Posted on Nov 28, 2016
CPT Company Commander
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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 in these groups: 9f1fce1d9322e67ae67401b61321d517 Dual MilitaryRings Marriage
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Responses: 5
SPC Brian Mason
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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.
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PV2 Motor Transport Operator
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How long was that process of her transferring??
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SMSgt Timothy Cathers
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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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CW3 Network Architect
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Wait, you had to get permission? Why?
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SMSgt Timothy Cathers
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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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CW3 Network Architect
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But you guys were already married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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COL Vincent Stoneking
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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.
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CPT Company Commander
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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 Command Master Chief
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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.
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