Today's Military Wife

By Lydia Sloan Cline

Revised and updated, this is the essential guide for servicemembers' wives and families.

• Covers all aspects, from marriage and living on base to moving and deployments
• Includes sections on benefits, resources, and sound advice for a quality life in the service
• Tips on how to survive and prosper, including coping with periodic separations, managing a separate career, pursuing further education, handling finances, living overseas, raising a family, and enjoying the social aspects of military life

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Release date: Sep 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9780811760805

Book preview

Author

Introduction

The following questions were posted to message boards at various military communities:

A couple after their wedding ceremony on Military Island, a recruiting station in Times Square. They joined four other military couples in a ceremony covered widely by New York media outlets. DEFENSEIMAGERY. MIL

I'm a new Army wife, help! My husband just graduated from basic training and is now stationed in Vilseck, Germany. What's the Vilseck base like? How hard is it to get housing? Are there jobs I can apply for? Can I bring my two cats? How long will it take to ship a car and furniture there? Is it easy to make friends with other wives? Does the base have a college? I'm 20, my husband's 19, and we're both very new to all of this. I have no idea what I'm doing or what I'm getting myself into. Any advice is appreciated!

My husband just joined the Marine Corps. How do I get an ID card and what else, if anything, should I do?

Anyone else from another country who followed their soldier to the US? How did you manage? I have no friends yet and my husband just deployed, so isolating!

My husband may join the Active Guard. What is that, and how does it differ from active duty?

My fiancé returns from Iraq in October. He was stationed in Hawaii before deploying and will return there. Since we're not married yet, I'm not on his orders. Will the Army move my stuff there if he gets command sponsorship for me?

What does ‘accompanying orders’ mean?

Is there a waiting period for my health care benefits once we get married? I am 5 months pregnant, and need the insurance ASAP!

"My guy is leaving in a couple of weeks for his first deployment. We've never been apart! What advice do you have for keeping the stress level down and not being lonely?

How much should I tip the commissary bagger?

I married a veteran. Do I still get an ID card? He was married once before while on active duty; is his first wife entitled to things I'm not?

My son is in the Army. How do I, as a parent, keep up with how and what he's doing?

We need to break our lease; will we lose our deposit?

I have a daughter but she isn't my new husband's. Can he put her on TRICARE as his dependent without having any legal rights over her? If so, how?

I'm a same-sex partner of a Senior Airman. I attend college, work, and enjoy cooking, reading, and working out. How well will I be accepted into social groups?

I'm nervous about moving to a new place and don't know what to expect. I don't want to be that person who embarrasses herself or doesn't know anything. But I'm not sure what information I'm looking for…any advice?

Are spouses legally allowed to take out loans in the soldier's name while he is deployed?

I'm a new-ish [officer's] wife and super-introverted. I'm fine with attending socials but not with hosting them. My MIL, a retired [colonel's] wife, insists that I will have to throw dinner parties and such. My husband disagrees. Whom do I believe? What's expected of me socially?

If you're new to the military, these might be your own questions. Unless you grew up as a brat, the culture can be confusing, with so many unfamiliar acronyms, job titles, and expectations. Hence this book, which is a reference filled with answers to frequently asked questions about issues unique to this lifestyle, such as moving, benefits, deployments, social affairs, and maintaining one's own career.

About 60 percent of military personnel are married; more than 80 percent of all career-status personnel are married. Many have minor children. Military families have diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, and there's a range of family types including single parents, dual-income couples, families with a stay-at-home parent, and families that support live-in elders. There are more military family members than there are total uniformed servicemembers.

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

This book is for anyone married to a member of the Armed Forces. She is used for spouse and he for servicemember strictly for convenience, as it is still chiefly the makeup of the Armed Forces. But despite the title, this book is not just for wives of active-duty servicemembers. It also addresses Reserve and Guard families, parents, significant others, and wives of retirees. If you have a loved one in or about to join the US Armed Forces, and you want to learn about the opportunities, benefits, and challenges of service life, this book is for you. Its goal remains the same as the first version published twenty-three years ago: to inform you and to help you understand, cope with, and make the most of the lifestyle.

