How does any of this work?

Question

Hey everyone! I’m a new military spouse looking for some help. My husband just got his orders and it looks like we are heading to Fort Drum! Can anyone tell me what to expect? What will housing be like? It’s just him and I. We don’t have any kids yet. 
Also, how does the move work in general? I’ve heard that we will have to pay for everything ourselves. But my husband said he was told “they” (the army) pays for everything. This is his first duty station straight out of AIT. 
Thanks in advance!

Answer

Congrats! I just did my first PCS move and let me tell you, it's a bitch. But, if you get lucky and have a good person behind the desk at TMO it won't be too bad. There are options for how you do the move. You can do a government contact move, a partial DITY, or a full DITY move. With a government move, the TMO and JPPSO people will contract a moving company to pack and move you. They pay for everything, the company comes to your home, takes inventory, packs everything, and transports it all to your new home. I don't think you get reimbursed for your own travel this way (like if you're driving your personal vehicle out), but I haven't done it so I'm not positive. A DITY move is where you pay up front for everything, pack everything yourself (U-haul style), transport everything yourself, then turn in receipts and paperwork at the new base and get reimbursed for it all. A partial DITY is where a contracted company moves some of your belongings and you move the rest yourself. I highly suggest using Google along the way to read tips and what to expect from seasoned wives, and call or go in to the nearest TMO office with your questions. Tell them it's your first time and you'd like to do what you can to make things go smoothly. Unless you have power of attorney, your husband will have to do most or all of the move paperwork. Like I said, I'm new to it all too and have only done one DITY move so far (plus we're with the Marine Corps so there are some differences), but if you have questions I might be able to answer. :) Good luck with the move!

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During the winter

during the summer

a view from our porch lol

this is Remington pond, you can go fishing and even swim if you go further down.

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I guess after doing so many moves it kinda becomes easier. Military paid for everything and we even made extra money. I suggest looking for housing before getting there and try to set up some viewings for as soon as you get there. We lived in a hotel for 3 weeks because all the available houses were trash 2 PCSs ago and it got annoying. You can live on post which takes your BAH but don't have to pay gas, electricity and water or off post and depending on how much your rent is you keep the remaining bah...which is usually enough to pay utilities and MAYBE some to pocket. 
our last move we paid for gas, food and hotels because we traveled home and it was way out of the way... they paid us for our travel when we got here and they pay for each person to travel...we had 4 people. They reimbursed gas, food and hotels which got us over $4,000. if you fly they pay for you flight and food and whatever hotel you need when you get there. I really don't feel they are to hard, annoying yes but as long as you soldier stays in contact with his POC and ask for help if needed you should make it out alive lol. 
Enjoy NY, it's my home state, not much there in fort Drum that I remember (I was National Guard and used to go there for drill )  but if you get some time definitely travel!! Niagara falls, NYC, Albany is close by, Boston...if he gets it all Ok'd. Welcome to the Travels life lol

Answer

We did a PCS in July 2016. It was the holy hell of nightmares. We did the contracted move. But the army wouldn’t get the movers to our house until 3 weeks AFTER my husband had to report. So we had our stuff in a storage unit and the movers just packed from there. Which of course is why we had issues, if we had been there, I doubt we would’ve had the problems that we did. 
It took over 7 weeks for us to get our stuff, and when we did, we were missing quite a bit of stuff, things were damaged and the army didn’t give us shit for reimbursement. They gave us $100. One of our TVs was stolen...that alone was $500 and our other one was broken. Not to mention all of the crap that was missing. 
I highly suggest making a personal inventory and take pictures of EVERYTHING that you own. All pictures of electronics need to show they’re working, powered on! 
I’m glad I didn’t have to mess with the packing of everything, that part was nice. And we will be doing a full contracted move next time as well, just making sure one of us is present and we can prove all of our belongings. 
If you do the contracted move, you have one room where everything you want to keep out of the movers hands must stay. (Your purse, your pets, your clothes for travel, basic necessities) just make sure they know that room is off limits. They will come in, pack you up and have your house empty in a matter of hours. 
You can be reimbursed for travel from your current duty station to the next even with a contracted move. They reimbursed our gas, hotel and food. (Only one of our vehicles though, not both) 
If you do the move yourself you must pay for it all upfront and then be reimbursed when you arrive at your duty station. KEEP ALL TRAVEL RECEIPTS! (Food, hotel, gas, etc) 
For on post housing, you have to contact the post housing department at ft drum. They normally will allow you to start the application process if you have orders. We just sent scans of our orders and did the application ASAP. There was a 2 week delay that we had to stay in a hotel while waiting for our house to become available. The army will only pay for 10 days, so that’s something to be aware of. Luckily we were able to have lodging at the post hotel, which was cheap. 
Feel free to ask me if you have more questions! I’m sure I’m leaving something out!

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Well if it's anything like the Canadian military (I'm military), your move is done by movers and packers for free.  Clerks set it all up and your husband just has to sign the paper work.  If anything is broken or stolen (I hope that doesn't happen to you), you do a quote and they pay for it.  Now I just hope you have better moving companies than here in Canada because all you hear are horror stories of certain companies that like to hire criminals to move us.  Luckily I had amazing movers but some of my friends haven't been so lucky.  But to end on a good note, congrats and enjoy your new place.

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i just moved from fort drum! its veryyy cold and it snows so much there! we lived on base and we were there for 3 years. Look up Mountain community homes. do you mind if i ask your husbands rank? you can live off post, but if you live on post youll get a house based on your rank.

How does any of this work?

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