Category Archives: PCS

Money is the root of all evil… and man needs roots!
~Unknown

Well, we now know why we are being docked the money.  Or at least have a base understanding.  Are you ready to hear what might be the biggest cluster @*#$ of the year?

Looks like my husband isn’t married.  Or at least, not in the Navy’s eye.  Or rather, he isn’t in the pay side, but he is on the DEERS side.

Apparently, when Huzzy checked into his command, someone forgot to pass on the copy of our marriage license that Huzzy gave them.  And since, in truth, he had been married for two months at the time, he claimed married on the PCS move.   So when they decided he “wasn’t married” because there was no proof of it, they decided to take that money back.

But that’s not all.

Since he just started the other month actually getting married BAH, they decided they needed to take that back too. Since he wasn’t married, you see.

Oh, but wait.

It seems as though the farther the Yeoman looked into why his pay was screwed up, the more he found out how much MORE screwed up it was.

Apparently, besides being “single,” he apparently is living in the barracks (in reality, he’s not!) so they have been taking nearly $300 out of his paycheck for galley food expenses. Also, they still haven’t paid us back the $300-$500 of travel claims that he submitted in June.  And there may be more that is screwed up, but the YN couldn’t figure it all out in one sitting.

So when Huzzy asked for a breakdown of everything that was wrong with his paycheck and what the Navy was going to owe us, the YN said that it was so screwed up that he couldn’t even give him an answer at the time.

Suffice to say, nothing is our fault.  This is a total cluster you-know-what on the Navy’s part. The YN also told Huzzy that if we could get a copy of our marriage license by Monday that we might be able to get a “hardship” check of the back BAH (and what they took back on the last paycheck of BAH that they shouldn’t have) by next Friday. He said the rest would be given to us on the 1st.  Now, the back BAH still won’t be what Huzzy’s normal check is, but it will at least help.

And it helps to know that we will see the money eventually even though it will totally make us miss bills this month. And not only that, but we will be getting MORE THAN our normal paychecks due to all the back BAH, the money they’ve been taking out for his “living in the barracks expenses” and travel claims. Money that we never expected or knew was coming.

Do I dare hope… could this be… is our luck starting to change?

Bad is never good until worse happens.
~Danish Proverb

Woo-hoo… that bad luck streak I talked about in my last post?   Well…

…it just got worse.

Huzzy called me last night after finally being able to access MyPay. Apparently it’s not $800-$1,000 that is coming out… it’s $1,100.  Pretty much his entire base pay for the paycheck.

<Announcer> And that’s not all, folks.  Tell them what else they’ve won!

<Show Host> Well, for being such good patriotic citizens who both serve their country, who work four jobs between them and who are newlyweds that have seen each other for less than half their marriage and are about to go through their first deployment, we have an extra special treat for them.  They get… to have the same amount taken out of their NEXT paycheck.

<Crowd> *Intense clapping and cheering*

<Announcer> Congratulations to the newlywed couple. We hope you’ll enjoy this treat for years to come.

Aren’t we just so special?  I feel so… so… honored.  Yes, that’s the word.  Apparently The Powers That Be (whether that’s God or the Navy) have decided that we are so incredibly strong and so ready to take on anything, that we can be given just this one more thing to handle.  Yeah, honored.

I’m waiting to hear from Huzzy tonight. He’s going to talk to the Yeoman today and see what’s up since it’s the middle of the month and he can’t see his LES to see what’s going on. However, we figured out that this is exactly half of what they gave us for our final payment for the PCS (okay, not really, supposedly they still owe us $300-$500 for travel claims according to Huzzy) in June. You know, a week before they told us “oops, we overpaid you $800 and we need that back by the end of the month or we’ll garnish your wages.” That stuff we paid by the end of the month.

So there are two options:

1. They shouldn’t have paid us anything in June and even though we asked them about it and they said we hadn’t been paid everything, they were wrong and are now yanking it (which begs the question… what about that $800 we already paid… do we get that back or is that on top of the $2,200?).
2. They erred and we should get it all back since we were entitled to that. Which means we might be lucky to receive it by Christmas… the one I might be spending alone for the first time in my life with no family near me. Hopefully I’ll make friends by then and they’ll take pity on me and invite me over at least the day before or the day after Christmas.

Of course, there’s always the Navy’s option of Option #3… none of the above and nothing we can understand.

Dear God and Mr. Navy Wo/Man in the Sky… I’ve had enough, thank you. I’m strong and can do things on my own. I’ve proven it. Can I please have a break?  Pretty please?  Just a little one?

If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.
~Hee Haw Gang

We just can’t catch a break. When we had some extra money after our wedding, Skah cost us $500 in emergency vet and regular vet bills.

When we saved money from the PCS, the Navy demanded something like $1,000 back since I didn’t move with Huzzy at the time.

When I got a second (and third if you count the Navy Reserves!) job to help make ends meet, we had to hire a contractor to tile the kitchen floor just so it could get done since I didn’t have time to do it because of working three jobs. Another $1,100 down the drain.

And when we save some money so that we can do some tent camping and go out to a movie or two during the two weeks I’m spending in Washington before and after my drill weekend because Huzzy is deploying this fall (ya know, since we were married 22 weeks ago and have only spent 11 1/2 weeks together and only seen each other for three days in the last four months), the Navy erroneously garnished Huzzy’s wages from the said PCS move… that we paid back by the 30JUN deadline.

So now, not only will we not get to do anything but sit in Huzzy’s tiny rented room in a rented house for two weeks, but we won’t be able to pay all the bills on time this month. I mean, we’re barely making ends meet as it is with me working two jobs (and of course, my third job of the Reserves… there’s paperwork problems and I probably won’t get paid for my drills for several months even though I’m shelling out $300+ a month for plane tickets).  Losing something like $1,000 in one paycheck just isn’t going to cut it.

Oh, and that toe that I cut 5 weeks ago?  Still not healed. My doctor appointment was set for Monday for a re-check and to decide what to do. It was changed to Friday since the doctor has the stomach flu.  It now needs to be changed again because he’s not getting better. I sure as heck hope I can get an appointment Monday or Tuesday because I leave Tuesday night to go to the other side of the state to drop off the dogs at my mom’s house and to fly out of Detroit on Wednesday.

*sigh* I just feel like throwing my hands up and giving up lately.