You've hit the nail on the head. The get you there package is average; the get you home package is even worse. The good news is once you're there - Germany, US or wherever - life becomes a lot more acceptable and you'll have a ball. Sadly we're still in the old days of "it's a good deal just get over the hassle". I'm afraid it's a case of spend your savings and enjoy the tour. FWIW, in the US, I reckon it cost me £3k to move which came from my own cash. I then lived $ for £ (the good deal) and it cost me £5k to come home. Simplistic because some of the costs ( and like you I'm confused as to why bringing my cars home is not a public expense) are not attributable to public funds but they still fell at the same time when I returned home. Add to that 3 years of recovering my home after a rental and so on..........
And you'll never get any sympathy from UK-bound types who will find reasons why its easier not to move.
And to prempt the "you're lucky not to be on Operations" argument, I did my many op detachments over the years. This was a family tour overseas.
Last edited by Geehovah; 13th Jul 2010 at 19:02.