Blue Star flags hang in the galley of Naval Medical Center San Diego to honor servicemembers deployed as individual augmentees. DEFENSEIMAGERY.MIL

Blue Star Parents

Hello, Blue Star parent, this book is for you, too. Families are called Blue Star if they have members in the military. The name refers to the stars on the official military service flag, which uses that symbol to represent family members serving during hostilities.

You probably have lots of questions and concerns, and rightly so. Blue Star parents play a major role in the lives of their servicemembers, especially unmarried ones. You may be your servicemember's primary support and morale booster. You may also be his official contact person and beneficiary. You probably have questions like these:

How do I send money and packages?

How and when can I contact him?

Whom do I contact if I don't hear from him?

What will he do in basic training?

How can I support him during a deployment and when he returns?

These questions are all answered in this book.

Significant Others

Girlfriends, boyfriends, fiancés, and fiancées, this book will also have information of interest to you. However, know up front that because the military does not have an official relationship with you, it won't release information or extend any benefits to you. Ask your guy if he'll give your name to the Family Readiness Group (Chapter 3); you can be kept in the loop that way. There are also Facebook pages for significant others, such as the popular USAF Basic Military Training page.

WHY READ THIS BOOK?

Although enormous amounts of information are available on base and the Internet, this book culls and organizes the most relevant topics for you to easily peruse. Busy people have better things to do than browse websites and visit offices seeking answers to questions they may not even know to ask. This book gives you a place to start. Websites are referenced throughout to help you find more information on topics of particular interest. Start with the Further Resources section at the end of this introduction.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY MEMBERS

Modern military recruiting includes deciders, as spouses and parents are called, acknowledging the powerful role the family plays in a servicemember's decision to join and stay in the military, as well as his job performance. Your direct influence on your partner's career may not be great, but your influence on his morale is. Your attitude toward his job can greatly influence how well he does it, as well as his decision to remain in the service. In a volunteer force, where the retention of quality people is a priority, you can see how important that makes you. The Department of Defense implements and maintains support programs on the premise that the family that is satisfied with the lifestyle will be more likely to make the personal sacrifices necessary for a strong defense.

Military wives, not content to play the historic role of silent partners, communicate strongly with officials. Numerous studies and surveys record our wants and needs, resulting in tangible programs and incentives such as family services, relocation centers, child-care centers, and civil service hiring preference.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

This lifestyle may present many challenges: Afghanistan and Iraq, the sequester, moving, finishing college, finding work, dealing with deployments, worrying about promotions, and more. But it also provides huge advantages. You may visit more places in ten years than many see in a lifetime. You have opportunities to make immediate and lifelong friends at each duty station. Extraordinary benefits help stretch the paycheck. And while deployments and separations are stressful, many wives take pride in how self-reliant and self-confident they become.

You have an unofficial partnership with the Department of Defense. It implements and advertises programs, but you must notice and participate in them. The spouse who declines to attend Family Readiness Group meetings, is reluctant to participate in socials because she's not in the military, and otherwise distances herself from the community does herself a disservice. Life with the military is like anything else: what you get out of it reflects what you put in. Bloom where you're planted is a lifestyle adopted by the happiest, most successful military families.

So let's get going!

FURTHER RESOURCES

National Military Family Association Blog, blog.militaryfamily.org

Chapter 1

Welcome to the US Military

Aerial view of the Pentagon, the US Military Headquarters in Washington, D.C. DEFENSEIMAGERY.MIL

Everyone knows what teachers do. Few would have trouble describing the duties of construction workers or nurses. Most have an idea of what Web designers and video game programmers do. But what do airmen do? Do they all fly planes? Do all soldiers wear camouflage paint and drive tanks? Do sailors really swab decks? And the Marines and Coast Guard—who has a clue?

If your first contact with the service was when you met your husband, your idea of what he did might be part Hollywood, part stereotype. Now that you're married (or about to be), if your understanding isn't clearer, let's make it so.

