If I go to Germany as a single officer will I still get BAH?
Bottomline, can I rent something off post that is considerably less than the BAH amount? (As I currently do in the states). Also how much does COLA run per month? Thanks. Any other Mustachian benefits to being stationed in Germany?
Yes, but you can't bank it. The way it worked for me was, you find an apartment you want to rent (some posts have lists of landlords to rent from, or people will put up a flyer if they are moving out soon), then you bring the info to the housing people on base, and then they set your BAH up to pay just enough for rent via direct deposit to the landlord. There was no way to live in a low-cost apartment and keeping the delta.
Or, do I have to live on post somewhere?
If they have housing AVAILABLE for you when you report, you may be forced to live on post. If there is no housing available on post, then you can hunt for an apartment and live off post. When I moved to a second posting in Germany, I already had an apartment lined up. At the housing office, they tried to have me go to on-post housing, but when I told them I already had an apartment off post lined up, they told me to just go ahead. One of my friends from the BOLCs was assigned to on-post housing.
From what I could tell, single officers were more likely to get off post housing.