The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Sort of.

So, take this with a grain of salt as I have not done it yet and have not been told it would be an issue. So part of this is permission by omission.

The DoD has a an exchange program called the Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program (ESEP). Allied countries put in requests and you can ask a request be made (they send your resume to who you ask and see if they will open it). If approved you will be assigned to that host nation, working with their services directly, not a US base per se. You will have salary + cost of living adjustment for where you moved, they will pay for moving your stuff (including car), cost of storage, and some other things. You will still be paid by your facility and your benefits still base from there. This can last 1-5 years before you return, though I have only heard of 1 year offers recently.

I plan to ask for a Japan placement later myself!

The general answer is that your service agreement is to your SF, not the DoD at large. You would probably need to ask SMART's permission before transferring to another facility unless you could be on PCS/TDY while still on the payroll of your SF. As for the possibility of relocation after you've completed your service agreement, I'd just ask your POC, prospective supervisor, etc.

Just got offered the award by Tinker AFB, and so I wanted to ask for anyone that might know, are there any opportunities to move to bases in other countries -- like the Yokota Air Base to name one? How likely could this be?