The armed services are the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. The uniformed services are the armed services plus the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Public Health Service.

Your husband is a member of the armed services, the organization that protects the United States and its allies, that guards the way of life of the free world. He is helping ensure that our rights to vote, to exercise free speech, to assemble peaceably, and to worship as we wish are not taken away. He is helping ensure that the flow of essential items to and from our allies is not impeded. Regardless of rank or job, every servicemember performs his duties for those reasons.

Q: Why are Marines called leathernecks?

A: The origins of this nickname are unclear. Some scholars claim it was applied to Marines, probably by sailors, in the days when both American and British Marines wore high, stiff leather collars, designed to protect their necks from sword blows, keep them from slouching in uniform, or steady the head when aiming firearms.

Each of us represents the service as a whole. Many civilians judge the whole military on the conduct of the two or three servicemembers they might know. You may have noticed how local papers often report traffic accidents involving servicemembers: There was an accident on I-40 involving a Fort Campbell soldier and a Clarkesville resident. Why the Clarkesville resident's occupation is left out but the servicemember's—who is also a Clarkesville resident—is noted demonstrates the high visibility in the local community.

SOME BACKGROUND AND FIGURES

In 1789, as our Founding Fathers developed and refined the first military institutions, they decided that a civilian should head the military as part of a system of checks and balances. Therefore, the president of the United States is the commander in chief of the Armed Forces. Under the president is the secretary of defense, and under the secretary of defense are the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, all civilians. At the top level in the military chain of command are the Joint Chiefs of Staff—the heads of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, who report directly to the secretary of defense.

The Army is America's oldest military service. The Continental Army was established in June 1775 when the Continental Congress first authorized men to serve. The Navy came into existence in October 1775, and the Marine Corps, technically part of the Navy, was formed one month later. The Coast Guard is the smallest service. Formed in 1915, it is part of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and part of the Navy when at war. The Air Force was originally part of the Army, but in 1947 the Army Air Corps, the General Headquarters Air Force, the Army Air Force, and the aeronautical division and aviation sections of the Army Signal Corps were combined into a new and separate service. Because of their shared history, many Army and Air Force customs and courtesies are identical.

This pie chart depicts government expenditures for 2015 from the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2015 Budget.

Each service has a specific mission. The Army defends on land, the Navy by sea, and the Air Force in the skies. The Marine Corps is a readiness force (soldiers of the sea), and the Coast Guard protects our coastal borders and conducts search-and-rescue operations.

The US military is the world's second largest, after that of China. As of January 2013, the United States had about 1.12 million people on active duty, with 1.9 million dependents. Including the Guard and Reserve, there were over 2.2 million serving. About 60 percent of the active-duty force is married, and over 40 percent have two children. Additionally, there are more than 137,000 government-paid private contractors, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 2015 budget for the Department of Defense (DoD) is about $756 billion. That includes the DoD's base budget—salaries, training, and health care of uniformed and civilian personnel; facilities and equipment maintenance; and operations. It also includes funds for agencies that perform defense-related tasks, such as the VA; Departments of State, Justice (cybersecurity), Energy (nuclear security), and Homeland Security; and the FBI. It does not include the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The military budget is the second largest Federal government expenditure. Social Security is the largest at $896 billion. The pie chart on the previous page shows our government's other major expenditures.

As for military spouses, who are we? According to the DoD Military Family Life Study published in 2010, we are a 1.2 million-strong force. Ninety-five percent are women, and less than half are under age thirty-one. We are educated: 84 percent of us have some college, of which 25 percent have a bachelor's degree and 10 percent have an advanced degree. We are also ambitious and motivated: at least 74 percent of us work outside the home, with one in four of the rest actively seeking work.

SERVICE LIFE: NOT AN ORDINARY JOB

Military members take an oath upon joining the service that asserts loyalty to those appointed over them and to the president. Hence, disobeying orders, not showing up for work, or even showing up late will have serious repercussions. The military cannot be quit at will; a servicemember is obliged to serve out the time specified on the enlistment contract he signed upon entering. Officers may resign (assuming they're not paying back a commitment for education or other obligation), but even that typically takes several months to process, and if there is a stop-loss—a temporary hold on the ability of personnel to leave—in place, resignations are not accepted.

