hi, Tammi,

And, sometimes it's not. Though, using a lawyer can be very convenient. It's a different country (I'm in Canada), but I imagine the process is very similar.

There must be one or more government agencies that have personnel that will be pleased to answer straightforward questions and provide you when requested with links or where to look for the regulations covering such matters. And just about any government (Federal) agency ought to be able to refer you to the correct Agency to ask, or at least, an Agency that would know which Agency you ought to be chatting with.

These days, I imagine there's probably a government website that's chock full of related topics and links to policies and regulations. If it's hard going, there may be military forums for your country where people have posted how they've managed to get around this or that roadblock.

Don

ps. To a fair degree, your solicitor is accountable for his efforts. How did you come to choose this particular one, instead of some other one?