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[bburgi]

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[shooter76blue]

Not quite sure about your CHL, but I had a TX DL the entire time I was in the military (24 years) and was only physically in the state 6 of those years. There is special compensation for active duty members (or there was) which allows you to keep your license. They would put a sticker on it which identified you as an active duty member. I would check with the DPS and ask them the question...

[Dragonfighter]

Yep, it's home of record; IOW your permanent address, not where the whim of the DOD sends you. Make sure its a "real" address. That is a house and not a P.O. Box., I used my dad's address the whole time.

BTW, what are you going to be flying, after the Kiowa I mean?

[Purplehood]

I doubt that anyone in the TX legislature or DPS has thought about the subject. I agree that you should be able to hang-onto your CHL while active duty military subject to PCS orders, in a manner similar to your TX DL. But like I said, I doubt it has been addressed.
I suggest calling the DPS CHL offices and inquiring.

[Kythas]

Regarding the Alabama CHL, you have to apply with the county Sheriff and the license must be renewed yearly.

My uncle lives in Enterprise (where Ft. Rucker is located) and has a CHL there.

[bdickens]

Your home of record will still be in Texas unless you decide to change it for some odd reason. You get to keep your Texas DL and presumably your CHL as well.

[ELB]

You should have no problems remaining a Texas resident while PCS to Ft Rucker. Maintain your DL, CHL, and voter registration here. Use your parents' address as your Texas residence address. (Don't forget to change your DL and CHL and voter registration to their address -- you only have 30 days after moving to do this for your CHL, not sure on the DL. I'd do it well ahead of time). Your state of residence for tax purposes, DL, and all that is different from your "Home of Record," which is where you enlisted from. HOR is a military term for the military bureaucracy, and it stays the same throughout your career -- there are some military bennies that are pegged to it, such as the range of your last PCS move when you retire from the military. BTDT.

As for renewing your CHL, check with DPS first -- I don't see any outs for PCS military in the statute (for example, some states extend the DL expiration to your return plus 6 months), but I haven't looked everywhere.

However, time-wise, it looks like you could might be able to complete your renewal paperwork prior to your PCS, and then just mail it in when you hit 180 days from your expiration. The CHL law requires your class and handgun proficiency certificate to be within 6 months of your application date (NOT expiration date). The earliest your application can be submitted is 6 months (DPS counts 180 days, not calender months) prior to your expiration date. For you, it appears your expiration date means the earliest you can apply for a renewal is in April 2010, just after you sell your house (and I assume you are also moving in March. If you move later, even better). So you could attend a renewal course any time from (to be safe) November 2009 on.

As far as the fingerprints and all that other stuff goes, I don't see any time frame given for when they must be done other than the color photographs must be "recent," so I don't see a problem doing them at the same time as your course, and your range shooting certificate (TR-100, I think). You don't even need the TR-100 if you have documentation to show you passed a military pistol course within the last five years. (And don't forget your DPS fee (not the instructor's fee) is waived for active duty military )

This is what I did for my renewal last year. Because I read about all the application delay horror stories, I completed the course, and prints, photos, affidavits etc a few days prior to the earliest date that I could submit my renewal. As soon as the 180-days-prior-to-expiration-date arrived, boom! in the mail went the app. My renewal was approved in 35 days. And at only half-price for veterans.

You can double check all this by going here:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D ... .411.htm#H" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would call DPS and talk thru this with them, at least if you want to do the course more than a few days early, since this is probably not something they encounter often. Also, last time I checked their website is not set up to let you "apply" and order a package prior to 180 days ahead of your expiration, but your CHL instructor should be able to set you up with all the forms (and they often knock off on the fee for military guys. ).

Good luck with this and your school. Sounds like your are going into helicopters, and that sounds like fun. Best wishes.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

Not trying to hijack but I have a similar question.

I have been stationed in TX for the last 4 years. I can be PCS'd at any time.

My home of record is MO.

I have a TX DL and CHL.

If I PCS out of state am I able to keep my CHL?

[Sangiovese]

...For all legal purposes though, my home of record will be Alabama.
Brian

As others have mentioned, just because the military transfers you, it does NOT change your legal home of record. Your legal home of record is where you enlisted. You can change your home of record to where you are stationed if you want... but you do not have to. And being a resident of texas, I don't know why you would want to... no state income tax is a pretty nice perk. I was really loving that while I was stationed in new england!