WHO CAN JOIN?

Military service is not a right. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires equal treatment for employment, but it doesn't apply to the Armed Forces. Applicants can be—and often are—turned down. They must meet requirements concerning age, citizenship, number of dependents, credit and financial history, single-parent status, education, drug and alcohol history, criminal history, mental health, and physical health, including height-weight proportion. The different services have different standards. Some will waive certain issues; others will not. Applicants must be a citizen of the United States or one of its territories, such as Guam, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands. Legal, permanent green card–holding residents physically living in the United States may apply to join the military, but their job choices will be limited because they can't be granted security clearances. The military also now recognizes same-sex partners. Service-specific recruiters will have more information on all the above.

FOREIGN NATIONAL WIVES

Many wives are foreign nationals, documented or nondocumented, with sizable numbers hailing from Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. A servicemember who is stationed overseas must receive command permission to marry a foreign national. Counseling is required, and a background check on the prospective spouse is run. There's a lot of paperwork to be filed, and the marriage must be recognized by the US embassy. All this can take three or more months.

Once married, your husband may petition for non-US-citizen family members to receive permanent residence. If you're currently overseas, you'll need a visa to enter the United States. Spouse and fiancée visa petitions are better than tourist or student visas in this case. Noncitizen family members may be eligible for expedited and overseas processing if the servicemember is or will be deployed. Under certain circumstances, overseas time may be counted toward the citizenship residency requirements, and you may not even have to return to the States to apply. The military may provide some administrative help in the citizenship application process; ask at a base legal or Relocation Readiness office. Personnel there may assist a spouse in filling out information forms, review her citizenship application, and serve as a liaison between her and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) when required. USCIS officers visit some bases regularly, and the Relocation Readiness office may coordinate visits with them. Otherwise, there is no help with the immigration process for anyone—servicemembers, legal, or nonlegal dependents. All required paperwork filing and medical tests are done at your own expense. Some families have found an immigration lawyer to be worth the cost.

If you are an undocumented resident, your marriage may cause problems for your husband's security clearance. Family housing and related allowance moneys may be denied; in fact, even access to the base may be difficult for a nonlegal resident.

At www.uscis.gov, you can find information specifically for noncitizen military family member issues. Alternatively, contact the USCIS Military Help Line at [phone] or [e-mail].

SAME-SEX COUPLES

In response to the 2013 Supreme Court decision that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, the Department of Defense announced that it would extend spousal and family benefits—including health-care coverage, housing allowances, and survivor benefits—to all legally married military spouses. Entitlements can be claimed retroactively, starting with the date of the decision. To be eligible, couples must provide a marriage certificate that is valid in the place of celebration. Leave may be granted to those who need to travel to a jurisdiction where same-sex marriage is recognized by law in order to get married. To date, nineteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage.

DELAYED ENTRY PROGRAM (DEP)

The Delayed Entry Program (DEP), also called the Future Soldier Training Program, allows recruits to enlist in any branch of the Armed Forces but delay attending basic training until up to 365 days later. They're in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) during this time. To qualify, the applicant must be at least seventeen years old, have graduated high school or be a senior in high school and plan to go on active duty after graduation, and score high enough on the relevant tests to enter the job field wanted.

The benefits of the DEP is that it allows the person to spend more time thinking about the decision, have more time to lose weight if needed, wait until a job slot in the desired field opens, or complete the needed schooling for that slot. A DEP applicant can also change his mind before starting active duty, with no adverse consequences. He won't have access to benefits during that time.

The DEP applies to active-duty servicemembers only, as a National Guardsman (discussed later in this chapter) is immediately a member of his unit. Some Guard units allow new recruits to participate in drills and receive pay before attending basic training. They may also use some Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) facilities (discussed in Chapter 2).

