Ive had my license and MSF card for years, and here in Germany the command requires that it be less than 3 yrs old, and when you hit the 3yr mark, you have to redo it. I just got my 2012 delivered here in Germany and paid $14300 out the door and no sales tax at 3% on the loan. They are right telling you to wait till you get to your unit, and see what the command says. You only have to be out of the country for 30 days to buy through the exchange. A TDY trip counts as well as deployment. You will almost always get a better deal at a dealer than a private party because everyone wants all their money for the add ons. Be patient. Both of my young sons are finding that life doesn't go that far on single E1-E4 pay much like you are going to find out. Now if you have been smart through Basic and AIT, and I am assuming that you had a long AIT in AZ Intel is a long school, you could have enough to almost pay cash for the bike, but the last thing you want to do is get strapped to a payment before you know where you are going. Just an old soldier's prospective. I hear these words a lot from my sons; "I should have listened to you Dad". Welcome to the adventure.