How to get dual American / German citizenship

To the OP- have your husband start using his chain-of-command. If he is a good soldier, they may be able to do something to keep him in the unit (extend his DROS).

Could it really be that easy?

So now we get to the crux of the matter. The two of you need to communicate better, first of all.

They may be able to extend his DROS, but if you want him to avoid going to Iraq, you are almost certainly out of luck. You should have said that is what it was really about. Do you think you are the only spouse who didn't want to see a servicemember deployed? And you wanted German citizenship for that reason?

I can certainly understand someone not wanting to go to Iraq, or a spouse wanting to see a servicemember not being deployed there, but what did he think the military was going to be like when he joined in 2005?

Him going to Iraq doesn't bother me. He is there right now. We just want to stay here.

Talk to your rear detachment chain-of-command. Tell them you love the unit and want to find a way to stay in it. They and his forward-deployed chain-of-command are your best chance, i.e., if they are cool.

Thank you. If they don't know will JAG be able to help me at all?

Something like that requires higher-ups in a chain-of-commmand going to bat for you. JAG can't really help you unless you have a very good reason (much better than what you have given) related to the rights of servicemembers. Your husband's chain-of-command probably would resent him going through other channels without talking to them first, and besides, that is what he and you are supposed to do.

OK. That should be doable. His unit just got here. They replaced the Big Red One.

Also keep in mind that US Military contracts are for 8 Years. No matter what you sign-up for...
So if your husband just re-up'd for 6 years, then its actually 6 active / 2 Reserve/stand-by.

With the Airforce they usually don't do 6 year contracts, the norm is 4 active / 4 reserve/standby.

So even after he gets out, they can still pull him back into service within 2 years of him getting out..

Sidenote: Your husbands name wouldn't happen to begin with "J", would it?

See one problem is that he wants to stay in the military but do it over here.

Conquistador to the rescue!

There was a side of me that thought we've potentially been punked, but now I get it.

The US military/DoD/DoS are all dying to have people working over here, as are a lot of US companies. Even for people "on the economy" below a certain limit, US worldwide taxation isn't an issue. Once hubby is back, you both get US government jobs like the very nice lady who just did my son's US passport has and you're golden.

NO. It starts with an A. Why do you know anyone from Rose Barracks?

So then it would be better for him to get out when he can?

I knew an Army guy in Frankfurt many years back who was a J.Hackett

Oh ok.

Unless they have changed things in the past few years, the eight years active duty+inactive reserve only applies to if you do not do at least eight years of active duty- if the OP's hubby completes his six year reenlistment term, he will have done eight years and would not be liable for any IRR time.

So would him staying in be a bad thing?

Did he tell his unit's reenlistment NCO that is what he wanted to do? Sounds to me like either he has something lined up and hasn't communicated to you exactly what it is, or he is just trying to have his cake and eat it, too.

Not as far as I know.. My buddy just re-up'ed, and the 4/4 is still in the Re-up contract.
The military is hurting for people, The on/off times, Early outs, reenlistment bonus etc. have
all been changed in the last 2-3 years to keep people in. (AKA: "Stop Loss", in Mil terms)

Another friend of mine (Same base as above) Got out a few years back, was out living large
making big $$$ then a year or so later he got the call to come back.. He was already in for 6-7
years when I last saw him, and atleast 2.5 years after our last base.. Well past the limit you mentioned..
He's still in, can't get out due to staff shortages in his field.. But ther are paying him a bit more, and he got a big cash payout too.

I am beginning to think he just wants his cake and eat it to.

I was thinking before that maybe if I went to rear d and explained how much the government would save by keeping us here it would help. Any thoughts?

Things obviously have changed.


That argument will never fly, and even if that sort of logic was accepted, you can just imagine someone will point out that the government could also really save some money if they made your hubby give back his reenlistment bonus as part of the bargain. BTW, don't forget the bonus is taxable.

Ya i know. I would be more than happy to give the money back. Money isn't everything.

It's a little late to be asking that question. If he makes it to 8 years in service, he might as well do 20-30. Tell him to start amassing college credits unless those in his MOS only need a 450 to get promoted.

I don't know what he needs.

Now that is something to ask JAG- if a signed reenlistment contract can be revised. Probably not, but they are the ones who should know.

Promotion cutoffs used to get printed in the Army Times, and I am sure there are other sources.

I didn't know that was possible option. I will make sure to try that. Thank you.

It almost certainly isn't an option, I want to stress that, and from what you said earlier, his DEROS isn't for a few years anyway, so why would he give money back? Find out when his DEROS and ETS dates are, and then ask yourself if it makes sense to even try. If I knew what those two dates were, I could tell you whether to bother trying or not. One problem you will face is that you don't have a good enough reason (sickness of a family member, for example) to justify asking for a change. If your hubby's mother lived in Amberg and had health problems, he might have good grounds for doing what you want, but I don't see any reason for the military to play ball with you based upon what you have told us so far.

Figures just my luck. His ets date is May of 2015.

Sounds like an eight-year reenlistment to me. What about his DEROS?

Same.

If he had 2 years left and he reinlisted for six that does make eight right it doesn't cancel out his other 2 does it?

No it doesn't cancel out the other 2.

The way it used to be, if you reenlisted for, say, three years one year before your original ETS, the three years began the date you signed the reenlistement papers. I never reenlisted though, and as DK pointed out, a few things have changed in the past few years.

OK. I didn't think so but I wanted to make sure.

OK. Thank you guys for all of your help. I'm very sorry if I sounded kind of stupid. I'm just not very good at things like this.

In order to stay in Germany (At his Current Base) until 2015, he will have to apply for an IPCOT every 2-4 years..
(IPCOT = In-Place Consecutive Overseas Tour), It also must be approved each time, or he will have to take his next normal assignment/duty station.

Since your married to a Military member, I suggest you get on Google, and learn all the military lingo, and terms and meanings you can
to better understand whats going on and when/how things should be done.

So should I have him do that as soon as he comes back?

BTW, it used to be that you could get 30 days free leave if you did an IPCOT, so check into that. Have him talk to his unit's reenlistment NCO, who is probably downrange with him.

OK. Thank you I will go to rear d on Wednesday.

I did 2 IPCOT's in Germany, I got 2 days vacation each time. Maybe for a married person its different, but Deff. nowhere near 30 days..
That would be 1 full year of vacation at the Military rate of 2.5 days per month.

Very true.

I wasn't married when I did it, either, and thus it was for two years. This was in 1998.

OK. So then the laws might me different?

Policies do change from time to time, and that might explain the discrepancy between what DK experienced and what I experienced. There is no law that says you have to get x number of days of free leave for doing and IPCOT- it's discretionary.

But they do like for people to do it?

Don't know. I didn't have any problem getting approved, and I presume DK did not either. I have never heard of someone who made such a request and was subsequently turned down.

That's very good to know. Thank you so much.

I personally wouldn't be going to the Rear D asking questions about my Husbands enlistment terms There is nothing they hate more than an interfering wife and it can cause problems should he need their help in the years to come. Whining wives are not popular.

btw My husband did two IPCOT's and we got a free flight back to the US, he was also offered 30 days leave as an option instead of the flights home.

Terms can also change across services (Air force and Army in this case)..

I totally agree with Nicole, reminds me of one of the guys that always let his wife and kids run around our offices...
That stopped after one of the kids found the bid red kill switch for half the bases servers and network gear..

She was also nailed by the MP's for price fixing (changes price stickers) in AAFES an writing bad checks at DECA thus was banned from
all AAFES and DECA shops shops in Germany.. Which sucked, cause then my buddy had to do all the shopping. (Which really sux after a 12-14hr day)