RECEPTION AND BASIC TRAINING

Did your guy just enlist? New enlistees in-process and then attend basic training, also called basic military training, basic initial training, or boot camp. This is the initial process of transforming civilians into servicemembers. It involves intense physical activity and behavioral discipline.

When a new recruit reports for duty, he is taken to the US Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) for reception, or in-processing. This is done by his recruiter; you are not permitted to drive him to or from the MEPS. He'll be allowed a phone call to let you know that he arrived safely. During reception, he'll receive equipment and uniforms, a haircut, shots, physical and dental exams, drug tests, an ID card, and lots of paperwork. He'll declare his rate or military occupational specialty—in other words, his job. He'll be sworn in, too, and you may attend the swearing in if you wish. He must live on base in barracks, or dormitories in the Air Force, which are private or semiprivate rooms or suites.

Basic training lasts between nine and thirteen weeks and has two parts. Everyone, regardless of his future field, attends the first part, which is general. The second part is job training in a specific field, such as infantry, food service, or finance. In the Air Force, the job training part is called Technical (Tech) School; in the Navy, it's called A-School (advanced job training is C-School); and in the Army, it's called Advanced Individual Training (AIT). The second part may or may not be held at the same base as the first part.

Recruits’ days are long. They get up at 4:30 or 5 a.m. for breakfast and are done for the day after dinner around 8 p.m. Barracks lights-out is 10 or 11 p.m. Recruits have an opportunity to go to sick call each morning if they feel unwell. Transportation to religious services is provided on weekends. Hot meals are served in the mess hall, and packaged Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs) are provided for recruits who are in the field.

Cell phones are confiscated during in-processing and phone time is extremely limited—perhaps five minutes on a Sunday—and even that isn't granted until the recruit has proven himself. Letters are the best way to communicate, and recruits live for mail call. However, all letters are subject to being opened and read. Don't send anything unless the recruit asks you for it, as they can get in trouble for receiving packages. Candy, chewing gum, cookies, soft drinks, and tobacco products are considered hindrances to the physical training process and thus will be confiscated. Often little space is available to store toiletries and civilian clothing, so those aren't allowed either. Many drill sergeants don't even permit news clippings, so feel free to write about world events but don't mail articles about them. Letters and small photos are generally the only things allowed. Some commands might allow stamps, pens, and first-aid type items such as unflavored cough drops, plain lip balm, pain-relieving heat rubs, and blister protectors, but even these might be allowed only during the second part of basic training.

Some recruits may get occasional weekend liberty, or time off, but visits aren't allowed. Weekends off generally aren't given until near the end of training, however. (Pay and leave during basic training are discussed in Chapter 5.) No news is good news, as recruits are required to contact their families if their training is disrupted and they will not graduate on time. If you need to contact your recruit for emergency reasons, contact the commanding officer or the Red Cross.

Officer basic training is different. Because so much of the physical and other training aspects are addressed during the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) or service academy education, officer recruits typically live in their own apartments during basic training, and the restrictions on mail and communications don't apply.

After basic training is over, there is a final exercise called the Crucible in the Marine Corps, the Battle Stations in the Navy, Victory Forge in the Army, and the Scorpion's Nest in the Air Force. Once the recruits pass this test, they are official members of that service. Many servicemembers go on to additional training, so getting leave (vacation) after completion of basic training isn't ensured.

Q: How can I give motivation and encouragement to my husband in a letter while he's in boot camp?

A: Write what you'd say in person—that you know he can do it, you're proud of him, and you appreciate his making a life for the two of you. Say you're looking forward to graduation and miss him. Send photos with notes written on the back. Write corny jokes and inspirational quotes. Perhaps date each letter and write every day as if it were a long, handwritten text message. Tell him he's your superhero.

Those who successfully complete basic training get a graduation ceremony. The commanding officer will mail you a letter with its specific date and time. The families of award winners and honor recruits will be mailed that information too. Attend if you can, as it's a major accomplishment; a lot of recruits don't make it. If you'll need to stay overnight, you'll have to arrange for your own accommodations.

