Husband Going To Korea

 

My husband and I just bought a house this year, we had a rough first year of marriage but the past six months or so things have been really great. Then all of a sudden we find out he's being PCSed to Korea.

At first I was extremely upset, because we'd only been in our new house a few months. Then I was thankful because this means he will not deploy to Afghanistan next year as planned. Then I got excited because I found out about command sponsorship. I started learning the language and got excited about going there too.

Then reality hit me. We've got two dogs. We've got credit card debt and a house we can't afford to sell for at least a year. All our old problems of worrying about money and adapting to a new place would just come back again. I decided what we would do is rent the house out to turn a bit of profit and I'd move in with my parents back in our hometown. (Job market is much better there and I literally have NOBODY where we live now other than him.) Without any real living expenses other than food, we can pay off our credit cards and car loan. We'd be debt free in 7 months and have a fresh start when he gets back.

We don't know if he will get command sponsorship or not but I think it would be best if we just stuck with the responsible plan. The other benefit of this plan is that I will have enough money to go visit him. We've already started making arrangements for the property management and for the move. Now I just need to figure out the trip to visit him.

I'm thinking he can possibly use some of his leave he's accrued and take a few weeks off and we can explore the country a bit. I've read about and seen pictures of South Korea and it seems like such a beautiful place.

Has anyone ever visited their soldier in South Korea? If so what did you have to do in order to visit him or her? Do you need the same medical checkups and stuff? Do you get a regular passport or the military passport they give you if you accompany your soldier? Is there anything else I should know? I've got quite a bit of time to plan this trip.

Also, I've been told that if he goes for a year unaccompanied, he basically gets to choose his next duty station (more or less, it depends on if they need someone of his rank and M.O.S.) I'm not a huge fan of heat or deserts- being at Fort Bliss this long has made me realize that. What are some of the best Army bases? Something near beaches or lakes, with mild temps?