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orderes canceled.
Posted on 03/12/03 at 15:04:34 by Dee
We just found out that our orders to Germany for September have been canceled - pending world events is the official wording. In fact, we were told no one is moving to Germany after 1 April for right now. So if you have orders, you might want to double check. We found out by accident, when we checked on AKO to see if we had a pinpoint yet. Instead we had no assignment at all. A follow up call to DA confirmed that.

Re: orderes canceled :-(
Posted on 03/12/03 at 18:46:52 by Alexis
If you are Army, there is a *stop loss* in effect for certain soldiers, especially those in deployable units in both CONUS & OCONUS. For more info, go to the perscom website and read the MILPER messages.


Moving to Germany
Posted on 03/11/03 at 21:21:07 by Beth
My husband is retiring from the AF in June, and we are hoping to work for a Contractor at one of the many US Military bases around Ramstein. We have 2 children, and we hope to use one of the Youth Centers' available to us on the bases. Are Contractor children (retirees or otherwise) allowed to use the Youth Center? I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old.
Re: Moving to Germany
Posted on 03/12/03 at 09:29:59 by Christy Parish
yes, you have access to all of the facilities on base except for base housing.


Moving with teens
Posted on 03/11/03 at 12:11:05 by Debbie Morris
My husband is a Major in the AF. We have three children a girl 8, and two boys 11 & 13. And a report date of October 10, 2003. I need advise as to the best area to live with my age group kids. When you have little ones playdates are easy, older kids need to hang out and have access to activities. Any help/advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks for this site!
Re: Moving with teens
Posted on 03/13/03 at 09:51:56 by Christy Parish
I would say.........On Base! But there are lots of nice places off base and there is a possibility that you would have kids in the area, but there is just no way to know that. Also, off base would be fine if you are willing to drive them around all the time. But, from what I have heard, it is better for them on base. They can go to the teen centers by themselves or whatnot! Good luck!


Lifted Dodge Ram
Posted on 03/10/03 at 19:18:43 by shane
I have a huge lifted Dodge Ram pick up. I will be going to Ramstein in August and am debating if I should sell it here or sell it there based on the small streets I hear about over there. I would like to buy a BMW when I get there, but I'm not sure if I could make the money back if I sold it over there. Does anyone know of any used car dealerships I could get in touch with that might know the going prices for vehicles over there, or is anyone versed in the resale of American vehicles over there?
Re: Lifted Dodge Ram
Posted on 03/11/03 at 09:16:18 by Christy
Shane, you might have trouble selling it in Germany, for the same reason you don't want it, the smaller streets and parking spaces. But there are a lot of people there that I am sure would like to have it. There really is no tellin. There aren't any dealerships off base that will sell your car for you, just a couple of those buy here, pay here type of deals. Like you take your truck there and they say they will give you way under what you would want for it, so they can jack up the price and re sell it. It is just really a decision that you are going to have to make. No one can say for sure if you would get what you want for it or not. Now, you might be able to sell it in Germany. Some people don't care about the little streets, they just stay off of them. And then you might find someone that is about to PCS back to the states and they want to buy it. I guess you never know!!


questions?
Posted on 03/09/03 at 22:30:40 by karen
Hello, My husband is in the army and right now in Korea. We will be getting orders to somewere in Germany next. Not for sure were at he is with the ch-47 chinooks any help on what bases they are at will be greatful. So I can get info on that area. What can we bring with us and what things should we leave behind? Will we be able to go together are will I have to travel latter after he is already there? If so how long of a flight is it going to be with four kids? Right now I am in Korea but will be going back to washington state Will we be flying space a with the military are not to germany? He should be reporting to germany in august 2003. When dose school start back there. And what info will I need for my kids for school seen right now they are homeschooled here in Korea. Any help would be thankful and any web sites to get info from I would be greatful.
Re: questions?
Posted on 03/10/03 at 13:16:27 by Christy Parish
Not sure where you might be. Are you Army or Air Force?? If you are Army, you don't usally travel together. Air Force normall does let you travel together as a family. You will not be flying space A, you will take one of the rotators out of Atlanta or Baltimore. It is a contracted commercial plane. The flight over is about 8½ hours and coming back to the states is about an hour longer. School starts at the end of Aug. You will need shot records, birth certificates, home schooling records. Do not bring Microwave, Washer/Dryer, digital alarm clocks, waterbeds are not allowed on base. Anything else, bring it with you if you want!!


