My DH leaves on wed. to hawaii and our family is soon to follow. Im just looking for anyones who is already there or has been there with any suggestions or advice?! We have 3 young children and we are young couple.. so lets here what you wise ladies have to say :hula

What kind of info are you looking for?

:D

We're here :hula Windward side :)

congrats on gettin hawaii orders! you're gonna love it!

where will you all be staying? navy lodge on ford island? where is ur hubby going to be stationed?

I'm here (there's a good amount of HI ladies here) and we are at Pearl Harbor.

Where are you guys going?

aloha and welcome!

I sure wish I was in hawaii!

there are some awesome ladies on here who are there! some of whom have already replied :D

I wish I had found a board like this before I came here! We've been here a little over a year and I'm still not used to it! Aloha and hopefully you'll love it here!

So sorry it has taken me soo long PCSing is hard work. He will be stationed at fort shafter! He leaves on tueday so he should be there soon. We recieved our orders 3 weeks ago so as far as lodging goes they are booked completely, so we've faxed everything to get our stamp and were staying at a off post hotel. I don't really know what information i'm looking for anything, how are the locals? Does it really feel like your on a island? How are the schools? What about off post housing? We orginally are from MD/DC/VA so it's costly there in comparision how about hawaii?? In MD. gas is about 4.09-4.15 it just depends on where you go. thank you soo much for the warm welcome.....................

We have a group started for people who are in Hawaii... It's called Oahu buddies... you all should check it out if you aren't there already!!! :)

Hawaii has a high cost of living...and try not to see everything at once, because its really easy to get island fever...you start to feel a little locked in by all that water...

enjoy the weather!!!!

I have to disagree...have yet to feel "island fever" and really enjoy it here. We've done lots and there is always the beach or the pool at the Hale Koa. :)

http://www.hawaiimilitarywives.com is a great website, I think over 300 spouses from all branches. It's a very active board and was a great help when we were PCSing to the island.

I also know of an AP group if you are into that thing.

So sorry it has taken me soo long PCSing is hard work. He will be stationed at fort shafter! He leaves on tueday so he should be there soon. We recieved our orders 3 weeks ago so as far as lodging goes they are booked completely, so we've faxed everything to get our stamp and were staying at a off post hotel. I don't really know what information i'm looking for anything, how are the locals? Does it really feel like your on a island? How are the schools? What about off post housing? We orginally are from MD/DC/VA so it's costly there in comparision how about hawaii?? In MD. gas is about 4.09-4.15 it just depends on where you go. thank you soo much for the warm welcome.....................


The locals are friendly. I have not had any issues with them.

Gas on base was $4.30.

Ok, you'll be at Ft Shafter, I hear their housing sucks. Lots of Ft Shafter people live in Navy housing (which is very close) and the Navy housing in that area rocks.

COL is high but probably no higher than DC. Gas is $4.30 on base and $4.40+ out in town. Much higher on the other island though! (keep that in mind when you island hop and rent a car!)

Schools, I did a GE to an awesome school--Pearl Harbor Kai, and am very happy I did. They are accredited by WASC, pass NCLB of course, a National Blue Ribbon School, and a Hawaii Distinguished school, plus it's nearly all military so there is a lot of support for deployed families if your child needs that. You'll find that most elementary schools AREN'T accredited and many don't pass NCLB. But elem schools don't need to be accredited but it's nice to have! :) There are other good elementary schools around too (Hickam Elem, Pearl Harbor Elem,etc.) Can't help you w/Jr High or high school.

I'd look at the Navy housing thru their PPV contractor, Forest City. Here's a link to some housing very close to Ft Shafter. Navy lets ALL branches live in it's housing. http://www.fcnavyhawaii.com/neighborhoods_listing.asp?c=4&cc=2&ccc=21497065&tab=

Other areas around Ft Shafter include AMR, which is ran by Army housing, so you can call them too. Most of AMR is pretty dang old but they are building new homes that are similar to the Navy stuff.

I wouldn't live out in town here honestly. Hawaii has the highest rates for electricity in the nation. We own in Florida but I do love living in housing here.

As for the locals, it's not like you're coming to some unpopulated backwards island where you have to worry about the crazy locals. There are nearly 1 million people on this island alone. I've NEVER encountered any issues w/locals. The worst I've encountered is indifference LOL. (like they act like they hate their job) but that's everywhere.

WOW thank ladies this all was wonderful information...... I am so edgar to get there and start enjoying the island!!!

you've already gotten some good info!

we've been here 10 years and I haven't gotten island fever once.......we love it!

we actually make money living here and if you save your COLA and don't count on it you can really make out.

I have another question how does TLA works??

If you live on post do you still get COLA??

I'm not that knowledgable w/the TLA thing, but YES you get COLA in housing or not in housing. TLA info seems to vary by branch. We (Navy) are allowed to stay anywhere on the TLA list (which is a huge list of hotels) so we stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki in an ocean front room. If they Navy wants to pay, LOL...we figured why not? Anyway, the only bad thing was we had to pay for our hotel ourselves and then turn in the TLA paperwork to PSD (who processes it) and wait 4 days to get our $$ back. Many hotels, like the Hale Koa,etc will work out with out ahead of time so you don't have to pay it right away, you can pay after you get the money. They do it backwards in the Navy, at least. I know in the Army you have to get your non-availabilty paper, which is sounds like you got.

You also need to rent a car if you don't have one, and that's not reimbursed.

He also gets DLA if he hasn't already. That's a one time payment, but it's extra money. :) I think it's over $1000? You can get it before you move or after.

Do you have a sponsor who can help you guys as well?

As of right now NO, he is at leaonard wood, MO right now still getting paperwork so i dont know yet... what would we need to do to get a sponsor?

I'm here too!! :D We're at Wheeler AAF! We've been here for almost nine months now......I myself have been suffering from island fever but I think thats cause I grew up in the wide open praries of SD!! For the command sponsership I know there is some paper work you need to fill out and get a EFMP screening but I can't remember who to get the paperwork from.

Hope all goes smoothly!



I'm very jealous you're going to HI by the way :giggle

i wanna be in Hawaii too :(

I'm not there and haven't been posted there but just wanted to say :yay Enjoy it!! I bet Steph has lots of awesome info. She always has fantastic pictures.