Active-duty military couples deployed to South Korea are now able to serve together at Kunsan Air Base, on a case-by-case basis.
In a Thursday news March 26 release, the Air Force said that under the old policy, one military spouse would be assigned to Osan Air Base or another location when the other was at Kunsan.
There are now 50 airmen at Kunsan's 8th Fighter Wing who travel between there and Osan in order to visit their husbands or wives.
This forces them to make frequent travel arrangements, and spend money shuttling back and forth, one airman said.
"We take every opportunity to visit each other," said Senior Airman Michele Waninger, an aerospace ground equipment journeyman at Kunsan's 8th Maintenance Squadron whose husband — like her, a maintainer who does shift work — is at Osan. "Over one year's time, we will spend a significant amount in travel costs just to see each other. Luckily, our supervisors have been willing to work with us on our weekend schedules."
Active-duty military couples who receive a joint-spouse assignment to Kunsan will live in individual quarters and will not be assigned to accompanied housing, the Air Force said.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