Homburg?
Posted on 03/07/03 at 12:12:47 by Lisa
My husband found a house in Homburg. Does anyone know anything about this town or live there? Is it a good place to live? He said it is a straight shot on the Autobahn (sp?) to Ramstein...about 15 minutes or so, but any other info. anyone could share would be great. I tried a search on the Internet but it pops up as "Bad Homburg" - is this the same town??? Thank you also for the information on IKEA....I can't wait!! We don't even have an IKEA that close where we live in California. :-) Thanks!
Re: Homburg?
Posted on 03/07/03 at 17:59:44 by Christy Parish
Homburg is more like 25 to 35 min to Ramstein, but it is really not bad. It is straight down A-6. I don't know much about the city except for they have a great flea market.....or should I say, "Floh Markt" I believe it is the first saturday of every month. Everybody goes there. There is also a great hospital there. The Army hospital, LRMC often transports patients to the hospital in Homburg beacause they have some better units or can offer more than LRMC for some things. If Labor and Delivery is on divert, they send the patients to a local hospital in Landstuhl or the one in Homburg. Good luck!
Re: Re: Homburg?
Posted on 03/10/03 at 03:46:22 by K. Baber
I just found a house in Homburg too. It depends on where you live in Homburg? My house is 10-15 min away driving on the autobahn at 50-60 MPH. I don't know much about it. But it is a really nice place to live.


Going to Poland
Posted on 03/07/03 at 02:34:16 by gina
A friend and myself are going to Poland April,4-5th. Anything we should know before we go? I was told to bring toilet paper with me because you have to pay for that along with using the bathroom. Also, whats about the amount I should take? I was going to take $400-$500 with me but a guy told my hubby $200 should be good.
Re: Going to Poland
Posted on 03/07/03 at 09:15:14 by Christy Parish
If you are driving on your own, some one needs to stay with the car at all times. If you are taking the bus, no problem. And we only had to pay to use the bathroom at one place. I don't think they give you the option to not pay if you have your own TP. Watch out for the beggers, they are usually kids. They want to help you with your boxes if you give them money. Take a black marker and masking tape with you so you can mark your boxes and baskets. Tape is for the baskets. I spent about $400 - $500 each time I went and I went twice. I just depends on what you are going to buy. Some places take credit cards. Have fun! Oh, take food with you, sandwiches work out good.


Passports
Posted on 03/05/03 at 14:32:36 by ben
My wife and daughter have their tourist passports but may not recieve their no-fee military passports before we depart for Germany. I've been told they need these to stay in the country for more than 90 days. Is this true, and if so will they be able to go back and get approval to stay indefiatly once we do recieve the no-fee passports?
Re: passports
Posted on 03/05/03 at 15:05:18 by Christy Parish
The first time we went, My kids and I only had our tourist passports and never had a problem. We chose not to get the military ones. The second time we went, we had to get the Military Passport. It looked exactly the same as our tourist passport.
Re: Re: passports
Posted on 03/06/03 at 13:45:59 by pj
For Tourist passports make sure during your in-processing to get to the customs office and get the customs stamp in their pp's.


Shopping!!
Posted on 03/05/03 at 07:42:20 by gina clark
I am looking for some German shopping websites, any suggestions?
Re: Shopping!!
Posted on 03/05/03 at 13:21:30 by Christy Parish
http://www.willi-geck.com/
http://www.german-shoes-online.com/ 
http://www.christmas-shop.biz/
http://www.christkindlmarkt-inc.com/shop/en-us/dept_10.html
http://www.weihnachtsdorf.com/mainframe.html
http://www.ikea.com/
Re: Re: Shopping!!
Posted on 03/06/03 at 18:31:31 by Lisa
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....IKEA!!! They don't deliver to APO boxes though do they??? Is there a store near Ramstein??? Please say yes!!! :-)
Re: Re: Re: Shopping!!
Posted on 03/07/03 at 02:31:16 by gina clark
We went to Ikea and omg I loved that place, I gotta go back when we rent a van. :) Im not sure if their is one in Ramstein, we went to the one in Hanua tho.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Shopping!!
Posted on 03/07/03 at 09:17:12 by Christy Parish
There is not one in Ramstein. The one we used to got to is the one by Saarbruken. Go West on A-6, but ask someone the rest of the directions, you have to get off somewhere, I don't think it is right off of 6. It takes about 45 min to 1 hr to get there. There is also one off of A6 towards Frankfurt and it is right of of the Autobahn. It is probably the same distance from Ramstein as the one I listed above.

moving to ramstein
Posted on 03/04/03 at 15:18:58 by Denise
my husband is in AF we are supposed to be there no later than 7-31-2003... we hope to arive in june. does anyone know if we can bring our parrot??? he is an african grey.. plus i have a million other questions! anyone who has info for me on housing off base transporting auto.. haow many can we send?? so on and so on please help!!

Re: moving to ramstein
Posted on 03/04/03 at 23:43:58 by Kelly
Hi Denise! I am sorry I can't answer most of your questions but we are moving at the same time so I thought I would say hi and maybe we can share info. I do have some links for off base housing and I do know the AF will ship one vehicle for you. If you want email me and I will be happy to shrare all my links. Longsx3@cox.net, Kelly
Re: Re: moving to ramstein
Posted on 03/05/03 at 11:41:11 by pj
you can't arrive prior to the month that your report no later date is in. haven't heard of anyone bring a parrot over. The government will ship one car at government expense, any others you would have to pay for. For off base housing go to the ramstein home page, then to the KA link, and look under accomadations(houses/apts).