Expert: Rod Powers - 12/19/2007

Question
My fiancee and I are both in the Navy, both active duty, and plan on marrying over Christmas break. He just went to his first duty station, and I'm still in training for my job, and will be after the new year. I was told by an instructor here that since I have not yet gone to my first permanent duty station, the detailers do not have to assign us colocation on my first duty station, even if we marry before I get my orders. After my first duty station, I automatically get sent back for more training, so my training location will automatically be listed as my second duty station, or so we've been told. With my job, the closest duty station I will very likely get is Norfolk. So, what's the truth here? Can we or can't we get colocation with me straight out of A-school? Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Ashley,

Heck, both you and your husband could both have been in the Navy for 10 years, and the detailers would not "have to" assign you  both to the same duty station, nor even to close duty stations.

Under the "JOINT SPOUSE" assignment system, the most the Navy can do is to *TRY* and assign you and your spouse to the same duty station, or to duty stations within 100 or so miles from each other. No promises. On average, the Navy (and the other services) have about an 80 percent success rate, when it comes to JOINT SPOUSE assignments. Sounds pretty good, until you realize that means, at any given time, about 20 percent of Navy military-married-to-military spouses don't get assigned together (or even within 100 miles of each other).

Again, no guarantees. Under the system, it only means the Navy detailers will *try*.

Your fiance has already gone to his first duty station, which means he is not going to be eligible to move to another duty station for awhile. The Navy won't break the "minimum time on station move" rules in order to make a JOINT SPOUSE assignment work.

Additionally, once you get selected for your first assignment, it's not likely to be changed because of a JOINT SPOUSE. So, the sooner you get married and put in for JOINT SPOUSE, the better your chances of getting it are.

You'll want to read my article at: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/familydomestic/a/militarycouples.htm

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Information Website at: http://usmilitary.about.com

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com