What process and considerations did you use in planning your last PCS?

2017-02-23T07:12:37-05:00

Maybe you had two or four years of service remaining or you just knew that the next move would be your last... Did you do anything different or did you move using the blueprint from your previous changes of station?

Response by Col Rebecca Lorraine made Feb 23 at 2017 8:55 AM

2017-02-23T08:55:38-05:00

I'm not sure I planned at all. I was medically retired after an MEB and my husband still worked at USSOCOM. I didn't have a job and couldn't drive. It was very difficult for me to reorganize my life. I spent a year feeling lost and isolated. So, my case was not a planned event. I received 40% of my base pay and lost my mission. Sucked. That was in 2009. I should have been in school or working, and I would have planned better if it hadn't been so unexpected.

Response by CW4 Anthoney Lowry made Feb 23 at 2017 10:21 AM

2017-02-23T10:21:32-05:00

I was at 23 years and change of total service, CW4, looking at the promotion board the following year, the only thing I wanted was some place not cold. I thought I had some leverage. I was offered Alaska or Alaska. I picked secret option number 3, RETIREMENT. best move I ever made.

Response by SFC George Smith made Feb 23 at 2017 10:39 AM

2017-02-23T10:39:33-05:00

Started Planning for Retirement PCS 4 years out, Just prior to my last Over Seas Deployment

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Feb 23 at 2017 10:43 AM

2017-02-23T10:43:34-05:00

Before each of our last 2 or 3 PCS moves we went through the house room-by-room and cleaned out all the junk. The kids were finally all old enough to have gotten over the "mine, mine" syndrome. Clothes the kids had outgrown went to Good Will or the Thrift Store if they were in good condition. Same with small furniture items and toys. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate over 3 or 4 years. We also took a hard look at any boxes we hadn't opened often since the last PCS move--there's always one or two. Stuff in those boxes was a candidate for the trash or Good Will. Leaving Alaska for Florida, we gave our heavy parkas and other extreme winter gear to the Base Thrift Store. We separated the stuff for "hold baggage" from household goods with living for 2 to 4 weeks in an unfurnished house in mind. We put stuff in hold baggage like we were packing for a camping trip, less the tents.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 23 at 2017 11:41 AM

2017-02-23T11:41:12-05:00

My last true PCS was from Fort Leavenworth, KS to Fort Bragg, NC. We rented a house in NC for the year I went to Korea unaccompanied. When I got home, we bought our current home, which is going to be our permanent home for my ETS from Active Duty (unless I get a really crazy good job somewhere else not too far away).

We didn't do anything radically different during the actual PCS move. We have a rule that if we haven't used it or looked at it for 6 months (except for life mementos and keepsakes) it goes out in order to stay under the baggage allowance. We do well keeping our clutter down, but almost 2 years later we still have a room full of boxes that we haven't unpacked yet. It'll get done... Sometime.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Feb 23 at 2017 2:47 PM

2017-02-23T14:47:19-05:00

Honestly, the only considerations I made involved moving because my wife was pregnant during 2 of my moves and I couldn't expect her to move washers and dryers and a lot of the heavy stuff. So I did the majority of the packing so she wouldn't have to worry about it and used the government movers to take our stuff so she would be as stress free as possible.

But since you also tagged retirement in the post, I will say that I also factored in cost of living when it came time for me to separate. As much as I would love to move closer to my family and experience actual snowfall again, the cost of living up north is three times what it is down south. So a better move for my family would have been staying down here where I can carve out a more affordable/comfortable living for them.

Response by CPT Jacob Swartout made Feb 24 at 2017 1:07 AM

2017-02-24T01:07:18-05:00

COL Lee Flemming My wife wanted to be closer to family and accepting this assignment would give her that opportunity. I was in my last 5-6 months of command when I was given the chance and took it right away for her. I knew that this would be my last assignment as I will be nearing the end of my career. If I were to stay in, my wife would stay put as I would then have to move on without them. I decided I didn't want her to be a single parent again for the 4th time and with three kids. She has endured enough deployments as a single mother while I went overseas to Afghanistan/Iraq.

So about two years ago, I did some research on jobs I could possibly take that would benefit me to continue service or find the one that would be the last assignment that made the most sense for our situation. I looked at other company commands (FORSCOM, USAREC, TRADOC, OCS), staff positions and multiple broadening assignments. My VTIP for FA-51 was not accepted because I was still in command at Ft Benning. Never understood fully why it was denied because the MILPER stated that CPTs still could apply when in command and when speaking to the FA-51 civilian, he encouraged for me to apply a year before I was done with my command. I did just that and still was not accepted. The fact the Army was downsizing fast that didn't help either. So I picked the S3 position so that I can make the final move easy for my family. Knowing we were going to stay put, I wouldn't have to move too far for my last final PCS move; if any at all. It turned out that this was the best choice for us.

All other PCS moves have been to explore other areas and see as much as we could since the Army was sending us there on their dollar. We enjoyed the east coast for eight years. Now we are enjoying my final assignment here in our home state. I could go on but, again I don't want to separate my family and I'll have over 21 yrs here soon.

Response by SSG Laurie Mullen made Feb 24 at 2017 3:13 AM

2017-02-24T03:13:25-05:00

I had to do 15 months in Korea due to stop loss so I thought that I would have a good chance to get stationed close to my family on my final PCS. Wrong! The Army sent me back to Ft Hood and six months later I was on the silver bird again heading east for 12 months.

Response by MAJ Raúl Rovira made Feb 25 at 2017 6:59 PM

2017-02-25T18:59:50-05:00

Sir, I was looking for stability for the family, community, schools for my children, professional opportunities, recreating activities and most be 100% approved by Household-6. We found it in Anchorage, Alaska.

I was sent to Cairo, Egypt for 18 months as a Solo-PCS and had to leave my family at JBER. I managed to get a return PCS(#9) to JBER which I used for retiring. I was fortunate that timing of assignments was right.