The Relocation Process: Coming to Sigonella

There is so much you have to do when relocating overseas that often times it can seem extremely overwhelming. In reality it isn't so bad if you take it one step at a time. The first thing I would do to ease the process is apply for your travel passport, yes this is for service members, too. Even though, technically, service members can travel on NATO orders with their Military ID; the less you use your Military ID when traveling the better. So make sure everyone in the family has a travel passport. The process can take anywhere from 3 months to 8 months depending on the number of applications being processed at any given time. So plan ahead. Also, for family members traveling with their service members, you have to have a travel passport before you can apply for your Visa; and you have to have a Visa to live here in Italy. On that note, you can't apply for your Visa until you are in the three month window before you are scheduled to arrive in Italy. So don't try to jump the gun on this one; you'll only be turned away. In the meantime, while you are waiting for your travel passport to come back, there are other matters to attend to.

The first is to determine what items you want to take with you and what items you intend to sell or place in storage statistics before you leave. Keep in mind that whatever you ship has to go in your home. There are no storage facilities available here like there are in America. Right now, whether you are married and have no children or you are married and you do have children, you are going to be living in Military Housing. Lucky for you, because Military Housing provides an easier transition for most people. I will get more into housing in the next post. For now, just know that you can use your American Appliances in housing without adapters or transformers. :o) I do recommend buying between 7 to 10 three plug (three prong) adapters for your outlets though, because you have both European and American outlets in your home and you will find that you wish the European outlets weren't there and there were more American ones. I didn't know this before we got here so I ended up have to order them off E-bay. What a pain that was! Now, if you are single or coming here unaccompanied then you will start off in the Barracks. After you settle in you will have time to find a place of your own out in the economy and the housing office can help you with that. Just keep in mind that none of your American appliances will work without a transformer and they can be kind of pricey. So, buy some before you leave the states where you have more options. Some people decide to just remain in the Barracks, but that is up to you and how comfortable you are with living off the base.

Next is your medical screening. This is really important to get done early for everyone in the family. Mostly because it has to have time to go up your chain of command and be signed off on before you can leave; and we all know how long that can take. Get your appointments as soon as possible. Now we ran into a little trouble with our process because we didn't even get this information until my husband was in danger of losing his orders. That is why I'm letting you know what is coming and what you have to do. Appointments need to be made at Medical and Dental for "Overseas" screenings. Don't forget to take your medical files with you! You will need to go by the immunization office, too, to update everyone's vaccinations. This needs to be done at least 3 months before you leave to be safe. Ladies, they will give you a pregnancy test as well. Dental just does a brief exam to determine whether or not you have any serious problems that may prevent you from staying over here for the duration of your tour. The dental care here is limited due to the fact that the clinic treats all service members and dependents. They only do one cleaning a year so that they can get everyone in. Not to worry...Just make sure you have developed good dental hygiene habits before your journey here.

For those of you who have pets, the next post is for you!