Please, please start your DoDMERB as soon as it opens. Here is an example why -- wholly unrelated to the actual process. We live in State X. DS was assigned medical, optometrist, etc. in Puerto Rico -- couple thousand miles away. Though it might be nice for a vacation, there were no planned trips to PR. There is a place in the portal to click and request a new location. All good. Mistakes happen. Clicked on that and sent a response that our Zip Code as appears on the form is in State X, a couple thousand miles from Puerto Rico. Could we please get an exam closer to State X. Great. Went through. Received an email that says he missed a digit in the zip code and then proceeded to show the five digit zip code! (Zip codes are five digits and they are not asking for the plus 4.) I kid you not. Imagine receiving an email that says the five digit zip code you supplied is missing a digit. There are no six digit zip codes in the US. Maybe it was early and the coffee machine was broken. I dunno, but seems a pretty big brain whiff. I'm confident we'll get it fixed. But the lesson in here is start as early as you can as you never know what will cause delays. If not, look forward to sending pictures from the beautiful beaches of Puerto Rico . . . . .