It is Called an Adventure
I use to roll my eyes at this – how can moving every 1-3 years be “fun”?? Something always seem to go wrong! But over the years and a few PCS behind me, I have some to see a truth. Finding both the good, bad and the funny in a PCS can really help carry you through yet another relocation. My favorite way to do this is to hear PCS stories from other milsos!
Military life is so unique. From annual balls to deployment, those who live military life have experiences that others might not. One of those is the frequent relocating – otherwise known as a PCS.
Going through a PCS comes with many emotions and ups and downs. After all, you finally got use to your current station, and then idea of finding a new doctor, grocery store and tribe can feel a bit overwhelming.
You are Not Alone!
So join me as these fellow Milsos share their PCS stories: bad and good, crazy and exciting.
The DITY Move
In July of 2017, my husband and I were moving (technically it’s not a PCS because he is in the Reserves and this was before he was AGR) from Fort Lewis, WA to Scottsdale, AZ. We were both driving our cars, and everything was going well for the first two days. We had long days of driving and were staying in some pretty cheap motels since we were paying for the move 100%.
Our second night we were in this awful motel, I barely slept, but we got up early the next day to eat, gas up the cars and hit the road. When I went to merge back onto the interstate the car couldn’t get up past 40 mph so I pulled over just past the end of the merge lane. After waiting over two hours for a tow truck, a 45 minute trip to the dealership, and 4 hours of waiting for them to check the car it was “totaled.” Cue the mad dash to find, pick up, and move everything into a rental car before beginning our 9-hour drive at 4 pm.
We finally made it to the hotel around midnight, unloaded, returned the rental car, and went to bed at 2:30 am. Then at 5 am my husband got up and ready to report to drill. He didn’t have a choice because he was the company commander. – Julie E.: Stories of a Reserve Milspouse
The Quick Turnover
Husband had gotten orders to his boat and they were deployed when he got there to meet them. Not long after he gets to said boat (less than a month before homecoming), we find out that they will be heading to the shipyards and we will be moving.
Because we were unaware at the time that movers need at least 30 days to pack and get your stuff, we ended up having to move ourselves and also had the biggest headache when moving out of housing. Did I mention, we had never lived in Military Housing before? All of this was new to us!
We decided to move during deployment stand down vs waiting until the boat actually moved up because we wanted to have plenty of time. With about an hour left in our drive before reaching our new duty station, my husbands 17 year old car starts smoking from the hood and we end up having to pull off to the side of the road.
My husband decides we can make it as it isn’t much further. So we head back onto the interstate and it starts smoking again just before our exit. We pull off onto the side of the road on our exit and he figures out he is going to have to call someone to tow him. We also only had 1 car (his) and the moving van that has to be returned. I had to go check into housing on my own and leaving him by himself stranded in a new town, waiting on a tow truck.
We learned that his car had bit the dust, so he had no way to get back to the boat a few hours away because we only had the 1 car at the time. However, the mechanic was nice enough to let us use a car of theirs until we could get him a working car. I am so grateful we ended up using that 2 week stand down period vs the 4 days that everyone else got! Boy it was stressful!! Oh and it also all happened around his birthday!! But we made it safe and sound, can’t ask for more than that!! – Leanne V.
When Pets are Involved
On another underway, I had to do the pack out part for our PCS. I did cat rescue in Hawaii and always had a lot of cats in my house. They were all corralled in to one room (or at least I thought they were). I had 2 foster kittens, Thing 1 and Thing 2. I couldn’t find them and figured they’d stashed themselves away somewhere safe because they were super shy around people.
At the end of the first night when the movers left I went to check on all the cats and couldn’t find them. I looked everywhere including outside. It finally occurred to me the only place I couldn’t look was in the couch they packed up. I called and left a message for the movers just in case and they called me the next day. They said they would check once the warehouse had cleared for the day because my stuff had already been stored in the back up on their storage units meaning they’d need a forklift to get it.
