PCS season is coming — Plan ahead

Photo By Keith Pannell | Plan your move. Pay attention to the Personal Property Team during levy briefings, ask questions, take notes. Know your maximum Household Goods weight allowance and what items you are authorized to ship. Decide what to ship, store, and or donate or recycle.  

FORT SILL, OK, UNITED STATES

05.02.2022

Story by Chris Gardner 

Fort Sill Public Affairs

FORT SILL, Oklahoma (May 2, 2022) — It’s that time of the year again when Soldiers, civilians, and their families prepare for permanent change of station (PCS) moves.

Annually, PCS season runs from June to August and potentially into September. Soldiers and families could see some unexpected delays in scheduling their household goods moves, said Shirley Castle, Fort Sill personal property supervisor.

“Soldiers and civilians need to contact the local transportation office as soon as orders are received and keep their chain of command informed of any issues or challenges,” said Castle. “When PCS orders are received, waiting until 30 days or less before the move to contact the local transportation office could result in non-availability of DoD approved moving companies.”

Some of the delays can be attributed to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Castle. Although the urgency of the pandemic has lessened, moving companies are still experiencing continued labor constraints, port congestions, shortage of warehouses, trucks, equipment and supplies as well as increases in material costs.

“These shortfalls will continue to limit industry capacity, increase missed required delivery dates and extend lead times for shipment pickups and deliveries by as much as four to six weeks this season,” said Castle.

Immediately after receiving orders, Soldiers should create an account and log on to the Defense Personal Property System, upload their orders and complete all shipment applications for the move. The next step is to visit the transportation office for counseling, which will assist with stateside and overseas moves. By contacting the transportation office quickly, customers will have a better chance of scheduling a convenient move, receive confirmation of booking a moving company in advance, or receive approval to conduct a personally procured move, said Castle.

According to Human Resources Command, 36,984 Soldiers are on orders with report dates during the 2022 summer peak moving season. This is a slight increase of 2,897 over the 2021 season. This increase and labor availability could make this season even more challenging than previous years, said Castle.

Army senior leaders are aware of these challenges and actively exploring mitigation actions for relocation issues. Headquarters Department of Army G4 recently published a Household Goods Quality of Life link on the HQDA G4 news page with great resources and information.

Some advice from the Logistics and Readiness Center — Fort Sill includes:

P - Plan your move. Pay attention to the Personal Property Team during levy briefings, ask questions, take notes. Know your maximum Household Goods weight allowance and what items you are authorized to ship. Decide what to ship, store, and or donate or recycle.

C - Coordinate your move. Immediately upon receipt of orders, log in to https://www.militaryonesource.mil/moving-housing/moving/pcs, input your information, and select shipping dates.

S - Stay flexible regarding selected dates and remain in contact with your Transportation Service Provider (Moving Company). The goal is to assist you in making a successful move, but you must take an active part in the process. Relocating can be stressful, but early coordination and planning can reduce the stress and help you to stay on schedule.

Since preparation and planning are imperative for a successful move, the Army PCS Move App, which can be downloaded for free from Google's Play Store for Android devices and Apple's App Store for iOS devices, offers information on financial management, entitlements, types of moves, planning, scheduling and the claims process. In addition, it provides practical advice, links and interactive functions to make the PCS move a low-hassle experience.

PCS season can be stressful, but with proper planning, the interactive Army PCS Move App, changes to entitlements and improved quality assurance, the Army is taking care of its most valuable assets – Soldiers, civilians and their families.

• Date Taken: 05.02.2022
• Date Posted: 05.02.2022 17:23
• Story ID: 419785
• Location: FORT SILL, OK, US