There's an access list for graduation (no tickets), and only recruits may add names to it. They're allowed three or four guests each and may not give their extras away. Children under two don't need to be on the list, but anyone else not on it will be denied entrance. Try to arrive at least an hour before the ceremony, and bring a government photo ID. Guests seventeen years old or younger who don't have one may present a school ID card, driver's permit, copy of a birth certificate, or Social Security card.

RANK

Rank, or rate in the Coast Guard, is a relative standing or position, a hierarchical arrangement. It is the position each servicemember holds. Servicemembers may be categorized as enlisted (voluntarily enrolled or drafted into military service), warrant officer (holder of a warrant, an official document bestowed by a military branch, to perform a specific task), or commissioned officer (holder of a commission, an official document bestowed by a sovereign government, to perform the duties and responsibilities of an office or position). Ranks have different names in the different services (see figure on the next page).

Within each rank are subcategories called pay grades, which are points on a graded pay structure where similar jobs are placed. Enlisted grades are E-1 through E-9, with E-1 being the lowest. Warrant officer grades are W-1 through W-5, and officer grades are O-1 through O-10. In this hierarchical structure, all commissioned officers outrank all warrant officers and enlisted members. All warrant officers outrank all enlisted members. Following are illustrations of rank insignia. Don't feel you have to memorize it all, though. Calling everyone sir or ma'am is a safe bet until corrected otherwise.

From Enlisted to Officer

Enlisted members who wish to become officers have several options and may enroll in one of the following:

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), a college leadership program that prepares students to enter the service as officers.

Officer Candidate School (OCS), Officer Candidate Class (OCC) in the Marine Corps, or Officer Training School (OTS) in the Air Force, leadership programs in the military that prepare enlisted personnel to become officers. The Army and the Coast Guard permit enlisted members with ninety college credits to attend OCS, but they must complete a four-year college degree within one year of being commissioned or revert to their enlisted rank. The other services require completion of a four-year college degree before attending OCC or OTS.

A service academy, a college whose mission is preparing its graduates to become military officers. The academies are the US Military Academy at West Point, New York; the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

Officer cadet (OC): Also called midshipman, this rank is held by military and merchant navy cadets during their training to become commissioned officers and merchant navy officers, respectively.

Rank insignia worn on the uniform.

Rank insignia worn on the uniform.

Rank insignia worn on the uniform.

Certain highly trained medical, legal, engineering, and religious professionals may receive a direct commission, which means they join the military without undergoing the standard training regimen. Direct commission officers typically make a standard four-year service commitment.

MILITARY JOB CATEGORIES

While there are many different occupations in the military, all fall into one of three categories: combat, combat support, or combat service support. Combat includes specialties such as infantry, artillery, and Special Forces teams. Servicemembers in these specialties use weapons and conduct their operations from aircraft, tanks, ships, and submarines. Combat support provides operational help such as military intelligence, security, and communications. Combat service support provides logistical help such as supply, transportation, health care, and payroll.

Some military jobs require large amounts of time spent away from home; others are nine-to-five positions. Some have rigorous training requirements, such as the elite Navy SEALs or Army Rangers. Many military jobs are identical to civilian ones, which is advantageous for after-service life. Other jobs are unique to the military and may be very dangerous. All services have their share of each. The dividing lines between services can get blurred; without the uniform, it's hard to tell a combat engineer in the Army from one in the Navy's construction battalion, or an Air Force control team member from an Army Airborne trooper. A Coast Guard boatswain does the same work as a Navy boatswain, and both do the same job as a watercraft operator in the Army.

While there are still some military cooks, most dining facilities have been outsourced to private contractors. The military dining system is the largest employer of disabled people in the United States.

Enlisted Jobs

Enlisted personnel make up about 84 percent of the total Armed Forces and perform the daily operations. They are assigned specific jobs, called military occupational specialties (MOSs) in the Army and Marine Corps, ratings in the Navy and Coast Guard, and Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs) in the Air Force. These jobs are grouped into functional categories.

