JAG hiring board

In one of the most recent JAG hiring boards they had over 700 applicants to review. Out of those 700 the board only hired 25. In the last board to meet the hiring number was greater, which is a good sign. Either way, it's an extremely competitive time to get accepted right now. Try to stay optimistic. For those that recently got accepted...welcome to a grand new adventure!!

Do I have to wait for bar results before they can start the Medical Clearance process?

You can reference my post in November of 2009 regarding the timeline of getting started with the JAG core. J couldn't start the Medical Clearance until he had passed the bar. If I remember correctly, pretty much once they accepted him, contingent on him passing the bar, there wasn't a single thing further we could do but wait. It stinks, I know.

Taking 'Leave' aka Vacation time

J is leaving for 8 weeks this summer. Boo hoo for me. It will be a good break for him. It's more of a laid back course that doesn't involve real cases, clients, legal reviews or court martial. Thus he's looking forward to a break from the norm. With that said I have been a vacation planning machine! Since we'll be losing precious summer time with him, I planned a week for May in France, a week in August for Spain, and 10 days in September in Nice, France and Tuscany, Italy. We are spoiled, I know. But something is constantly looming over me...

Our good friends at our last base had 2 different vacations planned. Last minute, she had to cancel them because her husband had to work. He had the leave approved well in advance but as the date got closer, duty called. Granted he was an ADC and when you're put on a court that gets postponed and there's no flexibility, what can you do? Either way, I get nervous every time I book something that has a horrible cancellation policy. Even though we've been lucky and haven't had a problem thus far I still think how bummed I'd be. Although, I'm the selfish type that would likely still take the vacation without him. I mean, we won't be living in Europe forever! I have to make good use of our time. Heck, I'm taking my kids on a Baltic cruise in June when he's gone! After all, he doesn't want me sitting around at home bored all summer...right??

Yes, Sir.

Even though I'm not the military member, I am still required to respect rank. It's the unspoken rule. Our husbands are judged by what we do and say...lame. I know Colonel's have earned their rank and generally speaking I respect that but not one's that use their position of power to belittle.

Last week, I had to visit the Orthodontist to discuss treatment for my daughter. I felt completely demeaned by this Colonel, as if I was a nobody. As a result I got a little testy, called him out a couple times. After being lectured and thrown jabs here and there for a half an hour, he finally "suggested" I call my husband and have him join us. Great. I get to be demeaned all over again. Maybe he felt if my husband were there I would act different. He could demand respect from J, not me.

Oddly when J arrived the Colonel put on a "happy" act. He was completely different!! It was weird. Don't really know what to think about it but it sucked.

Change in Dental Provider

I don't know much about it...yet. Apparantly Tri Care has changed their provider from United Concordia to MetLife, effective May 2012. Here is a link

http://www.metlife.com/tricare/index.html#welcome

Are there many JAG spouses who are male?

I don't have a great answer for this because I have only been at two bases. This is what little information I can share to maybe give you some insight.

Out of the two bases I have personally met roughly 35 JAG's. Out of that number, eight were female. Only four of those female JAG's were married. I, however, only met two of their spouses and that was on a single occurence. Five of the eight had husbands that also worked in the Air Force.

UPDATE: I wanted to add what a female JAG commented (for those who don't read the comments!) Thank you so much and if there are any other readers who have knowledge to share, please do! I always welcome more information/opinions to publish for others to read. More prospective, the better.

--I'm currently a female married JAG. All of the female JAGs in my office (there are roughly 4 active duty) are married. Some have active duty husbands, and some don't. I met quite a few married female JAGs at my JASOC. While we are by no means the majority, there are more JAG husbands out there than you might think!--

Do you pay for Insurance in the AF?

Health Insurance is paid for by the military, if you have Tricare Prime. This means you must see base doctors or doctors Tricare has approved. We have Tricare Prime. In Texas I knew one girl who had Standard because she wanted to use a mid wife to deliver her baby and with Tricare Prime in my area of Texas that wasn't an option. (However over here there are a couple mid wives who work on base). If you opt to have Tricare Standard, then you can choose your own providers but you will pay a percentage. You can call Tricare directly to start your paperwork. It will take some time to process. Here is the link on my blog to their contact numbers.

When I say Health Insurance that includes Vision as well. I've seen Dermatologists, Pain Specialists, Neurosurgeons, Physical Therapists, Podiatrist etc. All covered 100%. It's great!

Dental is different. You can join United Concordia which is essentially a Tricare Dental plan through the military but you do pay a monthly fee. For a family of4, not including J, it costs us $30 a month. You do pay a percentage for work done outside your 2 cleanings a year. I don't remember exactly the percentage but when my daughter had a filling it costs us around $20 if I remember correctly. The active duty member is seen on base and their dental is covered 100%.

There are exceptions!! As a dependent some bases will see you in the Dental Clinic. It just can be extremely difficult to get in. But if you need major work done, like a root canal, and don't want to pay the percentage United Concordia will bill you, then you can try to make an appointment on base to get it done...for free. Some bases may have a policy that they don't see dependents simply because they are understaffed and have a difficult time as is filling their active duty members needs. It's always worth a try to call your base dental clinic to see if they have availabilities. I know several people that would go off base to get their cleanings done but whenever they had any work needed they would wait it out until they could be seen on base.



Another exception for dental is when living overseas! If you are stationed overseas your Dental is covered by the military. Again, it can be difficult to be seen on base but if you do have United Concordia while overseas they will cover more than they would if you lived in the states.