Command Sponsorship

Hello again! So things are slowly coming along regarding our PCS to Germany. (BTW, PCS means Permanent Change of Station. I'll be using a lot of acronyms on this blog). The Army sure does make it difficult to get the spouse overseas with their service member. If you didn't know already, one of the first steps as a spouse during the overseas PCS process is to become command sponsored. This is my first PCS, plus it's an overseas move so it's a lot more complicated than a move within the United States. So since it's my first PCS, there are a lot of things I didn't know about when I found out we would be moving to Germany.

Like I mentioned above, spouses need to be command sponsored before they can move to Germany, let alone do ANYTHING (paperwork, book flights, ship furniture, etc) related to moving to Germany. Command sponsorship basically means you need to be medically approved to move to Germany. The Army requires you go through a program called EFMP or Exceptional Family Member Program. I have no idea why they call it that but that's beside the point. The first step in the EFMP process is having a physical done at a doctor office. I see a doctor at a hospital off post so that's who I go to but some people have military doctors who perform the physicals as well. The military doctors are probably a lot more familiar with this process than my doctor. Anyways, I had my physical done last week and EFMP told me to bring in notes from the physical so they can set up an appointment for me to be "screened" and "interviewed". I've heard some people say their military doctor filled out  paperwork for EFMP instead so it may depend on the situation. My doctor wouldn't have my notes ready until this week for some reason so my next step is to turn those into EFMP so we can get the command sponsorship rolling.

I want to explain what I know about command sponsorship so far and I want to make it short and sweet so I don't confuse you all (even though I still get confused with this stuff!).  What I've learned so far is that EFMP reviews your physical notes and interviews you about any health conditions you may have and such. If they find that you are "healthy", they send your health record to the incoming command (the new unit in Germany) and then the command in Germany needs to approve you to travel with your husband. If EFMP thinks you need treatment for any health condition, then they will enroll you in the EFMP program which I heard can delay your command sponsorship a while. I'm a pretty healthy individual, although I am in physical therapy at the moment for some lower back pain which is improving but I hope they don't enroll me in the program. Once you get approved, your service member gets a new set of orders that says you are allowed to move to Germany with them.

Now here's the tricky part for me right now. Since I haven't had my EFMP screening and interview yet, I'm not on Nick's orders. Which means technically I'm not allowed to travel with him at the moment. So I can't book a flight, schedule the movers to pick up our furniture, apply for housing in Germany, etc. No matter whether I do or do not get command sponsored, Nick still has to report in June to his new unit in Germany. So his flight is already booked and he'll be arriving in a few weeks. But I won't. We went to our travel office on post to see if they could reserve a flight for me even though I'm not command sponsored and the man there was nice enough to hold a spot for me (but not officially) until I am on Nick's orders. The ONLY problem with that is we have a dog and there are no pet spaces available until JULY! Nick insists that I fly with our dog because he has anxiety (and we don't want to take any chances of him getting lost with a pet shipping company) so it looks like I will be flying alone with our dog in July (as long as command sponsorship gets approved!). I'm pretty nervous about flying alone on my first international flight with my dog, who by the way needs to fly in cargo! Yikes! I just want everything to go smoothly and I'm so unsure of everything at the moment. Everything depends on this complicated command sponsorship. Things would have been a little less stressful if we were still leaving in August, which was our original report date but such is life. I'm sure everything will work itself out somehow. It's just hard not having control over certain things. We can only do so much and we have to pray that the Army will be efficient and get things done on time.

Sorry for such a long rant! If you're still reading this, YAY! I know a lot of this can sound confusing and complicated, especially to people who aren't in the military. I'll try my best to make things more concise in the future. Thanks again for taking time to read my blog. See ya next time!

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to my very first blog post. This blog will be dedicated to the adventures we will be having in Germany and all over Europe. Side note: Ever heard the Bobby Darin song, "Beyond the Sea"? Yes? Well, now you know how I came up with my blog name. I just wanted Beyond the Sea but that was taken. Darn! Our Life Beyond the Sea will just have to do. :)

So...Who am I? Well, if you are my friend or a family member, then you already know! But for anyone who doesn't know me, here's a little background.

My name is Kelly-Anne O'Connor, but I just go by Kelly. I'm married to Nick, who is in the U.S. Army and we are currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State. BUT!...That is all about to change very soon because we have orders to Germany! Yep. In a matter of weeks we will be moving overseas to Vilseck, Germany and will be living there for three years. I'm excited yet very nervous, mainly because the army moved my husbands report date up two months earlier than expected so we are rushing to get everything done last minute. If you didn't know much about the army, they like to make you fill out lots and lots of paperwork, especially when you are moving overseas. Anyways, that's a story for another blog post!

Well, I look forward to updating everyone and sharing our adventure overseas! See you next time!

-Kelly