Good evening. I am asking this question in reference to one of my Soldier's situation.

SM is married.
SM has 4 dependents (including wife).

SM is on assignment orders to Korea. Area IV. Question is he wants to send his family home (Guam) with his father, versus sending them to Hawaii with other family members, since father is more reliable. Will he be getting BAH for Guam? After trying to look it up. I got confused because the only thing I can find on Guam is called OHA. I have no experience in this area and as well as my S1. I have asked fellow battle buddies and to include my COC. But like myself, the whole Guam thing threw everyone off. I just know that he should be entitled to FSP,COLA,and HDP? Am I missing something else? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

All i know is that he would get BAH to area where his dependents are located...but this apply to CONUS...since Guam is OCONUS, it might be different. Is even get OHA for Guam, or BHA at the rate of his last CONUS duty station.
This is a little bit tricky...your best answere would be from finance. I suggest to go to the finance and explain the situation.

I dont understand those S1's that do not get an answer for a Soldier right there and then, I dont know the answer to this question but I know that if you came to my S1, I would call BDE S1 and if no answer, I would call finance directly, make your s1 DO THEIR JOB!!!

Unless you are talking about "s1" but all you did was ask your orderly room/PAC which I have noticed do not have 42As but just a bunch of random MOS' put together in there...

Finance soldier here... what do his orders say about his dependents? This is all moot if his orders say he is leaving them somewhere stateside. He would need orders, or amendments to his orders, to relocate his family (dependents) to Guam. Hawaii and Alaska are the only OCONUS locations with BAH. Everywhere else is OHA which has to go through the housing office with a lease and other documents to get approved. In some situations this SM might be authorized what is called "Dual COLA", one COLA for Korea, and one for Guam. He needs to hit up the local finance office for a good face to face discusion about his options/choices. Hard to give a 100% accurate answer without talking with SM about the situation, and reading his orders/documents

Update

All: I wish I came on before tonight. Because, we would have went straight to finance first. Before going to the other sections. Anyway, according to the finance clerk.(No reg quote) The Soldier will collect OHA from Guam along with FSP,COLA and HDP. Because dependents are physically going to be there. While he is in Korea. He will be in government quarters and obtain a meal card.

Trans: You are right. I have literally never seen a 42A in a orderly room. Funny part, I am at a BDE level. Yes. My BDE S1 did not have the answer. As a matter of fact the reply was "I will get a answer for your Soldier, NLT COB Monday." This was Friday. (6 APR 12) Same day I posted this. Oh by the way the SM had a levy brief date. When the Soldier went to attend. The post reassignment clerk kicked him back, because his name was not on their list and they did not have a packet for him. (BDE S1 gave him the date and time of that levy brief.) Anyway, long story short. Because, I was curious and hate leaving Soldier's without answers. (9 APR) I took the Soldier to the post reassignment section and inquired myself. Soldier explained the whole situation. His response was: "S1 strikes again" So, I walked out with him having a levy brief date and found out a lot of info. I guess I should have did this the same day I posted this. But in my past experiences and having fellow battle's as a 42A well the two that are DS's now. There was always this statement where Soldier's should do everything thru S1 and let S1 handle the situation and not to go over their heads. So they can DO THEIR JOB. I agree. It is just like utilizing the COC. I was lucky that day because the clerk we talked to happened to be a person who lived on the same street as me. If I have known that it would have been easier. Laugh out loud. Anyway, I figured I would ask here. Well, I found out more info that I had no idea about. Did anyone know that any Soldier can in fact send his family home to Guam at the military's expense? AR 55-46 Chapter 2, Para 2-4. I then went back to my cave. Typed up his 4187 for him, walked it to our little CC, had him sign it and headed to S1 went straight to the NCOIC. Explained the whole situation to her. Luckily, the NCOIC was actually very helpful this day. So, as of today. We are waiting on the approval. Once completed, goes back to the reassignment section and his orders will then get cut. Apparently, our S1 is known for stuff like this. Me, personally I had no idea. I just wanted answers for him because this Soldier is short.

Myer: Wow, learn something new everyday. Thanks. Dual COLA? I did not think that was possible. Well if I do not try to find out. I guess. I will never know.

All: Thanks for you assistance. By the way, this forum is very informative. I have no idea why I did not join earlier. See you all around.

Curious,

FWIW you are a damn good NCO. I would put you in for an award if I knew better details.

Corvette,

What I will say is. My first PSG always told me, actually he would yell "How the hell will you know if you don't try there high speed? If you are not willing to try then what the hell is your purpose of trying to be like me." Never ever understood what he meant. Until 2006 when I first got my set of Soldiers, slowly but surely I learned the hard way, but it worked. Trial and error. But still learning. I just have to keep my head up. Thanks though!

Glad you were able to help your soldier and get some help on here. Make sure the Soldier's orders state that he is authorized to relocate his family to Guam. AR 55-46 Chapter 2, Para 2-4 does cover Guam, BUT many soldiers get caught up in their orders saying "designated location" for relocating dependents. Orders must list the designated location- actual city and state, zipcode, or city/country/territory/etc... for other locations. Trust me, I have inprocessed soldiers stateside, and in Korea. AR 55-46 Chapter 2, Para 2-4 states that they can relocate the dependents when assigned to a restricted tour, but the orders have to specify where.

An easy example of Dual COLA would be: If a Service Member, with dependents, is stationed in Hawaii they will be drawing COLA. If that same SM then comes down on restricted duty orders to Korea and leaves his dependents at his last duty station (Hawaii) without moving them, he would be authorized to continue drawing COLA for Hawaii(with dependent rate), and then single rate COLA for Korea upon arrival. DODFMR Vol 7A and JFTR are the regulations covering this.

Also, let your soldier know (in case he does not) that he will most likely (99.9%)be on meal card and in the barracks in Korea. Also no matter what his orders say, when he shows up in Korea he can be re-assigned to any area and unit. They make adjustments based on current needs/MTOE.

Myer:

Thank you very much. Now, meal card and barracks as far as I am understanding is pretty much what is going to happen. Thank you for reminding me. I totally forgot to ask finance if he is able to have dual Cola from Korea and Guam. But as far as OHA he will be drawing the Guam rate? I just tried the OHA calculator. On the calculator it says OHA rental allowance, Utility/Recurring Maintenance Allowance, Move in housing allowance. Will he have all three amounts monthly? But yes. Thank you for the reminder. Hopefully I can get a answer with Finance. Thanks again.

If he is authorized to move his dependents to Guam, then yes he would recive OHA for Guam. Move In Housing Allowance (will show as MIHA on LES) is a one time payment designed to cover realtor fee and miscellaneous expenses with moving in, usually around $500.00 total. The Utility allowance is only paid if utilities are not included in his rent/rental agreement. If he recieves utilities as a seperate allowance, it will be combined with his OHA into one line on his LES. OHA works differently then BAH. Where BAH is a flat rate, OHA is a maximum payable amount. OHA requires a lease agreement or other official documentation on amount of rent paid each month. The Army will pay ONLY what his monthly rent is up to that Maximum amount. In my experience, CONUS housing offices and even most CONUS finance offices are clueless with overseas entitlements and such because they do not actually deal with/handle them much or never at all. DUAL COLA is not common either, but I have seen alot of it while I was in Korea because it was a "restricted" tour for some Soldiers.