DH off to Afghanistan in July

[HomeintheSun]

Hi my DH is off to Afghanistan in July, we are in Lincolnshire at the moment, will he have to have an MT driver to take him to as he going to be taking his weapon or can I drive him down with the kids and the weapon be sent down and stored at brize for him to collect.
In my mind my plan would be, go down south a few days early and see family before he goes out of area, but if he has to travel down with an MT driver this buggers everything up. Hope someone can help as DH as no idea at the moment and I need to know so I can plan for me and the kids.

My DH has always gone either on his own or with others and he has gone somewhere up near B'rum to pick up his pistol & rifle I think? Hmm - not sure.

The strange thing is though why your DH has no idea?
All he has to do is go through his chain of command to ask what he needs to know.

I don't know why he wouldn't know, it's not the first time he been away, I know he has been busy at work so maybe he hasn't thought about it at work.
I know I took him to Brize the first time and I assume that the weapon was there already, the next time he went while we were living in Cyprus and he had to collect it and take it to the terminal himself in works time and now this time I have no idea what's going to happen.
Now we know he's going and he's had his date through I just want him to hurry up and go and then (in my head) he'll be back quicker and we can get on with family life.
Also not looking forward to telling DS that Daddy is going away as he's going to be 4.5 years this time he wil understand more, my DD will be 1.8 months and so she will notice her dad is missing too.

Yeah get him to call the weapons store and ask them. Is he not going out with a unit though? As in attached to a unit?
I'm sure he will have a fair bit of training to do before that including his weapons training as he has to group and zero his weapon and pass the test so he can find out then.

However, if he is going to Brize on his own then I would say he has to pick up his weapon the day he travels so it wouldn't be possible for him to travel with you.

Thank you both, I think I'm going to have to nag remind him, cause I need to know whats going on so I've got in straight in my head before I get the endless questions from my MIL.
BlueCollie he's going on his own as far as I know, he's defo not going as a unit though, it would be easier if he was me and the kids would have some support.

Normally if he is travelling alone he would have to collect his weapon from the armoury and take it with him, however he may be able to make other arrangements if someone is travelling to BZN around the same time and take it for him. He needs to speak to the armoury to confirm.

Both times DP has been detached (alone, not with unit) I took him to Brize and he picked up a weapon there.

Remember to take ID though. The first time I went I didn't have any so I had to wait at reception. DP took my car to collect weapon etc while I sat drinking rubbish coffee, then he had to get MT just from the main entrance to the terminal. Rubbish.

When I remembered ID (for picking him up and for the next det) I was allowed to drive him round the site (with weapon in my car) and say goodbye / hello at terminal.

I'd echo everyone else though. Each detachment is different so make sure you double check.

can't help with work stuff but the link on this thread might be of help to ds

HomeInTheSun - Your brave taking him to Brize. I would be a complete mess. My dh deploys tomorrow to afghan. He left us yesterday to travel back to work (plymouth). He too had been working in Lincolnshire (Digby).

Huge hugs Sandy - mine went back Sunday and I couldn't have done BZN again - not that I'm allowed to anyway as he gets worse than I do

My dh is the same. It's obviously alot harder for him. We still have our home comforts etc and only have to deal with missing him. We already have a box of treats ready to send and ds is drawing lots of pictures. Roll on r&r!