Army wives: What to expect when married to a member of AMEDD?
My fiance is about to joint the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) as a student studying psychology. The appeal was of course the tuition reimbursement/student loan forgiveness. What can I expect in the years to follow? Specifically, what will the Army require from him in his remaining three years of school (he is currently working on his Ph.D.) and what can I expect in the following 6 years he has committed himself to once he graduates?
What you can expect very much depends on how lucky your husband will be. Unfortunately, getting deployed and stationed at certain places is up to your luck in most cases. It is a long commitment, that is for sure! Your husband will deploy, this is 100% sure if there is a war situation. When the country is at war, you have to expect this to happen during his long commitment. This is the price of getting a degree at the government’s expense. I am not saying this sarcastically but they actually want to use your husband’s skills. If it wasn’t so, they would not pay his tuition.
Although it is hard to cope with these long deployments, I would say the Army has a lot of benefits that you can use. Military dependents are entitled to special benefits so that side of it is absolutely good. If you feel like it, you can get stationed overseas and you can get to know so many new things that way. You can collect enough money during your husband’s commitment to be able to afford living in a nice area later because you get free housing no matter where you go.
I personally do not like the idea of moving all the time but some people like it and for some years while you are young, it is nice to live at different places and experience. If you are interested, get stationed overseas. It’s fun.
Just out of curiosity, do people who go to college on military tuition have a 6-year commitment? It is normally 8 years but I don’t know about your situation specifically, I just know my husband’s commitment is for 8 years, not 6. Of course your husband can get out during that time too but in the present situation, he can get called back from the civilian world.
