Moving advise please :)

SHAYD12

We got orders to ft wainwright Alaska. I am new at this moving part. So any advise would be helpful. My husband hates living on base, but I'm wondering if we should try and get a house on post just so we know we have a place a head of time. How do you go about getting a place?  Would it be worth doing that or staying in a hotel till we get a house? 

Any ideas would be great

2nd question  

I have heard about parshal tdy (I think that's what it's called) or full tdy. What is considered full or parshal? Where could I get info on this?

H said they will move one vehicle up and we have to do the second. So he wants to drive. In jan to Alaska, that thought makes me scared. But would they pay for the gas to get up there, even if they are taking on vehicle already? And if I choose to fly will they pay for tickets to get us up there and gas for him? Lol

I really don't know how all this works, so any info on it or where to look would be amazing! Thanks lady's!  

tlalli7106

It's been about 3 years since our last PCS and it was cross country from Virginia to California. I don't think you mentioned what branch of service you are all in but we are Navy.

First check with your Family Support Office (ours is calls Fleet and Family Support Center) on base. They usually have classes at least once a month for first time PCS moves. This was a great help to us for our first move because we had no idea what to expect.

Yes, the military will ship one POV for you. We had to find the shipping company and pay for it out of pocket but were reimbursed. We drove our second car cross country. The military pays per diem (for lodging and food) each day you travel and mileage for what you drive. Again, we received a portion of our advance pay up front...as we traveled charged everything to a credit card and a few weeks later when we got the rest of the money paid it off. Unfortunately, I do not think the military will pay for your plane tickets if you plan to fly and he drives.

As far as the move we opted out of the DITY move and had the moving company come pick everything up and move it to our new location. We are in the process of PCS'ing to Japan and now all military moves are booked online at www.move.mil. For our first move we were able to go into our Personal Property Office and sit down with a counselor who walked us through the whole thing, filling out all of the paperwork. Now that we've already gone through one PCS move this one is on our own and we had to do it all online. But the PPO is always there if you need them.

 

ModestMousette

I'm not sure about the car situation or if they'll play for airplane tickets. 

But I do know that partial TDY is where your husband can get off some time to go house hunting, unpack, set up cable etc.
Full TDY is when the Army or w/e branch sends your husband somewhere else for training, meetings or something similar.

If you plan to live on post I'd look online for the housing company in charge of the lease. You can most likely find a link from the Fort's website or possibly their Facebook. If you plan on trying to get on housing you might not be able to until you clear housing wherever your at now. You also have to go to the transportation office to fill out paperwork for your move. If you plan on doing this w/o your husband you'll need a Power of Attorney. Also you can use Military One Source I'm not sure what all they can do but anytime I have an issue they ALWAYS help me. No matter how big or small they can give you phone #'s or websites. I'd definitely see if they can answer any of your questions, just google "Military One Source"  

Hope this helps a little  

Smudges*Mom

Since Fort Wainwright is OCONUS, the steps for the move are different than a CONUS PCS. We are in the process of PCSing to Germany. I don't know if the guidelines are different because it is possible to drive to Alaska (though, everyone in the car would have to have a passport book or passport card), but the military pays to ship one car and pays for all dependents on DH's orders to fly over (though, we are taking a military flight).

I believe the terms you are thinking of for the types of moves are DITY (do it yourself) and partial DITY. The third option is to have the military move all your HHG. TDY relates to the military equivalent to a civilian's business trip.

Personally, I would do some research about housing at your new post. There are a couple of Facebook pages that share information about various bases, even showing pictures of some of the housing options. Typically, we like living on post, but we will be living off post in Germany and are happy about that.

Good luck with your move. We've done four PCS moves (and a local move)--and this OCONUS PCS is a lot more complicated. We shipped our vehicle earlier this week and the movers picked up our unaccompanied baggage today. The movers are coming in two weeks to pack and load our HHG and a couple of days later, different movers will pack and load our non-temporary storage (basically, our long-term storage). My head is swimming!

cornett103

First things first.  Take your orders and go the to Personnel Property Office at your current duty station.  They will set you up with a move and take care of the vehicle portion also.  You will need your current orders and a POA from your husband if your doing this by yourself.  

