Preparing for Your Deployment

Life in uniform is about being deployment ready. You may be duty ready, but don’t overlook preparations needed for your family on the homefront. Service members are strongly encouraged to work with immediate and extended family members to address financial, legal and household matters to ensure home is secure while they are away.

Find out more about what happens during the predeployment phase for service members and their families.

Take the following steps to help you and your family get organized for deployment.

Exactly how service members prepare for their upcoming deployment depends on their specific orders to mobilize. Some deployments include an 18-month “cruise” on military ships performing routine patrols. Other service members may land at a forward operating base, or FOB, in combat zones. Others may deploy to duty stations with restaurants and shops you’d recognize back home.

No matter the deployment, service members undergo specialized training, briefings, medical evaluations and counseling.

Learn how to prepare for your deployment and stay organized using Plan My Deployment Checklists.

Get your legal affairs in order before you deploy to reduce worry and give you more confidence while you’re away. Important legal documents include:

• Limited power of attorney— Granting a limited POA to a trusted family member or friend ensures someone on the home front has the legal authority to address certain issues while you’re away, such as loan payments or vehicle transactions.
• Wills and estate planning — Several important legal documents make up your estate plan, including your will. Use the Estate Planning Workbook to organize important contacts, documents, accounts and final wishes for loved ones to access if needed. Spouses and family members can also use the workbook to document their own estate planning needs.

During your deployment, you may be eligible for military pay entitlements, such as a family separation allowance or combat pay. This is an ideal time to save money, pay off debt or tidy up your finances.

Service members should ensure that their DD Form 93, or Record of Emergency Data, and life insurance coverage are current.

View the MilLife Learning course, Completing the DD93, to learn more.

Service members receive automatic life insurance coverage of $500,000 upon enlistment. Through SGLI’s Online Enrollment System, or SOES, service members can:

• Review, increase or decrease their SGLI coverage
• Add a beneficiary or edit the beneficiary’s information
• View, print or download their SGLI coverage certificate

The Military Family Readiness System provides a wide variety of deployment support for service members and families, from predeployment briefings to family readiness group meetings and more.

Whether pet care comes from trusted friends, family or local resources, be sure to share your pet’s veterinary records, medications and contact information ahead of time so caregivers have what they need.

• Visit the National Resource Directory website to connect with networks of volunteers who are willing to board and foster pets during deployment.
• Contact your installation veterinary services to find more pet care resources.

Before you deploy, plan how to keep in touch with family and loved ones, especially if this is your first deployment. It could take several weeks before you’re able to contact home. Once you have the opportunity to connect, you will be able to give your family an idea of how frequently you can communicate and by what means.

Contingency planning is part of deployment planning. You can be gearing up for a deployment and then get orders that your mission is canceled or postponed.