There are many to-do lists involved in a PCS. While usually last on the list, preparing for what you need to do when you have executed the move is important. There are many things to do, that don’t even involve the shipment of your household goods or unpacking. Since you have enough going on this PCS season with potentially having to pack your own household goods due to driver and labor force shortages, here is a list of things to do once you get to your duty station.
- Set up utilities. If you are renting off installation, you will need to set up utilities. This includes water/sewer, trash/recycling, gas, electricity, and internet/television. Make sure everything is set up in your name. If you are an active-duty military member, consider setting utilities up in the family member’s name who will be home and not deploying. Many companies will not speak to those who are the primary responsible party, which is difficult to do if the military member is deployed.
- Change of address – this is a multi-faceted to-do item. Change of address with the post office, change of address with credit cards, banks, financial companies, driver’s license, and shopping addresses. Many states will allow you to change your address online for the driver’s license even when you no longer reside in the states as long that is your home of record due to your active duty military and military spouse status. If you have subscriptions from Amazon, you need to change your shipping address so that you receive the item and not the person residing in your old home.
- Mail forwarding. The United States Post Office will forward mail for up to one year, make sure to forward mail in addition to the change of address.
- Update your voter registration. If your registration is not linked to your license, make sure your address is changed for voter registration so that you receive your absentee ballot appropriately.
- Transfer to the appropriate Tricare region. This can be done online but may require a phone call if the system is having technical issues. In some regions, family members are required to go to civilian providers even on Tricare Prime so make sure to look up providers so you can do research to assign providers. If you have moved overseas, there is a Tricare representative that can help you transfer locations. If you have moved CONUS, everything is done via telephone or website now.
- Check your military ID to make sure it is not expiring soon. If it is, set up a DEERS appointment with Pass and ID to renew it. Expired cards do not have to be updated until October 31, 2021, per the current updates.
- Register the kids for school. Unless you were able to before you had an address, not it’s time to get your kids set up for school. Gather the important documents of birth certificates, proof of residency, immunization records, and emergency contact forms to prepare for the registration. Check out this if you need help on what to do for emergency contacts.
- Find a new vet. If you have a pet, make sure you set up the veterinary record transfer or hand carry those records to the new vet.
- Register your pet. With each move, check for the area or installation rules for registering your pet. Some locations may require microchipping as well.
- Meet the neighbors. It is easy to feel disconnected after a move, especially right now. Consider writing a note to introduce yourself to the neighbors to feel out their level of comfort for face-to-face hellos. Knowing who your neighbors are can create a feeling of community, which helps with moving forward.
- Find dentists and eye doctors for everyone. It isn’t an easy one, but finding new dentists or orthodontists for everyone and optometrists for eye exams are important. Ask in local groups for recommendations and Google like crazy for recommendations.
- Work on a budget. While not a traditional to-do list item, moving is expensive. Getting into the groove of a new budget is helpful in setting up financially healthy habits.
- Recycle boxes and packing paper. Traditional recycling or offering up the packing materials on OfferUp, Craigslist, or local Facebook groups helps get the boxes out of your house while helping another family move or recycle.
- Share with friends you have moved. Once you have moved, it might be time to let everyone know that you have moved. Announce with fun postcards or just the general “we’ve moved!” on social media.
So mark this off your to-do list – you don’t need to make a to list for after the move, it is all here for you!
The old Chief says…
I am a retired US Air Force Chief Master Sergeant (E-9) with over 30-years on active duty. I have pretty much seen it all; not everything, but enough to offer some advice…
I would also suggest you do not forget the folks at your last duty station, especially if you received an especially good final rating and extra especially if you received an award or decoration. They did not have to take the time to write, re-write, re-submit, etc… all the rigmarole that goes along with submitting someone for a decoration. Call back, thank them, be sure to recall a special memory and share it with them where they helped your career along, mentored you, or any of the multitude of little things that made you last base/posting/position something that you will always have fond memories of… Remember, you may very likely be assigned with them again in your future assignments. And do not forget the other special folk who may also have done nice thing for you, secretaries, exec. officers, co-workers, and remember, you are calling to thank them, not gloat that you are now here and they are still there…
I did this from my second assignment on… and I had 17 Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves, and I never regretted a call. Sometimes I again worked for some of these folks, sometimes they now worked for me.
In my 29th year, I was called up to a new Brigadier General’s office, expecting to “tagged” with some special project. As I entered, he jumped up, ran over to me, grabbed my hand to shake it and stated slapping me on the shoulder and he’s telling me it’s been too long and the that I’m looking good. At that moment, I had no idea where he was coming from and he must have seen my confusion and he told me how he knew me.
Many, many years previously, we had been assigned to the same unit and he was the unit’s Executive Officer and we had been on friendly terms. He had really screwed up some project that he had to brief the commander and his boss on the progress. So I sat down with him and helped him straighten it out (he was being “mentored” by the unit’s secretary…), I also taught him several things; one, When giving a presentation, write your crib notes on the vu-graph frames. This way, while everyone is looking at your slides, you can be reading from the frame and not some scraps of paper that make you look unprepared, especially if someone (the Commander???) turns around to ask a question. Two, if asked a question for which you do not know the answer, to say, “I do not have that information, but I will get it for you.” Never say, “I don’t know…”.
Finally, the biggest difference between officers and enlisted is that the enlisted will teach their “young” to grow, and correct them and teach them again and again to do it right. We know that if our folks do a job well, it makes us look good!
Officers let their “young” fend for themselves, and they eat their young when the screw up… So do not “Screw Up…” They do not forgive nor forget…
Remember, this was the early 1970s and this advice was based on the fact that most senior officers were WWII or Korean War Vets and they did not take kindly to the “new breed” of officers coming into the Air Force to escape the draft…
The BG said he took my advice to heart and tried to make the path for those who followed him easier…
So, you’ll never know who you will run into in the future and you do not want your name to leave a “sour” taste in their mouth… So, “Call Home ET…”