why are some military wives allowed?

Question

why is it that some military wives are allowed to accompany their husbands over seas and others like the enlisted can't

Answer 1

There are many enlisted spouses who go overseas with their AD spouses.

It depends on where you have orders for, but here are some of the things that are taken into consideration:

Availability of housing - do they have a place to put you, and if not, is it practical, safe, and affordable for you to live on the economy? If the answer is no, then they won't put you on the orders. When this is a factor they usually say that E-4 and above can get housing if married, while E-3 and below cannot. The reason is there are more people above E-4 than below it, and quite a few more married above E-4 than below. Plus, promotion up to E-3 is fairly quick, and, frankly, not to sound like a snob, because I truly have been there, done that, I have been either AD myself or a Navy wife for 16 yrs now, and it is true that rank has it's privileges - you want the privileges, say in long enough to earn the rank. And frankly, I don't think it's just the military that has this attitude, it's just they are more open about it (my sister is a civilian, and they get to pick their vacation times by seniority, so, there, too, rank has it's privileges....)

Length of time on the orders - it doesn't matter where you are, stateside or overseas - except in VERY rare cases for you to be able to accept military housing you have to be able to be in the house for one year (yes, things can come up and things can change, but when you sign for the house your status should be with at least 1 yr remaining). If the housing list for a location is, say, 3-6 months and your spouses job requires them to spend, say, 12 months there (like a tour in Korea), then you wouldn't be able to get a house, where as someone who was there for, say, 2 yrs (people who take their families to Korea are there longer), then they could.

Safety - does the military consider the location to be a higher risk than most places, or is there a unique situation for that location that would prevent them from being able to evacuate you if needed? This isn't just determined by country, but by region, and by the individual Branch of Service. This is not just war zones - for example - there are several places in Korea that is unaccompanied, just as places like Diego Garcia falls into the length of time, housing, and availability of services areas for no spouses - not even Dual Military ones.

Health Status - if you or a family member has any sort of health restriction or condition, or any other sort of special need that the military feels will need treatment that they will not be able to practically offer while there then they will say you can't go.


I know this is a long post, but believe me, there are plenty of places that enlisted spouses can go overseas, just like there are plenty of places where it doesn't matter who you're married to, if you're a spouse, you aren't going.

Answer 2

Enlisted wives can accompany their husbands over seas. My husband is enlisted, and we are stationed in Italy and the Navy paid for the kids and I to move here with him.
There are duty stations over seas that and unaccompanied. For instance in the Navy, Greece is an unaccompanied station, and so is Bahrain. I'm not sure if Greece has always been like that, but I know it is now. And Bahrain became an unaccompanied station shortly after 9/11.
People like djack on here that is telling you that E-5 and below can't marry is full of it! I know plenty of people in the military that were E-5 and below and got married! And there are not privileges because you're a higher rank. We all get offered housing, we all get the same medical and dental, we all have to be separated from our spouses at one time or another, we all deal with Military life and the hardships that are sometimes thrown our way. People like djack has no experience with the Military and shouldn't be giving out false information! My husband is a Chief in the Navy ( An E-7 ) and I don't feel for one minute that an Officer's wife has more privileges then I have! As a matter of fact, when you're overseas, you tend to become very close with your community and the people in which your spouse works with, and their spouses! I was very good friends with my husband's former Co's wife over here, and I'm very good friends with other officer's wives here.

Answer 3

There are different types of o/s assignments. Most common is the normal, 2-3 year tour. Then the isolated tour, which are normally 12-18 months. On the normal tour, dependents may accompany the member, if the member is of a certain rank (E4 is normally the lowest rank permitted to have dependenets accompany) or higher. The service involved will make sure that the member has all the info for that tour. A member assigned to a combat/high risk area will not be allowed to have the dependents there (common sense). One little guide line..if the member may take a privately owned vehicle on the assignment, the dependents are also allowed to accompany, as well as household goods (tonnage is controled by rank)

Answer 4

Enlisted wives have the same privileges as the Officers wives. The accompany tours come from Branch. They decide who goes where. They take to account the mission and the needs of the family. It is not discrimination.
We been in the Army for 13 years and our family has been station together, the exception was Korea because was a year tour.
Keep your chin up... We all go through the same pain no matter rank.

Answer 5

Usually it is based on the term of your deployment & the environment being deployed to, however what's wrong with there being additional privledges for higher ranks. That's exactly how it works in the civilian world when they give you stuff like a company car, stock options, better benefits, etc. This isn't communism. That's the way the world works. Just in case you're curious why it's set up that way, it's first of all because folks below E-5 aren't supposed to be married - yes I know there's no restriction but you can plainly see from pay to restrictions to benefits that it is designed to discourage it & for good reason. Second, because the costs would be insane to transport full families across the globe to follow every young private on a short tour in Korea. Either you married the guy when he was in the military or you were there when he joined, either way you knew what you were getting into. Save you complaints for things you can do something about. Sorry that's harsh, but that's the way it is & no doubt doesn't help the divorce rate.

Answer 6

it all depends on where they are going, what type of job the husband will be doing, how many kids they have. Some assignments are considered "unaccompanied" meaning no dependents. They won't send dependents to some countries that are considered unsafe. And if you have children or more than 2 or 3 you can't go to some places as they don't have large enough base housing and cost of living too high in that area for military families to live off base. And rank places a role in some cases.

Answer 7

From what I know, from being a military wife, you are allowed to accompany your husband to overseas stations such as Hawaii, Germany and Japan. You can't accompany to a war zone such as Iraq or if it is a hard-ship tour, such as Korea. Regardless of rank, as long as you have dependents and you are stationed where dependents are allowed, you have the choice to have your family accompany you. My husband had the choice to be here two years w/o us or three years with us. We chose the extra year as long as we were together. And as far as higher rank getting more privledges, that is a load of you know what. As a military member you get a no-fee passport, they pay for your plane tickets and lodging and re-imburse you for expenses if you had to paid for them. try not to listen to those who obviously have no idea. mine and my daughters passports were free, but we paid for our own tickets so we could get over here sooner, and after we got here, we were totally reimbursed after we showed them our itinerary. and my husband is an E-5, and there are many guys who are lower than that that have their families over here. i think it comes down to where the soldier is stationed and if they decide to do an accompanied or an unaccompanied tour, not if they are enlisted or not or rank.

i just read Naples_6 . . . she hit it right on the head!!!

Answer 8

Any wife can accompany her husband overseas unless it is a place like Iraq. Spouses can even go to Korea sometimes. It totally depends on your unit and their mission. It has nothing to do w/rank. I have been in for 12 years. Any ques? email me. And FYI Djack does not know what the hell he is talking about.

Answer 9

In most cases if one spouse is allowed then most are. BUT in most cases its up to the military member to pay (out of their own pockets) for all expenses to include passport's, air fare, and lodging. Officers get paid a "little bit" better than enlisted personnel that's usually why they go.

Answer 10

High ranking officers have more tendencies to defect to our aggressors as they are highly vulnerable to the seductions of sexy foreign spies. Grunts have no intelligence info and therefore are not their main targets for intel.

It's good to see these wives playing a part in keeping America's sovereignity. Well done!!