Thread: Hubby joining army few questions if anyone can help

My husband has always wanted to join the army but we started our family young (17) and with one thing or another he never did manage it, now however (hes 25) we have realised its now or never and he has decided to go for it... hes gone through most of application process and its (touch wood) looking as if he has good chance of getting in! but reality as started to hit home a little for me and im now worrying about lots of little things like our kids future, so i have few questions and wondered if someone would be able to help with these as i feel i dont really get straight answers from the career office! s here goes...

both Phase 1 & 2 training is around 380 miles away from home, i realise he will have to cope with phase 1 alone and we will have to be seperated for the 16 week, but i wondered if we would be able to get a married quaters for phase 2 considering its 36 weeks long and we have 3 children and live so far away? i have looked at private rentals in th dorset area (near training) and they are sooooo expensive,especially seen as he is dropping a couple of thousand in wage from his previous job to join the army so wouldnt be able to afford private rental!!!

my next question is about education... and basically what happens about education in army for your kids? my 2 eldest are 7 and 5 so are already in fulltime school, are there schools on camp? someone mentioned you can apply for boarding school when they older is this true? its all so confusing lol

Firstly, welcome to the site.

Secondly, watch out 'cos though you will get some good advice, the usual suspects are even now composing their rather rude posts.

Others will best advise on housing. My observation is that, brave lady that you are, it's not just hubby that's joining-you all are: therefore 'we' are joining up, not 'he'. You all need to acknowledge that. During training and certainly during his first unit tour, you will all live through it: he'll try not to, but he will bring it home.

Good luck to you all.

....oh, and tell the idle sod to ask the Army about housing you all: the idle swine should have done that first!

thanks i think it will be big life style change like you say not just for him but for us all, just hope we are making right decision :-/

It's worth asking about MQ's - there may be a surplus, but a strict interpretation says that an MQ entitlement is only for Trained Soldiers. see below:

Army Life

Wether there will be a local school on camp/garrison will depend on location - in my experience infant/primary schools were usually close by - if not on the camp or garrison. If you go abroad then all the details you might need can be obtained from here:

Service Children's Education

I think that you cant get a quarter if you are there for less than 6 months, although dont quote me. Once he gets in he should raise this question with his Platoon Commander who will then start the process. I would say that the first time you get to live together in the Army is when he is posted to his Unit. Education is supplied by the local education authority in the UK and the schools near barracks are normally very good and understand the problems that go with kids from the military. Abroad the schools are run as any normal school here only it is exclusive to children from the military. Finally the Army pays a generous amount of boarding school fees which provides excellent education. Hope that helps and good luck, it is a hard life for the "other half" in the forces.

thanks to you all for your help the phase 2 training works out about 8 months and with the 4 months first phase i just think a year living apart is a long time when you have a young family and have never lived apart before but i guess i should get used to been parted from him :-/

In my experience loads of people in phase 2 have had married quarters but he will need to start the ball rolling in phase 1 because the housing types can be a bit funny about allocating for a relatively short period. Do not let him get fobbed off, I had students who where told in phase 1 no chance for a house only for me to goto the housing bods in Blandford to say it wasn't a problem just apply as long as he is there for 6 months or more. And make sure he goes through his chain of command..
Hope that helps.

really? thanks sooooooooo much you really told me what i needed to hear!!! to be honest its been stressing me out so much worrying about it lol

It has been many years since I was an army wife so I cant say if things have changed much over the years but I did enjoy it. You get used to being apart, other wives are in the same situation as you so you dont feel so alone. Good luck to you.
bj

Originally Posted by JJ_Wrinkly_Old_Git

It's worth asking about MQ's - there may be a surplus, but a strict interpretation says that an MQ entitlement is only for Trained Soldiers. see below:

Army Life

Wether there will be a local school on camp/garrison will depend on location - in my experience infant/primary schools were usually close by - if not on the camp or garrison. If you go abroad then all the details you might need can be obtained from here:

Service Children's Education

OP says Dorset, if Blandford then Techs in phase 2 have been given houses in the past(40odd week cse).

Originally Posted by chocolate_frog

OP says Dorset, if Blandford then Techs in phase 2 have been given houses in the past(40odd week cse).

When I was in Blandford my kids were educated at Downlands School (up to 9 year olds).

Downlands

Edited to add:

You'll also find a lot of information here for your childrens education.

Education services

Fortunately you are getting good advice here but you may also like to try Rear Party where more wives - and the the odd husband lurk.

Pink old love....up top of page is a little pink thing that says 'families'! It takes you to Rear Party....the civilised (but NEVER fluffy) face of Arrse. Come over there and leave these rough oiks and there stinky green kit to their own devices :D