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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Command Sponsorship
Ugh. Okay, I am still new at the military life. My hubby is in Germany atm. We had a deffered travel. One of the things we need to do before sending me over there is getting me command sponsorship. (I have no idea what to do because my "sponsor" to help me with all of the paperwork and what not has not contacted me and I have no idea who the person even is..) Can anyone help push me in the right direction and shed some light on what my next step shoud be?
Thanks! 
For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul. - Judy Garland
Re: Command Sponsorship
BFP #2 02/05/2013 EDD 09/19/2013
We just did this for my husband. I am stationed in the UK, and we got married in the US over Christmas. He came back to the UK with me on a tourist visa until we could get his spouse visa, but he could have done everything from the States (like it sounds like you will do).
1. Your husband's unit should be able to provide him with the paperwork you will need. He will need to fill in a memo requesting command sponsorship for you. This MAY mean extending his overseas tour (but probably not since it's Germany, and is normally an accompanied tour).
2. If you don't have an ID card yet, you will need to get one. It's easier if you go together, but you should be able to go on your own. Ask your H where to go on your specific base. This will get you into the DEERS system (I forget what it stands for, but something about dependent eligibility whatever....basically it's the system that says who has ID cards, and links you to your husband in the personnel system)
3. Go to the base hospital and talk to the TriCare people. They will give you the medical and dental clearance forms you need. You can either go to the military doctors/dentists or to your own doctor/dentist to get the forms filled out. It's more of a formality for healthy people -- basically they want to make sure that you don't have any medical conditions that can't be easily handled from an overseas location, like special needs, allergies, a condition that requires hard-to-get injections, etc. Again, for Germany, it shouldn't be a big deal because they have major military hospitals there, and they should be able to handle whatever.
4. You will take your forms to a review board. They will look over your forms and ask you questions if they have any. Again, if you are healthy, it's more of a formality, and they should clear you with no issues.
5. Once you have the medical and dental clearances signed off by the board, then your husband will submit these, along with your marriage certificate, and whatever other memos he needs to sign, to his Personnel section, and they will sign off on your command sponsorship.
6. You may need the command sponsorship to start working on your no-fee passport and spouse visa, but you may not. We didn't need it for my husband to get his visa, he just needed to be in DEERS, but we did have to pay for the visa (about $1800 for the UK -- ouch!) which I have just found out I won't be reimbursed for since we got married after I was already stationed here. The cost of your visa will depend on the country (Germany), and you may or may not get reimbursed for it depending on your specific circumstances (and who you talk to....) but be prepared to front the money for it.
It sounds like a lot of work, but I think my husband and I knocked everything out in about 2-3 weeks.
I hope this helps!
Hi! I met and married my husband after he'd been stationed in Germany so I've just gone through all of this command sponsorship jazz.
First off the basics-get an ID card, get enrolled in DEERS, TriCare, etc.
Get your husband to talk to his Squadron S1 to get the Command Sponsorship Packet. The important forms you'll definitely need...
-DA Form 4187 - this is the form requesting command sponsorship and has to be signed by your H and his Commander.
-EFMP screening and DA Form 5888. Basically, call up the Army Hospital and they'll know what to do regarding EFMP. I think if the hospital is more than an hour away you can go to a civilian one, but that might mean a different form. They just want to make sure you don't have a medical issue that a remote outpost can't treat. And yes, even though Germany has some of the major medical facilities not all the posts do. Our post, for instance, is tiny. We have a clinic but any emergencies have to go to the small German hospital in the nearby small town. If it's a major issue you have to go even farther to the nearby city. So, EFMP is important because if your H is stationed somewhere like mine and you have a medical condition, you need to be where your needs can be met!
The screening is no biggie. Just basic health questions and maybe a physical. I'd had a Well Woman Exam like 4 months prior to the EFMP screening and they took my med records from that, signed my paper and sent me on my way.
-Marriage Certificate, and get certified copies, everyone and their mama is gonna want this.
-if you've got kids, get their birth certificates
-PCS orders to Germany
You'll also need passports. Get your tourist passport (you need it to travel around Europe) and get a no-fee passport. The no fee passport is very important because that's where they'll put your SOFA stamp-basically the thing that allows you to stay/live in Germany legally after your 3 month tourist visa is expired. You'll get the no fee passport after command sponsorship is approved, so that's not an issue right now. The tourist passport can be applied for any time, so apply for that now! I know PP said something about a visa, but that wasn't the case for me in Germany. I got my no fee passport and a SOFA stamp saying I'm a dependent and that was it. No cost to me.
Basically H got the forms, filled them out, I went in for an EFMP screening, Command Sponsorship packet got sent off, got approved, I applied for my no fee passport, I was cool to stay in Germany. There's not too much you can do on your end besides the EFMP screening, H has got to get the ball rolling. Don't be nervous, as PP said, we were able to get this done in about 2-3 weeks.
Good luck and enjoy Germany! You can have a lot of fun here!
a helpful link is here: http://www.imcom-europe.army.mil/sfac/admin/commandsponsor.htm