That Power of Attorney sure was useful!

Before my husband left for bootcamp, we decided it would be a good idea to purchase a new vehicle when he got back because our 1994 Honda Accord wasn't really suitable for a newborn. We decided that we wanted to stick with Honda, but upgrade to a CRV. But we were going to wait until he got home so that we would have enough money to make a good down payment.

Well I have found the car a month early. Its a wonderful deal and its everything that I want. The biggest perk is that its RIGHT at our ideal price.

So of course I am trying to get it, but the dealership can only do so much when its me promising to have the money soon. Basically they are willing to give me the car if I can write a check for $3000 and let them cash it within 30 days.

But I dont have a check and I am not even sure that Danny will have that much money in his Marine Federal Credit Union account. So I am using my nifty Power of Attorney to add myself to my husbands account so that I can transfer money from his account to my account after seeing if there was enough to buy the car AND leave him spending money.

So I wanted to share that if you have a power of attorney for your recruit, you can contact MFCU and add yourself to their account. They will ask for your original PoA (they will return it), a copy of your ID and SSN card, as well as your recruits SSN. They don't need your recruits SSN card or a copy of it, just the number so they can look the account up and add you. Also, your address and phone number.

I suggest making a copy of your PoA before you send your original, just in case. I dont know if a copy will work for anything, but it cant hurt to have for your records.

Finally, Some Results!

There is a God! After two weeks of calling and emailing the recruiters, there is finally a plan!

The Power of Attorney has been recovered, I found my Marriage Certificate, and the plan is to head to Fairchild Airforce base tomorrow morning. Fairchild is the closest military installation, so thats where I have to go to get enrolled in DEERS. Which is what allows me to be eligable for Tricare.

I am so relieved to finally have this situation getting wrapped up! I have been trying to limit stress since my last OB appt and this whole thing has just been making me super stressed.

If you are reading this, and don't know what DEERS or Tricare is, look at my list of page links and there will be a few useful ones for you.

If you are in the same situation as me, and are trying to figure out what needs to be done, here are some tips:

1. Get your PoA and DONT let it out of your sight. Keep it safe.
2. Gather all of your documents. Picture ID, Birth certificate (yours), Marriage Certificate, and SSN Card.
3. Make sure you know your husbands SSN. The Husbands recruiter didn't mention that I would need it, but I have read in lots of other places that if your spouse is in the military, you had better learn those nine numbers by heart.
4. Make sure your spouses recruiters KNOW that you want to get this taken care of. You don't need to be rude, but I definetly got more results after I made sure they knew I was getting impatient with the waiting games.

Anything beyond these tips is beyond your control. So as stressful as it may be...

                                       "Just keep swimming!"

I Dont Have Much Faith in Recruiters

Before my husband left for San Diego, he filled out a power of attorney, a document which allows me to fill out paperwork on his behalf. Very important to have if you are trying to enroll in Tricare. For those who don't know, Tricare is the insurance of the military.

Anyways, he filled one out the day he left for San Diego. We had it notarized by a family friend and gave it to Danny's recruiter. I must have had a lapse in sanity; why on earth did I let that paper out of my sight? The recruiters are not very reliable.

This wasn't the first time we have had trouble with one.

Danny's first recruiter (who was reassigned I think...) was incapable of keeping track of time. I can think of five different instances where we had to call him to remind him of meetings we had scheduled. He was a nice guy, just didn't seem to be very focused on his job.

The second guy is also very nice! He is very helpful and hasn't really messed up. The problem is that he doesn't seem to know what the heck is going on with the PoA. He says that I should have it. Which made me a little bit upset. The last time I saw it was as Danny was walking into the recruiters office to leave for MEPS.

So that means that either the recruiters have it and misplaced it or its lost at MEPS. Either way, I am very upset. It was a lot of work to get that PoA signed and notarized. How could they just lose it?

Not just lose it, but make no efforts to correct the situation. Come on guys, I am seven months pregnant. I really need insurance! They have been trying to figure this out for a week and still nothing. If I dont hear from them by monday morning(tomorrow) I am going to the office and demanding that they fix this. I dont know how they are going to do it.

I hope it doesn't come down to having to call San Diego and have danny sign the form again and fax it up here. I doubt that would look good to the DI's.

So my recommendation: Dont trust the recruiters to keep track of anything. Dont leave any important papers with them (anything!) and make sure you keep them aware.

OR maybe I am just unlucky. Maybe most recruiters rock and have superb track records and I got the irresponsible ones.

*sigh*