The Day You Have Orders

The day your spouse tells you he or she has orders your brain goes ten directions at once, or you freeze dead in your tracks. Where to begin the planning and moving? The answer is long and varied, but the Airman and Family Support Center is where I began. They didn't have all the answers. They pointed me to a few books, apologized that they weren't currently running any sort of relocation seminars and wished me good luck. I left with the pamphlet sized books and a web address in my hand. I headed from there to Finance to find out some specifics about the money involved in our move.
I have heard rumors of people manipulating the system and making money, others manipulating the system and getting caught, while still others play it by whatever is on the books at the time of their PCS. The rules change regularly. If you don't want to worry about getting into trouble, ask to see the written regulation.
I found out that no matter where we went between our current duty station and the coming one, we received the current duty station's housing allowance until we checked into the new place. That was interesting to me only because I had heard fairytales of living with family, collecting higher housing rates, and reuniting with your spouse with a full bank account. From what I read in print, these stories can only be urban myths. The government hasn't left many loopholes for us to accumulate extra money.
Now, everyone should know that until the physical orders are in the military member's hands, there isn't much anyone can do to plan the move. Thus, despite the fact that you may know you're moving in 8 months, until they cut those orders, you're at your current base. Keep both feet planted there until you know your leaving. Things change without much reason sometimes.

The PCS

Many books are out there to help families with the move, the permanent change of station, PCS. I read them. They don't always help with the reality of that day, time, period when your family is trying to deal with the move. We all struggle. Communicating with our spouse is difficult enough because we don't happen to share a brain, but to communicate with our spouse, the old command, the new command, movers, packers, children and friends and family can drive one to a nervous breakdown. Over the next few days I will post different tips for saving our sanity while acknowledging the great resources that the world has given us. Some you may decide to throw away today, others may become your roadmap to the military world.