A million questions about baumholder germany as a military family?

ckamk1995

I loved Germany, would go back tomorrow if I could. I will give you my advice and what we did.

1. There are 3 ways to live there.
a. On base. be careful though, most on-base housing has stairwell housing (depending on the rank of hubby, almost all lower and some junior enlisted might live in stairwell housing). They can have up to 6 floors. So imagine going up and down 6 flights of stairs bringing in groceries. Not fun
b. Government Leased Housing: this is what we had while there. Loved it. This type of housing is on the economy but you still don't pay rent or utilities for it, kind of like on base housing in a way.
c. Economy: You also live on the economy here. But you will pay rent and all utilities. Most of the places on the economy use oil as their source of heat which can be a pain in the butt and expensive so plan ahead to save money up if you get a house like this.

2. Furniture: You can have 2 different moves.
a. Ho baggage: this is stuff that you will use right away. Towel, blankets, pillows, silverware, plates, sheets, etc.,. The movers will come for this stuff a lot sooner than your regular household goods. This way it will be there for you when you get to Germany or at least you don't have to wait as long for it.
b. Household goods: typical move. They will pack up everything else but remember you have a weight limit depending on rank and number of dependents in family.
Caution: Don't bring your washer/dryer. If you live in stairwell housing, they have a common area with about 3 or 4 washer/dryers for everyone to use. If you get Government Leased Housing, you will have your own washer/dryer in your house. If you live on the Economy, then an American washer/dryer will not work anyways. Also we did not bring any small appliances. Again the same thing. with the different voltage over there, some housing on post has both dual voltage plugs (110/220) but some don't. If you don't then you will need to buy the big transformer which can run up to $150, yes that much. So for things like blender, microwave, mixer, electric can opener, coffee pot, iron, etc.,. Best bet is to sell or get of all yours or put into storage (btw, military will pay for a storage for some of your stuff while in Germany) and then get to Germany and see what outlets you have in the housing you get and then just buy all new small appliances. This is what we did and thankfully because we got the Government Leased housing. And you can buy brand new german brands really cheap at IKEA and WalMart (yes they have walmart in Germany) and some other German Stores.

3. BAH: called OHA (overseas housing allowance) depends on if you get on post or offpost housing. If you get onpost you will not get any money for housing.
http://www.letsgo-europe.com/Germany/military/overseas_housing_allowance.html
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/housingallowance/a/oha.htm

4. COLA: COLA helps to offset some of the cost of what you spend on the economy in high cost of area places. It is based on rank and number of dependents.
http://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/cost-of-living-allowance
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/fy2008paycharts/a/ocola.htm

5. Weather; be prepared for rain and rain and rain. The roads are a little different there for what they use to pave their streets, They get a little slippery compared to USA roads. So watch how you drive on them when it rains. They do get some sun and some places in Germany do get snow. We got snow and again lots of rain. Don't let the rain stop you from getting out and doing things.

6. Phone: It might be better to cancel plan here and get one over there. T-Mobile is big there as is prepaid plans but they also have other carriers and pay by the month. If you really like the plan you have now ask them about calling plans in Germany. My advice: cancel and get a new provider in Germany.

7. Car: How big is your Car? Germany has very small roads. What we think of a one lane road here is a two lane road in Germany. There were several times that I could not park somewhere because of the size of the van we had. If you have a lien (loan, still paying on ) your car, you will need to get permission from the lien holders to ship car:
https://www.whereismypov.com/ The military will pay for one car.

8. You will have to get a license while there to drive. There are two parts to it. Make sure that your USA drivers license is up todate.
http://rmv.hqusareur.army.mil/drivrman/ss190-34.htm this have info on the test and how it is given. also check this out for info:
http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/regeln.htm#lic

9. Book: check ebay or once you get to Germany buy this book "Never a Dull Moment". It helped me so much there. this book list almost every village (not cities, they call them villages) in Germany with what you can do there, how much it will cost, hours open, directions, what kind of money they take Or if they take credit cards, etc., It runs for about $22 brand new. It ev

Gary B

I was stationed in Baumholder for 3 years from 2003-2006. You should treat the move, pretty much like any move. the only thing i is farther!!LOL. Keep your furniture. It might take a couple of months for it to get to you but if you go to the ACS office (Army Community Service) over there they will hook you up with some loaner furniture until you get all your household goods. They will ship your stuff in 2 shipments. One is going to be smaller than the other. The smaller shipment will be your necessity stuff (I.e. cooking stuff, maybe a small tv things to get you by until your other gets there). the other is the big stuff that you can wait on (i.e. furniture, toy boxes things like that) when you arrive you will be briefed on housing. you will most liely be living in government quarters which arent terrible. If you can get Smith Housing. It is on the main insatllation and near the PX and commisarry and stuff. Housing is based off of rank but you will be ok. You wont be paying if you are in government quarters, but if you somehow get off post you will get Over Seas Housing allowance. (OSHA) That pay is based off of rank and it can vary based off of the dollar value compared to the Euro(europes money). COLA is Cost of Living Allowance and like OSHA it varies based off of the value of the dollar compared to Euros. It is a monthly allowance the army gives you to balance out what you might spend on the economy over there because the Euro is more powerful than the dollar. Its like a monthly compensation. It is also a good way to save money, because if you do your main shopping on the installation, you arent paying the german cost of everything and on post it is just like buying stuff here in the states, for the most part.

The weather is moderate during the summer and pretty nipply in the winter. You might wanna take some warm clothes and some hot clothes because the weather is NUTS over there. It changes real quick and it is hard to say how hot or cold it will be on a day by bday basis, especially in the fall or spring. The army will ship ONE car at no expense to you. Ya'll will need to get your german drivers license ASAP so you can drive it. It can be a challenging test so you might wanna research that more so you can get some study material.

Also, make sure you are getting all passports started now. If you have your husbands orders with your name on it, you can get a no fee passport from a nearby installation or some post offices will square you away. When you get over there and inprocess, make sure you ask about all the money you can get (travel pay, per diem for food and dislocation allowance) Dislocation is a pretty penny so dont forget that one, in 2003 i got like 1600 bucks. good luck over there and i will leave you a link to help you out. just click on where it says newcomers and also the relocation assistance one will be good help.

.http://www.baumholder.army.mil/sites/local/

Your basic allowance of housing is standard and based solely on your husband's rank. The military isn't going to give you extra money. It is the same as if you PCS'd to another stateside location.

COLA is cost of living adjustment. Its basically a small amount of money you get overseas or certain high Cost of Living Areas to compensate you. It is not that much.

Alot of these questions, your husband can probably answer like if you can ship a car and moving furniture.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: