The Wish List

It sounds so nice! Fill out a wish list of your top three locations to live and the Army will “do its best” to accommodate your request. Well, let’s clear one thing up right now. There’s a very good reason why it is called a wish list.

I’ve seen many military spouses be very disappointed when their husband did not get one of the duty locations notated on his wish list. With first time enlistments, I would actually be quite shocked if the Army actually even looked at the list when making decisions about the soldier’s first duty station. I’m more of the belief that if the soldier was given the first duty location of his dreams, it fell into the pure luck category more than anything else.

Of course, the wish list should be completed because, after all, you never know. Maybe you’ll be one of the spouses who is deemed lucky with a soldier who gets choice #1. How can you increase your chances of getting lucky? There’s one main tip.

Your soldier has a MOS. He may have a MOS that is at nearly every Army post there is or he may have one that is only at a handful of posts. If your soldier lists posts with units that don’t need his MOS, then he really just wasted his time in completing the wish list at all. Do some research ahead of time and be sure that his MOS fits the duty locations that are chosen.

This also applies to schools or programs that your soldier may be attending. For instance, there are very few airborne units. While those that graduate from Airborne school are not guaranteed a spot in an Airborne unit, it usually works out that way. If your soldier will be attending Airborne school, make sure the wish list contains posts that have an Airborne unit. With Ranger BN and Special Forces, these guys are only stationed at certain locations. This is another time when research is prudent.

Rather than choose your wish list based on the best locations, be sure to choose based on the best choice for your soldier and his MOS.

Your soldier can access his wish list in AKO under ASK (Assignment Satisfaction Key).

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