Deployment advice

Hey guys just wanted to know if any of you have advice on deployment? Anything from what you did with your truck, wife, or banking is great and much appreciated! Thanks in advance

 

Not to be a dick- But exactally how far/how long are you deploying?? There are things that you do when you leave for a week that are different than things you do when you leave for a year.

I see you are on Drummond?? So a couple weeks is my guess- but I want to make sure.

 

When my dad got deployed he bought a german shepherd and taught my mom how to shoot.

 

make a will if you dont already have one

 

You'd be right if I was getting underway with them, but its for PATFORSWA haha. It is a year in Bahrain, sorry guess I shouldn't have been so vague.

 

Ahh right-I looked at your location. I forgot that DRUM was over there.

The wife is gunna have to find stuff for herself to do..Make some friends or pick up a hobby or a part time job or whatever to fill the time that she has (Not sure what she is doing now...so maybe those aren't helpful). Make sure she has a good list of folks to call if she has any issues (Plumber, Electrician, Local base duty desk, etc) in case anything goes wrong.

Make sure she runs the trunk once or twice a month to keep everything moving and make sure the tires don't flatten out.

Banking- Get an internet banking system set up if you haven't already. I use USAA and their internet site is great...Makes it easy to make sure things are taken care of. Let them know you are going to be gone too...They flag things like dormant accounts and transactions overseas. You don't have to give them an address...But a gereral "I'll be out of pocket for a while" usually works. Have a good plan for what to do with your money too (cause you get to keep a bit more of it now).

 

Def make a will. Have a power of attorney for your wife! SAVE SAVE SAVE any extra money you can....it will be well worth it when you get back home. You need to sit down with your wife and iron everything out from banking to expectations. Deployment is very difficult for the family....more so on them than on you IMO. Make sure your wife has access to everything she will need. Stay safe and I'll be praying for you. Thank you so much for your service!

 

Everyone's hit on the major stuff... SAVE your money.

Her having a hobby/job/staying busy is very important. It's harder on her than you'd think. Staying busy will help keep her mind off of everything.

Make sure you keep in contact as best you can. Obviously you can't give details for the where/when but just communicating as much as possible will really help things.

You'll be home before you know it, and then... Priority 1!

 

Depending on if there is internet service available, a magic jack can come in handy for phone calls home if others aren't able to video chat and if there is wifi then a google voice number coupled with talkatone app on iphone/android phones is a pretty cool thing to have. Also, if you get a power of attorney, don't just get a general one because it would allow that person to totally screw you over in the event the relationship went bad

 

Remember to pre pay or set up automatic payments on things. Your credit report will be destroyed if you forget about paying for something in a year.

 

like several other people have said, get a Power of Attorney for your wife! My wife had one for my last deployment and it helped her a lot. As far as internet goes, if ur gonna be in Bahrain for the whole year you're set. Internet is good there (don't expect USA speed but its still pretty good). Bahrain's a cool place you'll enjoy it. And for your banking and bills, hand it all over to the wife. Thats what i did and its good to know if ur out to sea for longer than you thought that things are taken care of. Oh yea and don't get frustrated with her for being lonely sometimes... gotta encourage her always and you'll be fine.

 

Thanks for all the help so far gentlemen. As far as her and the house our landlord is awesome and great friends of ours so they'll take good care of her. She was offered full time at her job so she'll have her hands full their between school and work. The plan for communication is emails and skype. Pretty much what we do on underway periods now. Priority 1 is getting me to AMT "A" school almost a year faster so I can live my life instead of stickin around for 2 years haha. Once again thanks for the advice keep it comin!

 

Yup.... that priority one is the bait for you guys doin PATFORSWA. Hell if I was single, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I'm already long past that... Good luck!

 

also call your credit cards etc and fax them a copy of your orders, they will lower your interest rate while your deployed

 

+1 for USAA. I bank, insure, and invest with them and have been for 8 or 9 years. Best decision I've made. They are courteous to both you and your wife. Best bank I've ever been with bar none. Other than that keep up with communication and remember that women like letters....don't know why...but they do. Save some of your money at least. If not for toys....just for the future. Been to Bahrain before....ummmm....get a price from the taxi FIRST...don't just get in and go. That's a good way to get ripped off....and also most anything sold on the street IS a fake. Good prices on gold jewelry though if I remember correctly. Enjoy your time and if it smells funny....don't eat it!

 

Looks like they have everything covered. One thing that you can do while you're over there is put money into an investment. They'll cover it with you and the max is $10k for the year. Last time I was there was Feb 2003 and I got stuck waiting to leave because they had a bomb in a truck explode near the gates. That and the protests before we went into Iraq really put us behind.

 

buy an external hard drive and fill it up with your favorite movies and tv shows. Look up good work outs to do on your off time. Best thing to do is get in a routine asap. Gotta make that time go by as quickly as possible.

and all that stuff they said above too...just figured i wouldnt repost it all again and again.

 

Will, Power of Attorney, and a gun. It really makes a difference knowing your wife can protect herself from an intruder. My first deployment, all I did was worry about her safety. Now days, I worry about her buying more guns. LOL.

As far as vehicle, I just leave it in the garage. She drives it once in a while. And banking, she handles all that. So all I do is focus on work and gym. It's kind of nice.

If you're a USAA member, you can have them send you a "deployment kit". There is a useful checklist to help get your personal life organized. .

 

U have made it so far without the extra pay(iminant danger/hazardous duty/fam sep) so definitely invest it.

 

That's the military way though.