The PPO will brief you verbally or by video on the whole moving process so take a note pad if you want to.  By the way if you husband has already had the briefing you can talk to him and the PPO and see if you can't sit in on another briefing.  Not a bad idea, it's always better to get this stuff first hand.  A few reasons for this, some spouses aren't good at communicating, things get lost in translation or forgotten to mention, everyone takes info differently and the best point if this is your first move as a spouse it will make you feel more comfortable especially if you pregnant.  Just blame it on hormones, baby brain etc! Works every time.

Moving is more scary than it sounds.  My advice is the briefing first.  Then if you have time go through some things around the house and cleanse.  No point moving things that you have pack ratted for years and should probably get rid of anyway.  We try doing this every few years.  

Next make a checklist of things you'll need right away which the movers are NOT to pack.  His reporting uniform and some civies. Your clothes you want to wear, shoes etc.  

Don't have them move these items, take them yourselves if at all possible:

Important documents-Birth Certificate, marriage license, shot record, med records and any other hard to replace or important documents.

Expensive jewelry and cash. 

If you are driving to your next duty station I also try to take irreplaceable  items like old family photos and such.  Keep in mind if your flying you won't be able to and even driving too much of those items take up a lot of room so pick well.

BEFORE MOVING DAY:

Make a checklist like I talked about

Have items you want to go with you set aside

Clean house

Do laundry you want to take with you 

Unplug and defrost refrigerators or freezers (they will not take damp or wet items, they can mold)

Unhook washer and drier.  Disconnect hose from washer and drain, again no wet or damp items 

Make sure to pack a copy of PCS orders so you have them on you to report with 

MOVING DAY: 

ALL items you DON'T want to movers to take on moving day you should have either already packed or put into and empty closet or room and tape it off.  Make sure you remind them not to pack those items. 

MAKE SURE TO:

Clean your house before hand.  If it is to messy or nasty they have the right to refuse to move you.

Take out the trash.  Ok this one may be silly to mention but I've seen it done.  You get busy with everything and forget. The next thing you know your unpacking at destination and there it is, garbage can with a full trash bag, yuck.

Follow the movers around and make sure they are doing things correctly.  Do not be afraid to do this.  This is your stuff and you have the right to watch them.  Don't get in their way just keep and eye on things make sure they are packed correctly and such.

BINGO SHEET:

Ok not the real name for it.  It is a sheet with a lot of #'s on it.  With those numbers they are going to put a sticker on a box or item they pack.  On the sheet will be a description of the item along with the condition of the item.  IE #001 Coffee Table minor scratch on left leg.  They will then put sticker #001 onto the table.  Every box will also have a sticker and description of what is in it.

MAKE sure everything gets a sticker and is written down on the bingo sheet!!!  If it doesn't have one there is no proof that it it is yours.

POV I.E. CAR:

PPO will also take care of this for you 

Take in a copy of your orders, registration and insurance 

 

These are some good sites for information on moving and other military matters to help you out: 

www.military.com

https://www.smartwebmove.navsup.navy.mil/

for Navy and Marine Corps, not sure for other branches 

ftwainwrightfmwr.com

Your new duty station website

www.acronymfinder.com

ok this one is just kind of cool, nothing to do with moving though, but it might come in handy. 

 

Ok I know this was a long and lengthy response.  I hope I was able to help a bit.  I worked at PPSO NAS Pensacola for 5 years, (Navy version of Personal Property Office).  It's late in the night and I have baby brain too so I may have forgotten some things so def go to your office and get to a briefing.  It will help.  Don't be afraid to ask plenty of question and use your base facilities.  Ask your wives club for help if you need to, they are your family away from your own, hopefully you have a good supportive one.  

I know all of this can be daunting the first time around, been there and on both sides of the fence my active duty service and now on the spouse side of the house.  Just remember to breath and you'll get through it.  Communicate with you husband and you'll both survive it too! ;-) Pregnancy hormones or not.  Alaska is a beautiful state with plenty of fun stuff to offer for outdoors people, find your inner outdoors woman and have fun with it!  Good duty station make the most of it.  Yes it's cold but look at it this way, you get to live somewhere different and discover new things, and you already have a built in support system when you get there.

 

Good luck with everything!

cornett103 

SHAYD12

Thanks lady's so much for all the help! There were some great ideas and I will be using them! Thanks for taking the time to help me!