Posted on Nov 28, 2016
Has anyone on Active Duty been married to someone in the Reserve? How does the process work, as far as dual military?
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I am on active duty. My wife is prior enlisted active duty who is looking into becoming an officer in the Army Reserve now that she finished her degree. If she decides to pursue this goal, how does it work as far as dual military status? We have a child, would the family care plan work the same way as dual active parents? If we are Europe bound, what considerations should we take with this?
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 5
Yes. My ex (long story) and I were both in. I was the Active Duty soldier and she was the Reserve one. During AIT in Texas (her home state) they had to start whatever 'process' some time while I was there. Luckily, Fort Drum has a Reserve unit. She got a transfer and I was simply stationed their out of AIT. I don't know what was involved, but I did see some of the paperwork since I'm on it (as her husband). That Reserve unit no longer deploys (long story), but mine did.
Being married in the military is tougher than people think. It's NOT impossible and quite doable.
Being married in the military is tougher than people think. It's NOT impossible and quite doable.
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My wife was commissioned into the Air Force Nursing Corp as a 2 Lt reservist. I was a Master Sergeant. The only problems were: 1. Enlisted married to an O. We had to get permission from the base commander to attend functions together in uniform 2. When we both went TDY at the same time and the kids had to be babysat for weeks.
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SMSgt Timothy Cathers
CW3 (Join to see) - Fraternization rules. Heck, the Army and Navy would not take my wife due to her being married to an Enlisted troop. Air Force was the only service that allowed it. But the Air Force had some rules like going together in uniform, ranks and names on our base housing (could not have a 2Lt and Master Sergeant displayed on the same house. Dumb rules but we did it.
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The family care plan aspect works the same as dual active - both are liable to deploy.
Assignments are a different can of worms. The Reservist spouse is NOT active duty, so pretty much all the "dual military" stuff you see does not apply. Add to that, the assignment "systems" are completely different. Basically, the Reservist spouse will have to find a unit wherever they are happening to live at the moment - or sit some time out in the IRR. This means that the likelihood of being branch and experienced aligned goes down significantly. The good news is that there are Reserve units and/or IMA slots pretty much everywhere the Army is. Not shilling for the IMA program, but that is where I would look.
Depending on the Reservist spouse's career trajectory, there may come a time when they want to take or maintain a given assignment separate from the Active spouse. (i.e. selected for a command in location X, which is separate from the AC spouse's assignment) Keep in mind, The reserve spouse in this case in NOT eligible for separate BAH. I've seen it happen several times.
Assignments are a different can of worms. The Reservist spouse is NOT active duty, so pretty much all the "dual military" stuff you see does not apply. Add to that, the assignment "systems" are completely different. Basically, the Reservist spouse will have to find a unit wherever they are happening to live at the moment - or sit some time out in the IRR. This means that the likelihood of being branch and experienced aligned goes down significantly. The good news is that there are Reserve units and/or IMA slots pretty much everywhere the Army is. Not shilling for the IMA program, but that is where I would look.
Depending on the Reservist spouse's career trajectory, there may come a time when they want to take or maintain a given assignment separate from the Active spouse. (i.e. selected for a command in location X, which is separate from the AC spouse's assignment) Keep in mind, The reserve spouse in this case in NOT eligible for separate BAH. I've seen it happen several times.
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CPT (Join to see)
Thank you for the information Sir. We are still looking into it now. It certainly seems like something we can pull off depending on what news we hear back from the Reserve units in Germany that I emailed. I will be in Italy, so hopefully we can work something out.
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CMDCM (Join to see)
I am on the National Reserve Policy board and we are looking into creating/modifying policy to simplify this. Does anyone have any specific examples or concerns or even suggestions that we should consider when addressing this?
Thanks for all your feedback.
Thanks for all your feedback.
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