Quick question for the moderator or anyone who may know. I remember during navy basic you could open a checking account if you did not have one. My question: If you do not have one or if you want to open another checking account can you do so at WTC?

I would think that you would have to open one, seeing as the military don't do paper checks. Best bet would be to open one before you go. Your recruiter should give you a paper to take to your bank for them to fill out with all of your direct deposit info.
I'm going to change banks before I leave due to ATM fees. USAA has an online bank, I have several friends that are members and the like it. Even if the ATM it's self charges a fee, the bank pays it. Just another thing to think about when looking for a bank, as you know, you'll be all over the world and ATM fees add up.

Brief comment on this. I'm not in the Army but as Veteran. My Roth IRA's are with Fidelity and I setup electronic transfer to and electronic transfer from my checking. Direct deposit to the checking account. This way via online you can move excess funds over to investments via the internet. You can also setup a Emergency fund this way as well (apart from your checking). Establish the emergency fund before the Roth investing.

I agree USAA is the best. You have to be in the Army to sign up though....I believe. So if you can setup an account like this with things linked together so you can do your own money management......do so.

So what I do each month is budget about what my expenses will be and what extra I might need to spend. The rest I sweep over to my IRA accounts, when I have enough in the IRA accounts I purchase a Roth.

With the two way EFT if you ever bounce a check it is as easy as logging in online and doing a EFT from your Emergency Fund to checking. Usually when a check bounces they try it one or two more times after a 3 day break. So you can move the funds in to cover it in that timeframe and not have to pay the bounced check fee. Also pays to setup a $1k to $2k line of credit as well on your checking (called overdraft protection). An additional safety measure.

Good Luck!