If you live or travel overseas, you can still get your TRICARE-covered prescriptions. But the process works differently overseas than it does in the U.S. It also depends on whether you’re traveling or if you live overseas permanently. Knowing your options ahead of time can save you stress, time, and money.

Have you recently filled a prescription at a military pharmacy? If so, you may know that military pharmacies have different procedures than civilian pharmacies. When a provider issues a new prescription to a military pharmacy, you need to activate the prescription before a pharmacist fills it. Recently, the Defense Health Agency updated its Q-Anywhere feature to make this prescription pickup process easier and more convenient.

Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital demonstrates how beneficiaries can use the free TRICARE Q-Anywhere mobile app to join the pharmacy queue, receive real-time updates, and know when it’s time to pick up their prescription.

Permanent change of station, known in the military as PCS, is a hallmark of military life. But even for seasoned service members, the combination of packing up a household, changing jobs, and uprooting a family can create a perfect storm of anxiety.

Captain Rachel Shi, a U.S. Army dentist originally from Lanzhou, China, took an unconventional path to her career. Arriving in the U.S. just before high school graduation with limited English, she joined the Army as a Water Treatment Specialist — not even knowing soldiers were paid — as a way to find herself before rushing into college. While stationed in Germany, an optometrist mentioned the Health Professions Scholarship Program, planting the idea of a healthcare career. In South Korea, a mentor named SFC Hunter built her confidence through competitions and challenges, while another officer encouraged her not to settle for dental hygiene when she could pursue dentistry itself. She earned her associate degree on active duty, then a biology degree from the University of Washington, and eventually graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. In a full-circle moment, her residency mentor at Fort Jackson turned out to be the same officer who had encouraged her years earlier in Korea. Now preparing for a three-year prosthodontics residency — a specialty she calls “oral architecture” — Captain Shi has become a mentor herself, leading her team with inspirational quotes and a culture of gratitude. Her story centers on a simple but powerful theme: the right words at the right moment can change a life.

In a notable achievement for McDonald Army Health Center, two 68W combat medic specialist

McDonald Army Health Center, partnering with the American Red Cross, launched a six-month Dental Assistant Training Program at Fort Eustis to help military dependents gain portable career skills despite frequent PCS moves. The no-cost, 600-hour program combines classroom learning with hands-on clinical rotations across the dental clinic, preparing students in chairside assisting, radiography, sterilization, and patient administration. The initiative builds on a Red Cross–Army collaboration dating back to the 1970s and supports both family quality of life and military readiness.