life on a naval base- good as it sounds?

in the not so near future i will most likely be living on base with my now fiance- he will be in the nuke program on subs so needless to say he will be gone from time to time which i know will be hard but we are both strong people and will get through it- so i have been researching everything i can think of about the navy and its bennifits but i would like to hear from you guys on if its as good as it sounds- i will be a dental hygenist so heres some ?s about that *all questions are coming from what i rad on Navy.com http://www.navy.com/benefits/financial/ 1. would it be possible for me to have a job on a base or would i have to get one outside of the base 2. the navy website says we could have either free medical and dental care or a low price- how good is the health care, what makes it cost and not be free? 3. how is housing? how much do people get for housing allowance off base? 4. travel bennifits? how good are they- and it mentions they get time off for it? 5. free dining or dining allowance- how does that work? any info would be extremly helpful- i just want to make sure that life on base or close to it will be a some what beneficial experience
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Hey my husband is a Nuke on the Alabama it is an SSBN sub. Life on base is ok. I mean it is like your own little city. You will eventually get bored of it though. Well here is your answers. If you want to know anything else you can email me at ttsm182@yahoo.com. 1. would it be possible for me to have a job on a base or would i have to get one outside of the base -You can try but they give all jobs on base to the foreign wives first. Which I think is bull crap but hey wives don't get a say in anything. 2. the navy website says we could have either free medical and dental care or a low price- how good is the health care, what makes it cost and not be free? -There are two different tricare plans. You can either go to an on base doctor for free or you can go off base and pay a co-pay. I would rather go off base because the Navy docs don't know a damn thing, but I do actually continue on base because it is cheaper. It is not free though, it still comes out of your husbands check. 3. how is housing? how much do people get for housing allowance off base? -Housing varies from place to place. You get BAH depending on your husbands time in the Navy, Rank and location. If you live in base housing you will never see your BAH, they will take it all for rent and utilities. If you live off base you will get your BAH and you can live somewhere cheaper and then save the rest of it. If your husband is attending school in Goose Creek SC then you will have to live on base during "A" school and Power school. You can move off base once he starts Prototype(the last school). The housing on Naval Weapons Station Charleston is pretty damn nice though. They just built all new houses like 2 years ago. 4. travel bennifits? how good are they- and it mentions they get time off for it? - They over pay us by a lot to move around and you normally get 2 weeks of leave for it. I suggest you just let the Navy move you, they will come in and pack the house up, move it where ever for you and unload it for you. It is so much less stressful, and you will still get per Diem for your own travel expenses. 5. free dining or dining allowance- how does that work? - BAS is what you are talking about. You will get BAS while your husband is home, when he goes out to sea they will take it away. They take it, so he can eat on the boat. It kinda shafts the wife but it isn't a big deal.
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