Can I volunteer for US ARMY overseas posts?

Question

While enlisted, I was curious what overseas posts can you volunteer for that are considered hardship posts, in order to get a duty station of choice in the future. And also can you volunteer or ask for reassignment to a unit being deployed for Iraq/Afghanistan? And also, what is the likelyhood of getting the overseas assignment if i did volunteer?

Please only Individuals who have experience with this please, preferably someone with more than 4 years active duty, and volunteered for overseas duty.

Answer 1

If you want to go overseas, and it sounds like you don't mind going to Iraq/Afghanistan, then enlisting in the Army will most likely put you there, regardless of your MOS.  I have several friends that are there and two of my cousins are both on their second deployment to Iraq.  

One of my cousins works on bradley's (This upcoming May will be the end of his 4 year enlistment and he's spent over 3 in Iraq - In the wire....he doesn't go outside the wire too often being a mechanic)

The other one is a sniper...he loves it.  He's been to Germany, Afghanistan, and now Iraq.  He's been in for 6 now and has 2 left on his current enlistment.  

Good luck in whatever you choose and thank you for serving our great country.  God bless and be well!

Answer 2

Yes.

For example:  You can volunteer for a remote, unaccompanied tour in South Korea in order to get a nicer accompanied tour after that in Japan.  

They used the good tours to get people to volunteer for the crappy tours.  But eventually,  even if you do not volunteer, you get a crappy tour.  

Answer 3

You can volunteer for practically anything but it really is up to the needs of the Army. Usually, the units that need people are the ones about to deploy (they get first priority so they can get to full strength when they deploy).

The major overseas posts include Germany, Korea, Italy, Honduras, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Answer 4

hey, yea you can volunteer to go to like korea or europe, and those are hardship tours, but usually in order to get a place promised when you get back you will need to re enlist or at least get it in writting.

my hubby had to re enlist in order to get to germany because he was in a tradoc unit and was locked in for two years. you can volunteer and try to get sent to a unit thats deploying, if your on a base and you know of a unit going you can go there and see if they need your mos then request a letter of acceptance, once you have that your unit will need to give you a letter or release before you can go there - if your looking to do something like that though be sure to let your  chain of command know they might be able to help you also...

but honestly if your ready to re enlist you can always go to what base you want to go to- when my hubby did it he had only re enlisted a year ago - so it only added one year to his enlistment so it wasnt that bad, and he straight up told them he wanted germany and when they first said they couldnt do it - he said ok dont worry about it , in 20 minutes they called him back and gave it to him. So it all depends on what you want to do. But if your ok with going to korea- they will be more helpful cause they always need people to go there. Good Luck  

Answer 5

My guy is trying to get Germany right now. The recruiters all said Germany is a hot spot right now, hard to get. But war zones I'm sure are EASY to get to.  

Answer 6

I'm a spouse, but I've been through this with my husband. He's been in the Army for 14 years and we've been married for 12.

You absolutely can volunteer for an overseas assignment-- or anywhere. Simply put in a 4187.  Whether you get that assignment or not is not guaranteed, but usually, if you volunteer for a hardship tour such as Korea, there is a very, very  good chance of getting it.

Keep in mind that while you will be told you can have your duty station of choice as a follow-on assignment to a hardship tour, the needs of the Army will ALWAYS come first. My husband went to Korea in 2000 with Fort Bragg as a follow-on assignment because we wanted to be stationed here. Unfortunately for us, the Army decided they were creating a new stryker brigade and my husband's entire unit from Korea was sent to Fort Lewis once their Korea tour was over to stand up the new unit. His Bragg orders were deleted.

As for volunteering to go to Iraq/Afghanistan, it is possible. My husband desperately wanted to deploy in 2001. We were at Fort Lewis, WA at the time and his unit was not deploying. He went to his retention NCO and asked which base would guarantee him a deployment. He was basically told "if you want to deploy, go to Fort Bragg". He was locked into a contract at the time until the end of 2002, but once it was up, put in a 4187 for Bragg. Once he got to reception, he asked which unit was deploying next. When told, he requested to be placed with that unit. He was, and deployed 2 weeks later.

Several times, only certain battalions or companies within his brigade were deploying, and many guys requested to deploy with them. Depending on their needs, sometimes it was granted, sometimes not.

These days, you are almost guaranteed to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan regardless of where you are stationed or what your MOS is without having to volunteer.

In the end, EVERYTHING is needs of the Army, but it never hurts to request what you want.