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Moving ?
Hi Ladies! I am new to all of this Army stuff so bear with me!
We have orders to Hawaii and have to be there May 16. My question is, Do we buy our plane tickets and get reimbursed? How about moving expenses? Do we have to pay to ship everything and get reimbursed? DH is currently in San Antonio at AIT so this will be our first move. TIA!
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Re: Moving ?
When I moved, we didn't pay for anything out of pocket. You still have a LOT of time to plan (I know it doesn't feel like it!) We had our tickets booked for us, and TMO should take care of moving all your household goods. As far as I know, they won't let you do a DITY (do it yourself, pay up front then get reimbursed) move for overseas, even if it's only to Hawaii.
Your DH should have a TMO briefing coming up very soon- bug him to take care of that, because that will relieve a lot of this stress for you!
Tell him to look into getting that fixed! In my opinion, TMO moves are a LOT easier, and often people get ripped off during DITY moves. I don't think they can force you to do it, especially since HI is considered overseas, and has special restrictions. But maybe it's just a miscommunication. Either way, I'd have him look into it to make sure.
Good luck, and I'm glad you are feeling less stressed now!
We recently returned from living in Hawaii. You're not even allowed to do a DITY move to Hawaii, even if you wanted to. At least you couldn't 3 years ago. He'll be going to briefings, but so should you! There's a lot of out-processing briefings he'll have to go to, and they strongly encourage spouses to go to a lot of them, because you'll be getting a TON of information regarding the move. Bring pen, paper, and folders (I had a special moving binder to keep all the paperwork, notes, and extra copies of orders in).
They'll move all your stuff for you, in 2 shipments if you want, or one. They'll let you pack some necessities in a smaller load that gets sent first (pots pans/blankets/etc) and then the rest of your household goods. They'll also ship ONE vehicle for you. The plane tickets will be taken care of as well. If you have pets, that's your sole responsibility (and look into that now, if you do, because there's a 120 quarantine period before admittance into HI). Then once you get there you'll have to find temporary housing (usually the lodge on post, but that is very often all booked, so look into it sooner rather than later). If you don't get into the lodge you can stay at a civilian hotel, but it's a reimbursement situation.
There's a ton more info that you'll be given and lots of paperwork and pamphlets. So go to those briefings! We weren't given as much notice as you were, we literally had 30 days from the day we got the orders until we had to move (even less on our way back .. .2 weeks!) So take advantage of this time and don't be afraid to ask LOTS of questions!