Q.My husband is in the United States Navy. I have a question about basic allowance for housing. My husband is currently stationed in San Diego, Calif. I moved out here in September to be with him and we are receiving (Basic Allowance for Housing) here.
In June of this year, he is getting deployed to Bahrain. I don’t plan on staying here in San Diego alone. My plan is to move back home to Chicago or the suburbs to be with my family while he is gone on unaccompanied orders.
He also has two daughters who live with their mom. He pays child support to them every month. My question is: Will I still be able to receive BAH for me while I am living in Chicago?
A. During your husband’s deployment, you are eligible to receive BAH, as his spouse and dependent, and you are free to move and live wherever you choose during that time. Choosing the location where you have the best and most comfortable support network for you is a great idea.
The Joint Federal Travel Regulation, which outlines BAH and many other kinds of support, allows dependents to receive BAH for locations other than the member’s permanent duty station (in your case, San Diego, assuming his tour to Bahrain is a temporary duty station.)
Getting approval for this does require some paperwork, and your husband can find out how to initiate this through his supervisor or whoever handles these issues for his unit. Probably he can take care of it when he does all the other paperwork associated with his deployment. There’s always plenty of red tape to go around in military life.
It is possible that the military will choose to pay BAH for either your actual location (Chicago) or your husband’s permanent duty station (San Diego), whichever is less. However, you still will receive BAH. Another note: your BAH will be calculated for one person (you), so it may be less than you now receive as a couple.
If his move to Bahrain is a permanent change of station, then the paperwork will be different, but you are still eligible for BAH. Your husband just needs to make his intentions for your location clear, so that all the paperwork can be completed for the appropriate location before he leaves.
Your husband’s support for his children does not affect your eligibility for BAH, as his spouse and dependent.
I hope this information is helpful and that your transition and your husband’s deployment go smoothly. The paperwork to make all this happen will have to be filed by your husband.
In spite of the distance, do keep the lines of communication open with your husband’s unit in San Diego. Leave your contact information with someone you can trust to relay vital information during the deployment.
Blog note: I have received a few messages lately from readers having difficulty finding the newest posts on the Spouse Calls blog.
To find the newest posts: On the main page, scroll down and look in the column on the right side. There is a box labeled “Recent Comments for Spouse Calls.” This is a list, with the newest on top, of the latest reader comments. Click on the title you want to read.
In some of the longer discussion threads, that may not take you to the comment you want if the comment is on the last page of that thread. If one click does not take you there, simply scroll to the bottom, click “last page” and you will find the most recent posts at the end.
I hope this helps locate the latest comments on Spouse Calls. Keep them coming.
Terri Barnes is a military wife and mother of three. She lives and writes in Germany. Write to her at spousecalls@stripes.com and see the Spouse Calls blog at: http://blogs.stripes.com/blogs/spousecalls.
