My husband was just assigned to be stationed in Korea. Is there any way to change his assignment?

Question

My four month old son and I were planning on living on base with my husband until we just found out he has been assigned to Korea. I don't even think we are allowed to live there!

Answer 1

You can still reside on post, while he is in Korea. Either at his current duty station, or at his next duty station. You're still his dependent, so all your authorizations will continue!

Do yo know where in Korea he will be stationed? If he's in Seoul, or at Camp Humphreys etc...you can go to Korea NON-Command Sponsored (NON-CSP). If you don't have school-age children, it is actually pretty affordable. You will receive full COLA, and have access to all the Post facilities. Almost all commanders authorize Soldiers with NON-CSP family in-country to reside off-post with them. Korean Apartments are nice and getting better everyday! There are many ammenities here you'll look for when you go home. His ration limit won't increase, but you'll get a ration card and his limit will be $550 a month at the commissary (way more than a family of three will actually spend there).

If you come over NON-CSP you will have to pay for your own travel here and back, but you will be authorized a SOFA stamp in your passport and can live the whole time your hubby is here. IF you guys like it, he can apply for Assignment incentive Pay (AIP) and stay an extra year and receive and extra $300 per month! Korea is very nice, and once you settle in you'll love living here for a year or two!

Jobs opportunities here are kind of slim for spouses, but if you have qualifications, you can get a job on-post as a local-hire. Otherwise the United Club, which is a member of the American Women's Club Abroad, is very active and is basically the Enlisted/Officer spouses club.

Even if you don't go to Korea, a year is a very short time to be apart and look on the bright side...he's not going into harm's way while he's in Korea like he would be in Iraq.

Answer 2

A few families are allowed to go to Korea when the military spouse recieves orders. Your husband should find out shortly if this assignment is accompanied (you and your son can go) or unaccompanied (you'll have to stay behind). Keep in mind there are some very good reasons why families are generally not allowed to go along to Korea. Services on the bases are limited and it is not possible to get services like health care off base because of language issues. Housing is very limited, both on base and off (where many of the houses available would not be what most Americans consider suitable). Korea is still considered a high risk assignment because of the tensions within Korea and the issues with China. Military stationed there often work long hours, odd schedules and the bases exercise (war games basically) nearly every month for about a week at a time. It is not an easy assignment for most families.

Can your husband change his assignment? The best way (but the toughest to do) is he would have to find someone with orders to another base, who has the same job and same rank and is willing to trade. That can be hard to do, especially in smaller career fields. He can ask if he can defer the assignment and try for another, but this can have some reprecussions on his career (bad ratings on his annual reveiw, loss of this choice for future assignments, etc.) While it is hard to hear, the truth is the best thing you can do is support his career and accept he is going to be sent someplace you can not go. The upside is, he will actually be very safe and will get mid-tour leave. Also, there is nothing that will keep you and your son from visiting if you choose.

Answer 3

My husband was stationed at Fort Knox KY, we were living on base. He received orders for Korea, and unaccompanied tour because he is not an officer and the army gave us the option of returning home or letting my daughter and I continue to live on base at Ft Knox. If they are not allowing you to stay on base, they will pay for you to move all of your belonging home and you will receive a housing allowance each month.
However, if you want to go to Korea with him, if he is not an officer, you can always live off base but I wouldn't recommend it. Especially with a 4 month old baby. Your husband will be gone during the day and you will be in a foreign country that is not always happy with the American presence. When my husband was there, every so often, they would close down the base due to protests and riots outside the gates.

Answer 4

My husband has been looking at a job there also at Camp Caroll (he is DOD). You need to find out if he has an accompanied tour or not. If so, you and your son can go. I do not know where you are going but I have received really good feedback about the Army bases there particularly Camp Walker and Camp Henry and Camp Carroll. I very much doubt he can change his assignment, especially if he is military but if it is accompanied, go and enjoy. There are many other wives there and you will have a great support structure. Plus it will be a culture experience.

Answer 5

I just got married in August of this year and my husband was sent to Korea a week later. His assignment is one year unaccompanied and we're about three months in right now. Unfortunately the chances of you and your son being allowed to go will depend heavily on his rank. My husband is E4 (SPC) and he was told I could not join him even non command sponsored. In fact others with a higher rank than him were also denied. Even if I had been approved to go over non command sponsored I would not have been authorized to go anywhere on post without him meaning I wouldn't have been able to go to the px or commissary unless he was with me nor would I have been allowed to live on post. Now command sponsorship is fairly easy to get approved but in order to do that your husband would have to sign up for two additional years making it a total of three years spent in Korea. Personally we were not willing to do that and decided to suffer through the year apart. It is extremely hard but there is a very low chance of deployment from Korea so I just try to keep in mind that he's at least safe there. Also, if you are unable to go I would suggest buying a webcam for each of you. We each got one before he left and they have helped so much.

A good site to buy a phone card if you do end up not being able to go is www.nobelcom.com. I really hope you can find a way to go over there but if not just keep in mind he's safe there and you CAN get through this! I wish you luck in getting the command sponsorship if that is what y'all choose to do. For us it was a better option for me to stay stateside because we do not yet have kids and we were not willing to spend three full years so far away from home.

Oh! One more thing, there is an awesome site with a bunch of really supportive women I joined while my husband was in basic training. It's called www.marriedtothearmy.com and there is a forum connected with it called www.armywifechat.com. You should check it out sometime. I wish you and your family the best of luck in this difficult situation!

Answer 6

Sound as if he is in the 2nd if he is assigned to Camp Humphreys you can live on base. The post is extremely large with facilities located in a circle around the airfield. The post has a large bowling alley, a nice PX, currently a brand new commissary is being built, a driving range, and all other standard US Army facilities. The post even has family housing for command sponsored families.

Overall an assignment to Camp Humphreys should be looked forward to because the camp is really nice and only getting better with new facilities and services that are currently being built in preparation of 2ID units that are expected to move here sometime around 2008. The "ville" is really nice and not as run down as "villes" in the 2ID area and the people very nice and welcoming

Camp Humphreys is expected to grow by as much as 500 percent by 2012, rocketing from its current 3,500-troop population to more than 17,000, and making it the largest installation on the peninsula.

Combined with family members, civilian staff and contractors, the population is expected to grow to more than 44,000, according to official estimates.

Camp Humphreys is in Pyeongtaek City, about 55 miles, or a two-hour bus ride, south of Seoul. It's home to U.S. Army Garrison Command and the Area III Support Activity of the U.S. Army Installation Management Command Korea.


http://www.army.mil/-news/2007/06/22/3776-transformation-underway-in-south-korea/


http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57722&archive=true

Answer 7

Most Korea tours are unaccompanied although some are becoming an accompanied tour... he can turn down the orders ONCE if he has never did it before, but there is no way to gaurantee the same orders wont come back down a week later...

Answer 8

Not unless he knows someone with some pull at the pentagon.

Which is doubtful.

They are actually letting dependents go to Korea now, for some assignments, of course his orders will tell you if it is an unaccompanied assignment or not.

Answer 9

Camp Humphreys Px Hours

Answer 10

There are some great answers here, esp from John M and Greenman.

I really just want to address Monika. You are being lied to. Contact me, or maybe Greenman will help out. You could come over if want to. It is not hard. The command can limit some things, but not nearly to the degree they are saying.
Blocking you from getting on base? Ridiculous.