How much time will the Army give me to take my wife and daughter to JBLM? What other factors does a unit take into consideration?

In most cases, you will not have a unit on your orders. Your orders will tell you where to report and a contact number. Generally the report date is on the 10th day of every month. Make sure that your orders have all your dependents names.

Make sure your family / dependents are on your orders, as far as settling every soldier gets 10 days permissive TDY for “house hunting” - congrats and goodluck !

Before you make any arrangements to transport your family with you, contact your recruiter to find out what mode of travel will the MEPS have for you. I say this because when I re-entered active duty, the MEPS issued me my orders and a plane ticket for myself. I had to fly out that date and make arrangements for my family after I arrived to my new duty station.

Also remember, your orders effective date is the date of your enlistment which is usually your report date. They won’t pay for anything prior to the effective date to include if you drive. (If you’re effective date is 10 January and you head out to drive to JBLM on 3 January, all cost will be out of pocket for you and will not re-imbursed). So make sure to find what would be your effective date versus your report date. If they are the same, you’ll have to fly to JBLM first and make arrangements after you report to your unit. Good luck to you...