Joining the National Guard

As with any branch of military service, a spouse might be a bit lost when her husband joins. Any new military wife is going to have a million questions. How do you get your medical going? What the heck is DEERS? Who are the FRG? How do we check our pay?

I have compiled some information to help wives who are new to the military. Please note, my knowledge of this information is applicable mainly to the National Guard and to the Army. My husband was regular active army for eight years and is currently serving in the National Guard. Also, when I say "wife" I am referring to all military spouses, however it is easier for me to say wife rather than spouse.

One problem that I have found is new wives do not know where to locate their resources, and in the National Guard the resources are even fewer than in the regular Army. The reason for this is simple; the family readiness groups are not as large or as active as in the regular Army.

Since joining the National Guard I had to figure out how to get our medical coverage. In the regular Army, the medical is free and they make the soldiers take care of everything. Being that my family was previously in the system it was a bit easier for me, but I will be describing how to go about it from the beginning.

My soldier is in basic training, what are we being paid?

Once your soldier has gone to basic training you will start to receive pay into their chosen bank account. Your pay stubs will be found on a website called Mypay. https://mypay.dfas.mil/mypay.aspx

Your soldier will have to create their account and you will not be able to log on without their social security number and password, it is at their discretion that you have this information. Once you are logged on you can see what additional pays you are getting, deductions, and accumulated leave days.

What is DEERS?

DEERS is an acronym for Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System. If you want any medical benefits your family members must be enrolled in DEERS. In the regular army this is usually taken care of right away and the soldier is guided by their superiors, however in the National Guard you have to pay for your medical benefits and not everyone chooses to do that.

The website for DEERS is found below as well. Make sure that you call (the staff is very nice and your call is usually answered quickly) to get information on what you will need to bring when enrolling a family member. To the best of my knowledge you need to go to a military installation to enroll a family member in DEERS. This website has information about DEERS, including phone numbers. http://tricare.mil/mybenefit/home/overview/Eligibility/DEERS?

How do we sign up for medical Insurance?

Now that you have your family enrolled in DEERS you can sign up for medical coverage. medical insurance for the National Guard is now $180.00 for an entire family. The National Guard gets the plan called Tricare Reserve Select. Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky. First you need to go to this website, http://www.tricare.mil/mybenefit/home/overview/Plans/ReserveSelect

On the website you will find phone numbers, and lists of links. Do not hesitate to call if you need help, the Tricare employees are very helpful. To get to your page, scroll down to where it says "Guard and Reserve web portal." Click that link.

Then you will be taken to the Guard and Reserve web portal, once this page has loaded look to the immediate left. There you will see a link that says "Tricare Reserve Select website" Click that and another new window will open. You need to choose the option that says RC member.

After you click on RC member you will be taken to a login page where you can choose a login option. Pick the DFAS pin. For this you will need your soldiers Mypay login. (from above)

Once you have successfully logged in, you will see a list of your family members names, beside the name it will say either enrolled or not enrolled. If you would like to purchase the insurance, than you can choose the option for doing so.

For the first payment you will have to print out the form that comes up when you click to purchase the Insurance. Then you fill out the form (payment information) and fax it to the number provided. The website will give you one of two dates which you can start enrollment. It took about a week from the time we faxed our paper till we were enrolled.

It is possible to simply go straight to the last website, however I gave the instructions this way because every website has information that you will need. Keep a pen and paper handy to so that you can take notes!Well that's it for this first article on getting started in the National Guard. More to come in future articles.