Every position that is needed to staff a self-sustaining city can be found. Construction workers build and repair the base buildings, airfields, and bridges. There are also plumbers, electricians, and pipe fitters. Electronic and electrical equipment repair personnel maintain the weapons, navigational systems, and communications systems. Intelligence gatherers study photographs and monitor radar and surveillance systems. Environmental health and safety specialists inspect facilities and food supplies to ensure their cleanliness. There are X-ray, eyeglass, and emergency medical technicians; recruiters; classroom trainers; language translators; bomb defusers; firefighters; cooks; truck drivers; and mechanics. Record keepers keep track of it all. As an enlisted member progresses through his career field, he goes from worker/apprentice to supervisor/technician to leader/manager.

Every enlisted servicemember has at least one job; he may be assigned it or may request it. Whether he gets the one he wants depends on several factors:

The needs of the branch of service he's in.

The current and projected number of people in that job (are there too many?).

Physical limitations, such as color-blindness, the need for prescription eyewear, or the inability to lift heavy objects.

Administrative limitations, such as the level of education required, the ability to receive security clearances, or training available at the time the servicemember is ready to take the job.

Present requirements for that job—what experience from the civilian world is he bringing?

Scores from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) tests he took upon enlisting.

When helping your servicemember choose a job or decide to reenlist, consider whether he likes the job. Jobs with shortages often offer bonuses for a renewed enlistment, but after the bonus money runs out, there's still that years-long commitment. Does good promotion potential exist? Can experience gained from the job be applied to the civilian world? What bases use that particular job, and are they located where you'd like to go? Surveys show that people with critical-skills jobs are often more confident and satisfied with their work and have easier transitions to civilian jobs. Knowing what jobs are available, what education and experience it takes to get them, and how to get promoted while in them are just a few of the ways to help take control of your family's journey in the military.

If he wants to change his job, all of the above plus a few more criteria are considered:

Budgetary and travel restrictions. Is the job needed at his current duty station? If not, approval of the new position would require assignment, something not usually done until he is eligible for reassignment.

Commitments remaining on his current enlistment. For instance, if he received an enlistment bonus for his current job, a request of change probably wouldn't be approved until the commitment is satisfied.

Time in service. If he won't have enough time remaining in the service after training for the job is completed, he probably won't be assigned it.

Officer and Warrant Officer Jobs

Commissioned officers make up about 16 percent of the military. They are technically the only ones able to exercise command over a military unit. Most officers are assigned functional categories rather than specific jobs, as their duties require general administrative, leadership, and supervisory skills, not proficiency in one task. These categories are called branches in the Army, groups in the Navy and Coast Guard, career fields in the Marine Corps, and career specialties in the Air Force.

Officers may be public relations personnel, recruitment managers, and food service managers. They also may serve in specific professions, such as aerospace and computer engineers, doctors, nurses, pilots, physical therapists, lawyers, chaplains, and counselors. Combat specialty officers plan and direct military operations. Officers can request a specific functional category, but whether they get it depends on the same factors as for enlisted servicemembers.

Warrant officers enter the service as enlisted members and, after special training and testing, assume greater responsibility and supervisory power within a narrow, focused range. Examples of warrant officer jobs include helicopter pilot and physician's assistant.

THE RESERVES AND RESERVISTS

The military cannot rely only on the Regular active-duty force for its missions. A supplemental force called the Reserves provides personnel who are ready and trained with critical skills, such as water purification and firefighting, needed to support the nation during peacetime, contingencies, and war. This enables the personnel managers to expand and contract as needed. Reservists are subject to be called up at any time to supplement the active-duty component.

History of the Reserves

The Reserves were founded even before this country was: America's first militia regiments, the precursors of the Army National Guard, were organized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636 and are the militia referenced in the Constitution. Since then, the Guard has participated in every US conflict from the Pequot War of 1637 to current deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Reservists are frequently called upon for combat, peacekeeping, reconstruction, and humanitarian missions. They have helped organize and advise the Iraqi Army, distributed food and clothing in Pakistan, and built roads, schools, and clinics in Panama.

Who Are Reservists?