There should be no reason at all that you cannot use your parent's address for your CHL while serving out of state. You will still legally be a resident of Texas, and you will be able to receive any mail that the DPS sends to you. I would imagine that you will have to make a trip back to take care of the renewal though unless ELB is correct and you can take care of it before you head out.

There are some nuisances that come along with having a legal home of record in Texas while living out of state, but they are minor. My driver's license expired while I was out of state. I was able to renew it through the mail without any problems and got one with no photo on it that said something along the lines of "valid with military ID" (it's been a long time, I dont remember the exact wording). I also got 3 jury duty summons while I was stationed out of state. Once while in Florida, and twice in Virginia. Each time I called in and explained that I was active military and stationed out of state... and was told not to worry about it and have a nice day.

The most uncomfortable situation was getting stopped by a Virginia State Trooper right after transferring from new york to virginia and buying a new car. I ended up with virginia license plates, a new york insurance card (new one had not come in the mail yet), and a texas driver's license without a photo. He gave me a good long look, but eventually decided everything was in order :)

Thanks for serving!

[lonewolf]

Another perk of having your home of record as Texas is this:
If you join here, serve more than 180 days active duty, and are honorable discharged with your home of record as Texas, the Hazelwood act (Texas Vets) pays for 150 semester hours at any Texas public college, junior college or state supported tech school. After you have used up any federal benefits, of course. I am using it now. Its nice to take 16 hours this semester and have to buy only books......

I used to use this program while recruiting here in Texas as an incentive, never thought I would be taking advantage of it like this, especially at my age....

[ELB]

Not trying to hijack but I have a similar question.

I have been stationed in TX for the last 4 years. I can be PCS'd at any time.

My home of record is MO.

I have a TX DL and CHL.

If I PCS out of state am I able to keep my CHL?

IANAL and all that, but basically, forget HOR for the moment. Here's what I picked up over the years. If you are a Texas resident, you should be able to keep all your Texas "perks." AFAIK there is no one single test for residency, it's just where you have decided is your main state of residence, even if the military sends you to far off lands. You prove this by doing things that indicate your residence, e.g. getting a local DL, registering to vote, and maybe most importantly...where do you file state income tax, if any? (and does your LES show state taxes withheld?)

I don't know if Missouri has a state income tax, but if so, and you have been filing MO taxes, I think most would consider you still resident of Missouri -- especially Missouri. That would, I think, make it a problem to retain a TX DL and CHL. However, if you have made Texas your place of residence, then you should have told Accounting and Finance that your new state of residence is Texas, had them stop taking out Missouri tax from your pay, and filed one last state tax return for whatever the last year of residence you had in Missouri. If you haven't changed your state tax with-holding, hustle down to Accounting and Finance (or you can probably do it online these days) and change it pronto. And then make sure you file a final tax return with Missouri - they may have special tax return for indicating that this is your last one. (Don't neglect this -- a fellow officer once found out Indiana had arrest warrants out on him for failure to pay income tax for several years after he PCS'd to Texas. In his mind he was a Texas resident and stopped paying Indiana. Indiana thought otherwise. Took some paperwork to straighten it out.)

I suppose it is also possible you can just change your resident CHL to a non-resident CHL, but I would recommend staying with Texas residency -- unless you go to Alaska...

Once again, I am not a lawyer, or a tax accountant, or anybody you should listen to blindly. I am just a guy who learned a couple things banging around in the the USAF. Check it out for yourself.

[jmorris]

This is a good article on Home of Record and Legal Residence and how you can change your HOR. It's not automatically approved.

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/military ... record.htm

[bburgi]

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[Dragonfighter]

BTW, what are you going to be flying, after the Kiowa I mean?

I'm going through the Blackhawk course at Rucker, then when I get back I'm going through a transition course for the new Lakota, so I'll be dual-qualified.

To the rest: Thanks for all the advice. I think I've got a good course of action to follow to keep my TX DL and CHL. Also, "Home of Record" was the wrong choice of words... for BAH purposes our home will be in Alabama, but you're right that our official Home of Record will always be Texas.

The new Lakota ?! Exciting, the EC-145 in my opinion is one of the best copters out of Eurocopter and the UH-72 will be an outstanding bird to fly...at least from the observations of an FSX wannabe. Alright, carry on with the discussion at hand.

[bburgi]

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