stuff moved to the new follow-on. How often do follow-ons get changed? I honestly don't know, I would presume it would depend on one's career field, the assignment you're going into, etc... so for each person the chances of that change would be different. Statistically, from what I'm gathering from talking to others, the number of followons that get changed is not that high a percentage, compared to the overall orders given out. So, yes, the military will ship your goods to your new station, but if your follow on does get changed, you're on your own financially to get it to your next duty station from wherever it is..definitely something to take into consideration when you're making that decision.

For my hubby and I, our follow-on is pretty much, signed sealed delivered, it's ours, for several reasons, not least among them is that we had to extend his enlistment for 10 months to get it, so it's in the contract that that's the base we're going to (and yes, the base is specifically named). If they break the contract, and try to change the follow on, then that extension is null and void, and they're dealing with a whole 'nother issue there, so we feel pretty safe in sending our goods ahead.

It's really a matter of personal decision, but I would at least take the possibility of your follow-on changing and the expense of that into consideration in your thinking it out.

Also, as I've advised many others on many aspects of the NCS experience..be your own advocate! Gather knowledge on your own, from forums like this and others, don't be afraid to say "Are you aware of this reg?", if need be, have paper copies of those regs, just in case, and don't hesitate to pick up the phone and call tmo, or somewhere like that yourself, and *ask*. :)

*hugs*

When will you be arriving at Osan? :)

If I'm there first, we'll have the welcome wagon ready for ya! :)

Dee :)

Great Speech!!
I was told that we would get nothing here...no med care, bx, etc. Its so untrue. I don't understand why it is made out to be such a big deal. Its wrong to say that some families can come and some cant. Makes me sad. Anyway now that Im here its no different than anywhere else except my husband has to ride a bike to work and we walk everywhere, lol. The Koreans are really nice to us here. I mean go out of the way to be nice!
Im glad to see you arent nervous anymore Dee its not bad at all here.
By the way we are going to Luke when we leave here in AZ can't wait, but not because its bad here or anything.
Brie:-)

*G* You're just now figuring -that- one out!?!? Come on, Chuck, get with the program here! :) LOL :)


*G* Ya think? LOL :)

Actually, when I made that statement, I was more talking about spouses than actual military members. It's just easier to take what you're told, I think, than to put in the effort (joint effort in most cases, because both spouses and military members have to work hard to get all the t's crossed and i's dotted) . A lot of spouses (obviously the ones on this forum are not in that number) I know, seem almost afraid to ask questions about not just this issue, but others. I recently encountered one lady who ran into trouble because her hubby had deployed, and she didn't have the special power of attorney for finance. She hadn't been proactive before he left,and hadn't bothered to find out what she needed,and was up the creek.


*G* I had suspected as much... she puts up with *you* , doesn't she?!?! :)

LOL :)

Sorry, couldn't resist..*spoken as the Bud Guy* "I luv ya man!"

Dee :)