Moving to Germany

Danielle - posted on 04/12/2010

Hi i have been looking for someone thats coming over from the states! My husband is stationed at Katterbach Germany. I love it here! You can ship your car over it takes 45 days to get here. I had my car shipped over. It was easy! You have to ship the same car back that you brought over! you can buy one here but would have to turn around and sell it before you go back to the states. We shipped my car and also bought one here! So we both would have cars. Shipping a suv is fine to ship i hope you can get everything figured out! If you need anything let me know i'm over in germany already and have been through it! please e-mail me at danielle.cordio@yahoo.com its very hard but i hope by now you and your husband has figured out everything and i saw that his report date is today April 12th! I hope everything is well.
Danielle

Marlana - posted on 03/26/2010

for the passports, try to get both the blue (regular) and the brown (no fee). the blue is good jusst so that you can travel while you are here and the brown are the government issued ones. we are only like 2 hours by train from disneyland and a lot of other cool places so if you guys wanna travel the blue ones are good to get. You can go to any closeby base and as long as you have either power of attorney or your husband present they will do them for you where ever they do outprocessing and call you when they come in. the regular ones take anywhere from one to 6 weeks depending on how you send them (regular or expedited)

Keely - posted on 03/24/2010

FINALLY got everything sorted out for getting the EFMP! And FOUND a clinic that accepts tricare! YAY! Soon that will be done and now to go apply for passports...but i am so lost at what to do on that particular step. I wish this was easier.

Marlana - posted on 03/23/2010

keely is totally right and I am so sorry that I forgot, you need a power of attorney! they won't even let you apply for the passports for children without either him being present or having a power of attorney. I never received anything in the mail in regard to us coming over so keely lucky you :) that means a lot less stress in an already stressful situation. As long as you get everything done on your end and keep in contact with them so they know that you are done and waiting on them to approve and get you here it shouldn't take too long!

Keely - posted on 03/22/2010

Hey hun! My husband was also shipped directly from Basic to his duty station. And i live over 2 1/2 hours from the nearest army base, if that is the case you need to call the nearest army base and get the forms needed for your EFMP. Then you can go to a civilian doctor and have him/her do your screening and fill out the forms. then fax them to the base doctor. You SHOULD be receiving the needed forms in the mail, they will tell you alot of stuff at the married soldier briefing after graduation. They should also have member from legal there to get your power of attorney, get one get one get one!! The command sponsorship can take upto 3-6 months to complete i am still trying to wade my way through it, i do not want to be separated any longer than i have to be from my husband. But his deployment has been moved to december my son and i may be staying here. :( good luck babe!

Harmony - posted on 03/16/2010

He is Infantry so he does OSUT its Basic and AIT in one. Just 16weeks together. Its basically extended basic lol. So its both. And he just leaves right after he graduates. His Recruiter moved right after he left for basic lol so Im just left here in the dark hahaha.

Marlana - posted on 03/16/2010

i'm confused, your husband is going strait from basic to his duty station? usually they are required to attend AIT before being stationed somewhere as far as i knew. if he is going to be shipped here directly from basic is this going to be his ait site as well as his duty station? You would be right though, if he is being shipped right away ou would not be able to have him with you to help with the process or be able to leave with him. Your main focus will have to be getting your passports, having your stuff shipped and doing the efmp. the efmo sounds a lot more difficult than it actually is, all you are doing in regard to that is getting you and our children a checkup that proves that you are fit for travel and that you are up to date on immunizations. then you would turn that in and they would send that here so that his commander can approve your sponsorship. I know how frustrating that can be that your husband wasnt told anything because mine wasnt either, and then once I made a complaint about the situation we were in we had to prove that he had asked multiple times for information that he was not given. My husbands recruiting officer was an absolutely amazing source of help for us though, so if you are in contact with him or her I am sure that they will be more than happy to assist you with talking to whoever needs to be talked to and making sure that everything is taken care of properly so that you guys can be back together as soon as possible. I'm still shocked that he doesnt have to go to ait first, and that he doesnt get his leave or the chance to do Hrap... so I am wondering if this is just his ait?

Harmony - posted on 03/15/2010

I dont understand how can I do the EMFP and leave with him if he is a direct ship from Basic? I dont even get to talk to him. He graduates this Friday and leaves on Monday. And he hasnt even been told anything. So what am I supposed to do? I feel like all I can do is just sit here until he gets over there and can tell me what to do.

Marlana - posted on 03/15/2010

hi harmony, i commented on another thread that you had posted on about another woman moving over here, tamara is right about the command sponsorship, you will need that done asap, and as long as you get the EFMP done and your passports they will send out to get your command sponsorship taken care of. From my own personal experience it is much easier to try to get it done before he even leaves, especially since if it is done in time they will amend his orders so that you are able to leave with him. It is quite a process though, so try to get your husband to do what he can with the time he has, and make sure that you can get all that you can done on your end as well. Don't wait until some one tells you to do stuff, because chances are, your husband will have to sign an extention if he has less than three years left on his contract (if a soldier is bringing their family they cannot be assigned here for less than three years unless the army chooses to move you sooner). So the longer you wait the longer his extention will have to be. Do whatever you can to get your car here, because buying a new one can be costly and they ship it for free. If you have a power of attorney go to the nearest base and get your free passports asap so that they can get them put in for, they take considerably longer than the ones that you pick up from the post office. the passports from the post office are 160 for adults and 130 for kids if you want them to be expedited (we did that and it only took 7 days for them to arrive). also try to go to the transportation briefing at the nearest base asap so that they can give you a time and date that they can come and pick up your hhg (household goods). Remember that you are probably going to need a copy of your husbands orders for most of this, which can be an issue because they usually won't allow him to have them until he graduates from AIT. This is pretty much why it is so hard and stressful to have an overseas duty station assigned to you for your first PCS, there is so much to do and not a whole lot of time in which to do so, but I wish you luck and patience as you go through the process and hope to see you here when you arrive. if you have any questions, look me up and message me on facebook, i know how frustrating and stressful this can be and would love to help!!

Tamara - posted on 02/15/2010

Command sponsor is when give everyone permission to go overseas. Your husband will have to do that. and doing your EFMP is apart of the whole packet. Your husband will need to talk to his NCO about all this too. I never heard of you not being able to bring your suv to an overseas duty station. We have an SUV and had it ship back to the mainland after doing an overseas duty.



If you need anything else please let me know.

Harmony - posted on 02/14/2010

Thanks. his report date is April 12. What is the command sponser? is that something my husband would be doing? We only have one car but its an SUV I heard that some bigger cars werent allowed over there? but I dont know how to find out if mines ok.

Tamara - posted on 02/14/2010

You need to make sure you get command sponsered for both you and your children. Get the EFMP done ASAP. It's like a health screening and what not. If you have one car the military will ship it. If you have a second car you will have to ship it with your own money. If you have pets make sure they are up to date on all shots. Do you know when his report date is? Your husband will also set up everything he needs with the military such as packing up your household goods and what not. Make sure everyone has a current passport as well.



If you need anything else please feel free to ask. you may also want to check out www.armyspousesonline.com.