[amy126]

Hi there,
My husband (who is military) just got word that he needs a special clearance to go to Russia, we have been going through paperwork with his command for the better part of a year and no one mentioned this clearance before. He even specifically asked and was told that there were none. Now that we are waiting for a referral and will hopefully get one any day, he is told that he has to do this special clearance and it could take 30 days!!!! has anyone else gone through this???

how frustrating!!!

[kretzklan]

I don't know much about it - but there is a forum here for military families...you may want to post this there! I would say that if he goes for it now - the 30 days will fly by and he'll be ready to go when you get a referal!

[amy126]

Thanks I will look on that board, I mistyped earlier though we are waiting for our travel dates not our referral!!! yikes!!! I know we can do it though....thanks again.

[Bcelli]

Is your husband enlisted or commissioned? If enlisted, I would contact your senior enlisted for the command - for the Navy, we have a Command Master Chief - and put him to work on it chop, chop. Explain the WHOLE situation, timeframes, previous notifications, etc. It shouldn't take 30 days for a clearance. If he's an officer, I'd go straight to the XO or CO with the same thing. Unless your DH has a TS clearance, I can't imagine why he would need authorization to travel to Russia to adopt. Usually, it's a prenotification and a short debrief upon return. I had coworkers when I worked at the Pentagon who adopted from Russia - this was in the late 80s - and they each had TS clearances and had no command problems nor did they require authorization. What a pain for you both. Good luck.

[amy126]

Thank you Bcelli,

I believe that we have it under control now, however still waiting on the travel dates they require for the paperwork, always a hurry up and wait situation. But that is just military life in general so you would think that I would be ok with all of this waiting haha!!

Thanks again, we have spoken with the CMC and I have also spoken with the XO, it helps that I am the Ombudsman for the command so I can actually go in there and respectfully say, we need this paperwork ASAP.