Preparing Your Family

The hardest part of serving in the warzone is to prepare your family. I've already mentioned in a previous post about the absolute need for a will and power of attorney.

The reason I stress the power of attorney is that when you are in the warzone communications can be very difficult to impossible, you don't know when or where you'll be from time to time. Also, the time difference adds additional complexity to the equation. If you are a tradesman out in the field you will likely have very limited computer access and only have phone pool access.

If you are in management or an 'inside job' (accounting, HR, etc) then you will have easy phone and computer access at most locations. If an emergency arises the need for the PoA will become apparent immediately. Need to access money or other resources for family is essential. The PoA can be downloaded for free at many sites. One of which is http://www.expertlaw.com/library/estate_planning/durable_power_of_attorney.html I have no affiliation to them, I used their form which was free and my wife had to use it when communicating with banks, etc on several occasions.

The need for the will is somewhat obvious. You ARE going to be in a warzone. Therfore, the liklihood of you becoming seriously injured or killed increases compared to being at home. You should cover this eventuality by addressing your wishes in the will. Especially if you have children, are a single parent, etc. Again, you can download many of these forms online, and the previous link does have a sample will as well. To bring this into focus I have personally had 3 friends die over there working in both IRaq and Afghanistan. The deaths in Iraq were very recent (2010), so it's still very dangerous there for expats.

You can also pay legalzoom to do these forms for you cheaper than an attorney. I have used them in the past to success.

Further, buy life insurance. The plans offered by KBR and others are expensive. The plan will need to exclude the warzone clause. If you are prior military you can buy these types of policies rather inexpensively from Navy Mutual Aid, ASMBA, etc. You can go online and calculate your life insurance need there. Make sure that you have thought this part out well, it's nice having a piece of mind. It's really not that expensive, should be around 90-150/month for $1mil coverage depending on your physical. Make sure to do this ahead of time as you won't have time prior to leaving to get the physical done if you wait until the offer comes. They do sell these policies from KBR, etc but are expensive as I mentioned. About 2-3 times the price I quoted above.

Lastly, please be sure to prepare your family for the separation as much as possible. Make sure to buy a phone card at the PX as soon as you get there. This will make life easier when you travel between bases. Also, if you are going to work in the trades area then you really need to be sure you do this as you may only have pay phone access depending on where you are located. If you have children, try to break the time up into segments like a special day for when you return for R&R (holiday, birthday, etc). That does help the time go by for them. Just suggestions, but it's difficult nonetheless.

Cellular phone access in Afghanistan is actually better than in Iraq I found (as of mid 2010). Roshan is very affordable in Afghanistan, I found Iraqna to be relatively expensive to call home. I could call home from Afghanistan on my cell phone for about .15/minute which isn't too bad. There are a few topup sites that you will find out there the cheapest I found was callafghanistan.net which eliminates the need to go to the PX to get minutes and they only charge $1-2 over pX prices, well worth it and you can do it from anywhere that has internet.

Regarding internet access.. Again Afghanistan actually wins out with this at most bases, especially if you are with a small company. There are some pX provided services that cost 60-100 / month. At the small FOBs you'll need to rely on your employer. If you're with FLuor the access is actually better at the smaller bases than the larger bases. If you're in Iraq with KBR most of the time you'll have good net access with Skype capability. Skype capability with FLuor in Afghanistan was pretty limited to not available depending on the base.