In 2007 my husband, A Staff Sargeant in the US Army, received Military orders to South Korea. At the time South Korea, especially the area he was in was what was considered an unaccompanied tour. This meant the the US Army would not pay for me to travel or live with my husband. If a spouse chose to do so, she did so at her own expense. My husband and I decided I would go with him.in the two years that we lived in Korea I made a full time out of volunteering and supporting Military Familes, so much so, that when it was time for us to leave, I received numerous awards and was even nominated for the DRMEW award by his unit, I was also listed in his orders for official travel back to the States.
The Army Movers came and packed up our house, I bought a plane ticket and flew to Texas to pick up our items in storage and my husbands truck. My husband would follow in two weeks after out processing from Korea to our new duty station... Fort Lewis Washington (JBLM). DFAS issued us an advance on our travel pay.
A week after I was stateside I received a phone call from my husband, his orders had been cancelled. It seemed that in the two years we were in Korea they never managed to process his security clearance (which was required for his job) and when they finally pushed it through in rush status so he could move to his next duty station... It was denied.
So, my husband is in Korea... And not going anywhere until they straighten the mess out, I am in a hotel room in Texas with only a suitcase full of clothes and my husbands truck, and everything I own is in Military Storage at Fort Lewis.
My husband began to try and resolve the security clearance issues. They assured him it would only take about a month.
Three months later, I am still in a hotel room in Dallas, my husband is still in Korea, we have depleted our savings as well as the travel advance but the Army assures us it will only take another month.
6 months later I am still in Dallas though now sleeping in the car most nights becasue we can no longer manage the hotels. My Husband is still in South Korea, everything we own now rotting in Military Storage.
I can't get a job because every couple weeks they tell us "it should come through any time now, " and we will have to move immediately. I have no family to turn to, my marriage is falling apart because of the stress, and we can not get assistance from the Military.
12 Months... It took almost 12 month to the day to get my husband out of South Korea and back to the States. Only after he gave up fighting and took a different job that did not require a security clearance was he able to leave.instead of Texas or Fort Lewis... My husband would be going to Maryland for retraining in his new career field. The Army would not provide him the finances or a hotel so that we could be together. He was "not authorized" to take his spouse... Despite the fact that the Army sent me home 12 months prior and I was destitute and homeless.
We got through it, we are like that he and I. We make the best of everything. And 1 year and three months later it was over... Right? Nope... Not even close.
1 Year later my husband deployed to Iraq. Two days after he left I received a phone call from DFAS telling me that our account had been audited and they wanted the travel money they had given me back because my husband's orders had been cancelled. I explained that my husband had just deployed and they said they would wait and contact him when he returned.
Three months after my husband returns from Iraq... Christmas time... DFAS, without a word. A notice or a phone call begins taking $300.00 a month out of my husband's pay to repay the travel money.
When we try to fight it, or have it lessened, showing receipts and airline tickets... We are told to shut up or they will audit the account again and take back another $1500.00... That I was not authorized to be in Texas.
This is how the US Government thanks our men and women for their service.
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