Housing.

Hello everyone my name is Ashley and I am new to leather neck. My husband Justin is currently at MCT Camp Pendleton and he leaves very soon for MOS schooling. Well this is my question for anyone who can help me with the answer.

At MCT they told my husband since he is a Aviation Mechanic he must go to NAS Pensacola for schooling..great, dandy, fine I thought. Well right now his schooling is way backed up...and also once he does start it's 9 months to over a year of training. His Sergeant told him that once he gets to Pensacola he can apply for housing (BAH) because his schooling is so long, and I am his wife..(we are also having a baby, I am 5 months pregnant right now). Usually they do not give housing for MOS schooling because usually its only 3 months long. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone out there is with their husbands at MOS school, and if so how do my husband and I go about applying for housing? (They told him there is an application online, which I found but he would have to be there and do it once he's in Pensacola).

Any information about this would be great. We are also looking at apartments just incase we cannot get housing, so any information on Pensacola and what its like would be awesome.


Thanks!


Ashley!

Your Husband's Sgt lied to him, his A school is only 6 weeks long but that doesn't include C school, IF he has to go to C school because not all Aircraft Mechanics go to C school. Yes he will have to wait a couple months to get classed up but he shouldn't be in Pensacola for a year. Is your husband regular Active Duty or Reserve? Also, is he an Aircrew candidate?

Well, our close friend had to go to schooling for the exact same thing and he was there for 11 months of schooling, so it wasn't 6 weeks, Plus, NAS Pensacola sent me the application, and they told my husband that they have to offer housing to Marines with dependants.

His MOS class said that since its backed up due to the number of Marines entering the program its going to be about a year. Then he has to go for further training in North Carolina..for about 6 months. Then they told him he will be stationed somwhere? So I dont know?

Oh and he is active duty and I dont think hes an Aircrew candidate. They said his job would be basically "welding planes"

How recently did your friend attend A school? Because I went to the same school in the spring of '08 and it was only 6 weeks long then. But we did have to do a 5 day course called AWAT before we were classed up for A school and there's some waiting students have to do in-between the courses.

Our friend was there....lets see. Almost all last year..he was there for 8months...it took forever....

Are you a marine?What's your mos?

Ashley, PM me please. My husband is a Airframer and is also a welder , Sgt type, and is currently back at NAS Pensacola for NDI school. Were dual military and have dealt with housing issues but since he is there right now he might be able to help understand what your going through a little bit more clearly.

Okay, I PM'd you.

No I'm a former Sailor, I had the same job though. Man things must be pretty backed up if your friend was there for 8 months, after my class graduated they started putting 20 Marines to a class with 5 Sailors to get the Marines through faster but my class and the ones before it were about 50/50 . Did your friend say how many months he actually spent in school?

I don't see how you will get government housing on base. Base housing is for Marines and their families who are stationed at a base on a permanent basis. Your husband will be there as a student (no matter how long) and therefore he is technically on TAD (Temporary Active Duty) and you won't rate base housing. What is to preclude you from renting an apartment out in town? You should already be getting Basic Allowance for Housing even if you live with his parents. He rates BAH from the time he stepped on the yellow footprints if he was married then. He should have been getting this money the whole time, and seeing that you live with his parents, then should have been saving enough money up for a deposit on an apartment. No matter where they make him live, the BAH is basically to provide a home to his dependents. When you have the baby in four months you're gonna want to be down there were they have a Naval Hospital to have your baby free of charge. If you have it in Raleigh, you'll have to use TRICARE which means you'll have out of pocket expenses.

Ok, so it's been a while since I've been around a lot of other women in this situation, but this is how it went back when my hubs was in MOS school:

The option to PCS there instead of being "TDY" (as in in training) will be posted in his orders to go there. I think they base the decision of PCSing families to MOS schools is based on how long the coursework is.. not how long it's going to be backed up due to the number of Marines waiting in line for the school.

In our situation PCS orders weren't an option because the school was less than five months, HOWEVER a few of the spouses still decided to move on their own volition. You get BAH regardless of where he is, based upon his permanent duty station, NOT his MOS school (unless he has PCS orders - permanent change of station orders).

You do not have to live on base. Try checking out apartmentfinder, apartmentguide, or craigslist for some listings on houses to rent or apartments if you choose to move with him. Remember though, that if he doesn't have PCS orders with you and baby on them, the move will not be paid for. That comes out of your pocket, but just like usmcdanno said, you should be saving for that already.

If you have TRICARE you shouldn't have any out of pocket expenses, unless they weren't medically necessary or not covered by TRICARE. I suggest getting TRICARE Prime as soon as you can if you don't mind going through an HMO type insurance system instead of a PPO type system. When you have prime, you don't have any copays. I live about 33 miles north and inland of Camp Pendleton and Tricare won't let me go to the Naval Hospital for anything because we're out of bounds, but my PCM and OB/GYN are located here and accept Tricare so I haven't had to pay a dime out of pocket.

I'm almost 5 months pregnant too!

Do you know what you're having yet?