Typical Reservists are people who want to combine military and civilian life. They are employees, employers, or college students. Service in the Reserves is actively marketed to young people as a part-time job that teaches a skill and provides money for college or to help pay back student loans. Active-duty service is not required before joining. Reservists may have left or retired from the active-duty force, or they may never have served on active duty.

The National Guard

The primary Reserve force is called the National Guard. It is partly maintained by the states and responds to state emergencies but is also available for federal call-up. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, has an Army National Guard unit and an Air National Guard unit.

A Guard unit's purpose is twofold. As a state agency that swears allegiance to the governor, it can be activated to help with local emergencies, such as civil disorder or natural catastrophes like hurricanes or floods. As a Reserve component of the US Army and Air Force, it can be activated into federal service to help with national emergencies. If the president decides the active-duty force needs to be supplemented for a nondomestic operational mission, up to two hundred thousand members of the Selected Reserve and thirty thousand members of the Individual Ready Reserve can be called to active duty for up to 365 days.

Reserve Components

There are seven Reserve components: the Army Reserve, the Naval Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air Force Reserve, the Coast Guard Reserve, the Army National Guard, and the Air National Guard. There are three divisions of Reservists: Ready, Standby, and Retired.

The Ready Reserve, trained servicemembers who can be recalled to active-duty if needed, has three subcategories: Selected Reserve, Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), and Inactive National Guard (ING). Selected Reservists are available for immediate mobilization. They actively drill, are eligible for promotion, collect pay and benefits, and accumulate points toward retirement. IRR Reservists have had military training, have some military obligation remaining, but are not affiliated with a drilling Reserve unit. They are in a nondrilling status and are available only for national emergency; therefore, they generally do not collect checks or have access to military facilities. Members of the ING muster once a year with their units.

Standby Reservists are called when there are not enough qualified members in the Ready Reserve to fulfill mobilization requirements. The Standby Reserves are composed of Selected Reservists and Individual Ready Reservists. Retired Reservists have already attained military retirement but have not yet reached age sixty, have not chosen to be discharged, and can be called to duty if there is a need and there are not enough Ready Reservists.

Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) personnel are full-time Reservists. They are needed full-time to keep operations running smoothly for the part-timers. They are considered Reservists on active duty, not regular active duty; that is, they don't transfer from their Reserve units to active-duty units. Their pay and benefits are identical to those of the active-duty force.

Reservists and National Guardsmen supplement and round out the active-duty strength, and all three combined are called the Total Force. For the sake of convenience, both are referred to as Reservists throughout much of this book.

Individual Augmentees (IAs)

An individual augmentee (IA) is a servicemember who leaves his assigned unit to deploy with a different unit. IAs deploy either individually or with a small group. About half of all deployed IAs are active-duty, and half are Reservists. IAs are in all services but are most commonly used in the Navy.

Reservist Training Requirements

Selected Reservists are required to attend a minimum of forty-eight drills or assemblies each year, usually scheduled on evenings and weekends, and must devote two weeks each summer to their units to keep their skills up-to-date. They receive the same pay as active-duty personnel except for certain allowances and incentive pays that are based on an agreement to serve on active duty for a specified length of time. Pay is received in the month after the training occurs. Reservists with certain critical skills are eligible for enlistment and reenlistment bonuses.

PROMOTIONS

The military has an up-or-out policy, officially called High Year of Tenure (HYT) or Retention Control Point (RCP). It is the maximum number of years servicemembers in each grade may remain on active duty. If a servicemember isn't regularly promoted within a set timetable, he is not allowed to stay in. Up to E-4, promotions are automatic and based mostly on time in grade, but after that, promotion criteria vary from service to service. Servicemembers within the same MOS, AFSC, or rating compete against each other for promotion. Congress sets the total number of military personnel and the number that each grade can have. Vacancies must occur in each grade and job before others can be let in. So even if a servicemember does everything right, if there are overages in that grade, he may still be denied a promotion. HYT adjustments are made when the Pentagon decides that numbers, ranks, experience levels, and career fields need rebalancing. This may result in an assignment being canceled.

Some jobs have overages; others have shortages. Zero promotions are often a direct result of a job's being overstrength. When a