AiT's to make it "Air Force official" on Marriage Day Jan. 12

  • Published
  • By Dan Hawkins
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Love will be in the air and the hustle and bustle of paperwork will be on the desk Jan. 12 as the 82nd Force Support Squadron hosts "Marriage Day" in what has become an annual tradition for newly married Airmen-in-training (AiT) returning from the holiday exodus.

The process takes approximately 30 minutes to one hour for an individual to complete.

Designed to provide an efficient method of ensuring all newly married personnel get their official records updated in a timely manner, "Marriage Day" will include meetings with representatives from force support, finance, family advocacy, Tri-Care, the Airman and Family Readiness Center, legal office, the chaplains and the 82nd Medical Group.

"The group process really cuts down the time needed to process the approximately 150 AiT's who get married during Exodus every year," said Tech. Sgt. LaChantille O'Connor,  82nd Comptroller Squadron financial services flight chief. "Airmen get everything done at one time and we cut down on the confusion of trying to process everyone as individuals when they get back."

Once AiT's arrive at the 82nd FSS, with the order based on a schedule broken down by training squadrons, they will update information such as their Serviceman's Group Life Insurance information, along with emergency data forms.

From there, AiT's move to a different room to update their family member's information in DEERS, enabling spouse's medical benefits, finance and other military personnel systems. AiT's will also receive required paperwork to get their new spouse's military identification card.

"A good deal of the time spent is with finance and personnel issues," O'Connor said. "At finance we make sure they get all of their entitlements such as Family Separation Allowance (FSA) and basic housing allowance, while the personnel side handles issues like adding dependents to permanent change of station orders and getting them military identification cards." 

After all the paperwork is complete, the final stop includes briefings from the chaplains, medical, family advocacy and legal about the variety of programs designed to assist the newly married couples round out the process.

As for appointment times, if an AiT is married to an AiT in a different squadron, the AiT with the earliest scheduled squadron meeting time will bring their spouse with them.

Newly married AiT's with questions about the schedule or what paperwork they need to bring to their appointment should contact their military training leader for assistance.