my hubby leaves in july and im freaking out

[Am8ler]

hi everyone.

my hubby leaves for kapooka in july and im freaking out iv never been that long with out him.
then after that its employment training for 80 days.

how many of you got to choose where you got posted?
do the army pay for you to move?

[elleandsam]

So far no we haven't got where we wanted to be posted, but we may be moving at the end of the year so we'll see.

And yes, defence will pay for your move.

Best of luck.

[EquineMum]

First of all, big :hugs:

This is the first of many absences and will definitely be the hardest.

With postings, your DH will be asked to put in his preferences - so he can actually choose his top 5 or 6 locations. Whether he gets those depends on where he is positioned in his cohort (ie how many people of the same rank are doing better than him, how many are doing worse - to put it bluntly LOL). If he is quite high in his cohort then he will usually get his first or second preference. The better he performs, the better postings he will get. THe second facet that affects postings is obviously what positions are available. Think about your DH's career as having a whole heap of checkboxes that he has to have ticked before he can progress. Different postings offer him different ticks in different boxes - so it also depends on which positions come up and whether they fall in line with his preferences. At the end of the day though, someone has to draw the short straw and end up with postings they don't want - but he can avoid that by performing really well and choosing his postings carefully to optimise his career progression.

Secondly, yes, the Army pay most of your relocation expenses. Once you receive a posting order (notification to move), things will swing into action and eventually boxes will be delivered and it will snowball from there. You pack your own personal things, but the removalists need to pack everything else to ensure it is covered by their insurance. The same thing happens at the other end, they MUST unpack it all or they won't take responsibility for any damage during transit.

Best of luck with everything - there are many of us on here who have been doing it for years and can answer almost any questions you have :yes:

[mummyrissa]

Kapooka is hard, you go from seeing/hearing this person everyday to virtually nothing. I wasn't even with my ex at the time and it was really hard - so can't even imagine what you are going through! you do get the odd call but the best bit is writing letters to each other :-) he said he got really excited when he recieved them! With postings we found if you got along with everyone your more likely to get your preference, and theY took into consideration we had a child. Will he be going to singleton after?
Good luck - he has made a very good decision and you will get through this exciting yet scary time!

[Am8ler]

my hubby is going is as crewman light armoured vehicle.

There are only 3 places where we can get posted darwin, brisbane, and puckpunal (didnt spell it right)
its all very far from home in wollongong.

im happy to move its just my son starts school next year and i really want him to go to a good school. which is gunna be hard enrolling him just b4 he starts thats if there is room for him there.
is there alot of houses in bases?
or do you find our own house off base?
and how does rent work i heard you get rental assistance?

[sharn883]

Most Defence Housing is located off base, except for Pucka and a few other locations around Australia...... We're looking at a Darwin posting at years end and i'm really excited - even though it's so far from 'home' in canberra. Houses are put in different classes, you will be entitled to RB1 (and stays the same all the way up to Sgt) but the minimum standard is still lock up garage, ensuite etc. No. of bedrooms depends on no. of kids and their ages but all in all i'm not complaining about paying $170 a week in rent.

I had the same dilemma with my son, he had just started Kindergarten (in NSW) when we got our first posting order to Townsville. We couldn't lock down a school until we were there because there weren't any houses available until we actually arrived in our new location - and most schools these days are 'zoned'. But in all the locations you may end up there is a big defence community so you won't be the only one trying to find a good school possibly at the last minute. The schools are used to this too. In our last move we found our house on the last day of the school year so on the first day of school for the year i rocked up and enrolled my son and it was fine.

Kapooka is hard, myself and DF hadn't spent a night apart before he went in..... the letters are awesome.... i still have a box with all the letters/cards that he has sent me in his time away. But having kids also takes up alot of your time so that's good. You aren't too far from Wagga so you could possibly get over there when they have their occasional weekend leave (by that i mean approx 5-6 hours, sometimes less) but the trip is worth it :yes:..........

It's a good time of year for him to go in because he will finish his training all in time for a posting at the beginning of the year - so much better than moving mid-year.

Like Equinemum said - there'll be someone on here who can answer pretty much anything you want to ask..

Good luck with it all :)