My son is in AIT to be an MP. And just found out his first duty station will be in Korea. Have a couple of questions? Will he be able to use his cell phone there and if so does anyone know which company has the best international plan? How long do people usually get stationed there for? Will he be able to take leave to come home or will he have to wait until his tour is over? Any information would be great. Thanks

it would be cheaper for him to get a local phone and plan.

Orders are for anywhere from 12-36 months on average. If he is single it should be 12-24 months. he can take leave as long as his command authorizes it. and he can afford the plane fare.

He can use his cell phone there if he has an unlocked phone. Meaning the cell phone company hasn't put a lock on his phone so it can't be used with any other SIM card. He can then purchase a Sim card there in Korea and use it that way. he is better off not committing to a contract if he doesnt have to.

He can be there 12 months or longer, but usually just 12 months.

He can come back to the US using commercial or military aircraft. To be honest right now if you get the chance go yourself because tickets to Asia are SOOOO cheap. I found round trip tickets to Japan for under $650 from the East Coast. It would be a chance of a lifetime to visit.

He should get his Tourist passport so he can travel around when he gets the chance.

My husband had a cell phone he purchased there on post and it worked great. You have to use calling cards though. Something to think about is, at the PX he can actually sign up for an internet type phone. Its like vonage but its through a provider there. The one my husband had gave him unlimited free calls anywhere in the US. I think we paid around $35.00 a month for it. He would only be able to use it in his barracks, but 9 times out of 10 that is the only time they can talk anyways.

skype is a glorious thing.

dont use an american cell phone through a provider in the states he will be hit with charges to call more, and you may be hit the same (if he has a current contract they can put them on a military hold in most cases untill he returns)

also not like the us where land lines are becoming a thing of the past, a land line is the cheaper way of working it, while you can't reach him all the time its more benefical in the long run.

also make sure if you can yourself if your using cell phones over land lines that your not going to be charged extortionalty for him to call you on a cell phone.

one thing i would suggest is convince him its a good thing to do schooling if he can, korea is a place that can get a lot of young single lads in trouble fast if they have too much time on their hands.

My husband was in Korea his first duty station and when he was there he got a Korean cell phone, the only thing I recommend is that your son pays cash when he is buying a calling card from the locals. There were many times they would say it was one price and then there would be 2-5 dollars added on to our statement that we were not told about. That isn't a lot, but can add up.

My husband when he was there didn't have a computer and at the time we couldn't afford one so we had lingo, which is like vonage, but lingo had a local number for us so we went with that, but I would recommend Skype now. My husband is in Iraq and we use that. He can pay 5.95 a month to add a cell phone number to it and he can call your cell if he can't get a hold of you on the computer, or your local phone. But if you just plan to talk online, then it is free. It is a wonderful service! Also remember the time difference. My husband and I were 14 hours apart and then fifteen because they did not do daylight savings over there.

If you have Skype, something I would recommend with webcam is that over the holidays, my husband and I opened our presents together over webcam. We took turns opening presents (he borrowed someone's computer over there) and we did it on my Christmas day at like 3 in the morning and his Christmas evening. It was wonderful to be able to do that!

Also, if he gets a Korean cell phone, DO NOT call from your cell phone unless you want to pay an arm and a leg. I was on the phone with my husband once for around 10-15 minutes and it cost me almost 100.00. We did have a plan on our landline though that gave us long distance for like 12 cents a minute. We also went through a calling card company online noblecom.com I believe, if it even is still there that had pretty good rates for us, if I had to call his cell phone for any reason.

Like some one said above, a lot of guys do get in trouble over there, because there are a lot of freedoms over there and they can go off base to the bars and stuff. So sometimes they spend a lot of money and get into a lot of trouble, so tell him to try to stay out of trouble.

Also if possible, tell him to try to travel around there. Also, just a heads up, the Army DOES NOT pay for mid-tour leave tickets back home. He will have to pay for it out of pocket, if he wants to come home. They will not pay, so he might want to start saving a few months in advance to pay for it. We lived in the mid-west at the time and it cost us around 1100-1300 dollars I believe and that was us traveling a couple of hours from a bigger airport. So he might want to keep that in the back of his head as well.

Tell him to enjoy Korea!

If he takes leave while in Korea, he really should look into visiting countries in Asia rather than coming back to the States. One year is no big deal for being gone and he will have deployments longer than that later in his career. This is the perfect opportunity for him to experience other cultures and learn.

A big thing that he needs to keep in mind while having "fun" there, particularly if he gets over to Thailand, is that the incidence of HIV is pretty high over there so he needs to be like a soldier from Troy and be a Trojan man every time.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully with him being an MP he will not get into too much trouble. But believe me I have always been a very realistic mom and advocate him wrapping it all the time!
Regarding the cell phone from what we have learned we are going to just shut his phone here down we are just about up with our contract and he is just going to get a pay as you go phone over there.
Right now we are just getting excited about him coming home for leave in December. He has been gone since the end of July.
Lately it's been a little rough because he has hit his first real patch of homesickness. His birthday is in a few days and thanksgiving is a big holiday for our family and this is the first time he won't be home for either. Talked to him last night though and he seems to be coming out of it.

I really think Korea will be an opportunity of a lifetime and to be honest I was glad he wasn't going straight to Afgan or Iraq (yes I know eventually he will be in either or both) but I am glad he will hopefully have a year to get on the job experience of being a solider and an MP That's just the mom in me worrying.