They called 2 hours later and could hear meowing coming from the box with the couch in. I had to go down and sure enough both kittens were INSIDE the couch. The workers all cheered when I pulled the first one out and then couldn’t believe when there was a second one. I’m so thankful I found them. Our stuff was going in to storage for 6 months! – Kaitlin H.
The Furniture Debocles
We left Fort Bragg NC for an assignment in Philadelphia, PA and after weeks of searching had finally found our perfect apartment. In the city of Philadelphia, this apartment was basically a “unicorn”- plenty of room, welcoming to our pups with a huge dog park, and even a pool and hot tub. We were stoked.
The following week when our movers arrived, we realized that the apartment complex was not in any way prepared to deal with the realities of a move like ours. They were unable to bring the truck into the apartment because of a low overhang, and when we finally found a back route to the apartment it took hours for them to actually get close enough to unload.
We thought we were in the clear, but soon found out that apartment life was going to present a few challenges- in this moment, the challenge of forcing our couch through the doorway. Our big grey sectional from North Carolina was in no way going to fit through this tiny Philadelphia apartment doorway.
Our movers were so kind, and tried forever until one finally found a very specific way to shimmy it inside. We were grateful, they were exhausted, and the couch may now be permanently stuck in our tiny living room! – Becky: BraveCrate
Traveling with Kids
Our craziest PCS was when we were heading to Fort Campbell. We spent a week doing all the research. Mapping the trip out so we could eat at fun places, see a few sites plus see a few friends. We took care not drive too much so my pregnant body didn’t get too worn out. We wanted to get into town with plenty of time to get settled before Austin would need to report anywhere. It was a great plan.
Then a few days before we planned to start our drive, Austin’s brother passed away from cancer. Suddenly, we were going to be leaving in 24 hours and driving across the country. We went by way of Arizona so we could attend the funeral and spend time with family.
It was more than a whirlwind, it was a tornado! But somehow the 36 hours of driving was still full of fun memories. I attribute a lot of it to our three goobers, I mean daughters 😉 While we had overly planned entertainment and snacks, they brought the real fun. This helped us smile through a lot of tears. I’ll forever be grateful for their daily reminders on those days to be goofy and smile! Michelle – The Waiting Warrior Podcast
When we moved to Germany, I had my 18-month old with me. The airline told me his car seat was too big for their seats. I couldn’t believe it. My plan was to have him in his seat so he could sleep as much as possible. So flying from the US to Germany, I didn’t have a car seat for my little boy. It was so hard! He didn’t really sleep at all. Luckily, I was sitting close to a mom of four, and she helped me out. Julie- Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life
The Angel Movers
Among so many horror stories in 2017, I felt so fortunate to have this story as our experience. While stationed in Germany, we moved from one base to another, just 90 minutes away. I was so worried that because it was a short distance. Would the movers take the same care with our stuff as they might for a long distance or OCONUS moves? Boy, was I wrong!
We were assigned to local mover that no one around me had heard of – that never instills incidence. But, after eight moves this was, hands-down, our best move. Competent, caring crew who spoke English (which overseas is not always common). First, they were insanely efficient. Our 3 day pack out and 1 day delivery ended up becoming a 2 day total event. TOTAL.
This company had one packer who was dedicated to kitchens. His job was to go from house to house packing only the kitchen. And he was a truly skilled packer. The foreman for the job was adamant that we have access to our bed both the last day in one home and our first night in the new home.
So, he made a point to bring the truck back the following day to pick up a few misc. items and our beds. So, we weren’t without our bed even one day! This gentleman cared about our experience and our comfort.
In the end, we didn’t have one new nick in furniture, or one broken item. German crews are well trained, being a mover is considered a profession. And it shows! This move proved to me that with the right crew and with a company that empowers their crews to make decisions that support the customer, PCSing CAN be a great experience. – Jennifer: Pride and Grit
And if anyone is headed overseas, Check out her FREE OCONUS PCS Guide with 13 Checklists.
