Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 4/13/2009

Question
hi, im about to get married in june to my fiance who has been in the navy for 4 years and has changed rates, hes shore duty, FTS in VA, and has only been there a couple of months. Ive been in the navy only 2 years and have been onboard overseas for a year and a half. We want to get stationed together.
but i dont know if it will work. What are the chances of us being able to be together??

Answer
Amanda,
Congratulations on you engagement!
The Navy has an assignment program called "JOIN SPOUSE."  Basically, under this program, the Navy will try as hard as they can to station you both at the same base or within 100 miles of each other.  Note there is no guarantee - the Navy just agrees to try.  The services will not create a new slot for JOIN SPOUSE. There has to be an existing job opening in the rank/job that you both can be assigned against.  The Navy is successful about 80% of the time.

In order for the JOIN SPOUSE program to work,  you BOTH must apply, otherwise the assignment system won't process it.  Then it's up to the Navy to determine which of you should move to join the other (or whether both of you should move to a new location), based upon the needs of the Navy and funding constraints.
One thing I should mention, normal time-on-station rules apply.  For example, in general, in order for a first-termer (a military member on his/her first enlistment), assigned to a CONUS (Continental United States) base, to move overseas, he/she must have 12 months time-on-station .  In order for the first termer to move from one CONUS base to another, he/she must 24 months time-on-station.  Sometimes one spouse will leave active-duty (usually the lower paid spouse) and transfer to the Reserves to make the process more bearable yet keep 2 paychecks.
Where's your home base/port?  JOIN SPOUSE rules are different for overseas.

You need to talk to your personnel specialists NOW, so you'll know what your options will be and so you can spend minimum time apart.
Good luck and thanks to both of you for serving.
Colonel H