-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Being a Naval Aviator with a spouse in Law/Medicine/professional career
- Thread starter mtaylor
- Start date
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
Then that brings up the whole colocation problem.
Have her do what I am doing, try to join the USNR! No colocation problem there.
mtaylor
Meatgazer
I've heard of this geo-batching thing before. Can anyone further explain what exactly this is?
I have brought it up half jokingly and she is really just not interested. The potential for working with government contracts is very enticing, but she was left to believe that the majority of JAG's work is on the criminal side of the legal world. Like a drunk enlisted getting a DUI or something?
Have her do what I am doing, try to join the USNR! No colocation problem there.
Reserves aren't a bad idea either! I'll have to look into that some! What are you pursuing? Administrative jobs?
All in all, she will also be getting her MBA at the same time as her JD degree. So in the worst case scenario for short term locations, she can use advertise herself as an "MBA with a JD" if she follows me around for the next 10 years; and then once we settle somewhere for an extended time she can advertise herself as a "Lawyer with an MBA" and pursue that route.
Great info everyone! Thanks!
My wife and I are in the same position as you. She is about to graduate from SLU Law in May and I go to OCS this summer. She will take the Missouri bar, which is apart of the multi-state bar, and it is applicable for 8 states with Washington being one of those states. The ability for her to work for a money making firm is almost 0, until after I retire. She accepted this fact. She does want to work for the state, which is a lot easier getting employment in, although the pay is about $30-50k a year (depending on the city). One thing to note though (and why it is good for her to work for the state) is when someone does 10 years of public service as a lawyer.....ALL of their student loan debt is wiped clean. It pays to work as a public defender in the long run. We would much rather have her make the $30-50k a year and only pay 10 years of loans instead of 6 digit figures for 25+ years of loans. Might be a good option for you guys as well.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Spekkio
He bowls overhand.
To respond to an above question...Geo bachelor means being stationed in a different location from your dependants.
If you are on TAD orders, you collect per diem for food as well as BAH from the higher of the two duty stations and are entitled to gov't quarters in your duty station (e.g. you live out of the Navy Lodge or something). This is known as involuntary geobachelor because the Navy won't pay to move your family unless you have PCS orders, so they comp your additional financial costs for it.
If you are on PCS orders and decide to leave your family, you don't get per diem and have to afford two places on one BAH from your current duty station, even if it's lower, with no allowance for additional gov't quarters (if you're doing it so your spouse can make 6 figures at a law firm you probably win financially anyway). This is voluntary geo bachelor because the Navy will pay to move your dependants but you elected not to for whatever reason.... kids in school, spouse's career, etc, so you don't get comped for additional costs.
The fun part is when a single person undergoes a change of homeport for 6-8 months and owns a home. By fun I mean complete bonejob as they are not entitled to a HHG move. Also, they are not entitled to BAH and gov't housing (only one or the other) thus making them an involuntary geo bachelor of sorts without any pay compensation for it. Also applies to divorced sailors whose dependants reside with the ex spouse.
If you are on TAD orders, you collect per diem for food as well as BAH from the higher of the two duty stations and are entitled to gov't quarters in your duty station (e.g. you live out of the Navy Lodge or something). This is known as involuntary geobachelor because the Navy won't pay to move your family unless you have PCS orders, so they comp your additional financial costs for it.
If you are on PCS orders and decide to leave your family, you don't get per diem and have to afford two places on one BAH from your current duty station, even if it's lower, with no allowance for additional gov't quarters (if you're doing it so your spouse can make 6 figures at a law firm you probably win financially anyway). This is voluntary geo bachelor because the Navy will pay to move your dependants but you elected not to for whatever reason.... kids in school, spouse's career, etc, so you don't get comped for additional costs.
The fun part is when a single person undergoes a change of homeport for 6-8 months and owns a home. By fun I mean complete bonejob as they are not entitled to a HHG move. Also, they are not entitled to BAH and gov't housing (only one or the other) thus making them an involuntary geo bachelor of sorts without any pay compensation for it. Also applies to divorced sailors whose dependants reside with the ex spouse.
mtaylor
Meatgazer
afwx, good to know I'm not the only one! She is at St. Louis University? Its a good school, my girlfriend was seriously considering going there, but we ended up going to Syracuse University instead for her first year.
Here in Texas she will take the multi-state bar but I don't believe Washington and Florida are included. Florida actually does not accept any state's bar exam from what I understand.
Everything you are saying is pretty much my exact scenario as well. She has been interested in government work as a means to pay off her student loans quickly, because the 10 years of consecutive payments are pro-rated based on your income. So its actually a better deal and savings if your income is lower, since you're actually contributing less to your overall debt.
mtaylor
Meatgazer
Great info! Thanks for clarifying. I tried to do a little googling but honestly your explanation was the most helpful.
My girlfriend and I do plan on getting married eventually (sometime soon) and her main worry is surprisingly not so much employment but quality of life and missing out on the "picturesque" white picket fence, kids in the backyard, frisbee with dog, barbeque on the patio, get home at 530pm and make dinner together, etc.
Anyone have advice on that side of life as a Naval Aviator?
Yeah...don't plan on it. Both of you will need to understand going in that your first ~5 years are going to be in a constant state of flux. You won't really know what your schedule will be for tomorrow until 5:30pm (or later) for your first 1-3 years. Then it may be slightly more predictable, in that you'll have an idea as to what's happening 3 days from now, but on day 2, you'll learn that you're needed the next day for a scheduled event that's 180 out from what you thought. And then you go on deployment....maybe...yes...no...okay you're going!
Etc, etc...
It's a lifestyle of remaining flexible. Go in eyes wide open.
Annalisa
Semper Fidelis Tyrannosaurus
I am not a lawyer, but I hear that the Military Spouse JD Network -- http://www.msjdn.org/ -- might be a good resource.
Spekkio
He bowls overhand.
Not as an aviator but I'm 30 still renting and will be for the foreseeable future, as moving once every 3 years with the current market makes buying silly.It gets old. Whether you can get that white picket fence depends on your duty station and standard of living in the area. When on sea duty and in some shore duties there is no such thing as a schedule, so dinner everyday at 5pm with the fam and holiday weekend getaways just won't happen.
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
It's not all choker whites and dining outs.
Nor time at home and cook outs.
(note, I'm in CIVPAC now, and have slept in my own bed ten nights this year, so its not that on the outside either)
Sent from a van down by the river via Tapatalk
Nor time at home and cook outs.
(note, I'm in CIVPAC now, and have slept in my own bed ten nights this year, so its not that on the outside either)
Sent from a van down by the river via Tapatalk
Spekkio
He bowls overhand.
The bright side is that you'll live in places that you normally would never go to. Each place has something to offer in terms of things to do. Take advantage of those when you can. To me, that's much better than staying holed up in LI like some of my friends back home have done.
helo_wifey
Well-Known Member
Hahahaha. Yeah. No.
Most of the friends I grew up and went to HS with, have all the above; however, most have worked the same hum drum desk or menial blah income 40hr/wk jobs all their lives, and never crossed 2 state lines in the same day. The most danger they've ever faced, is the same old daily commute. They have no idea what continent Korea or Israel is on. Frankly, the USAF may be much closer to the family life you're looking for!
It's all there in the posts above.
BzB