My friend’s 19 year old step-daughter just told him that she was marrying her 21 year old boyfriend so that they could be married prior to him reporting to basic training. She said that his recruiter told him that as long as they were married before he was sent off to basic training, that the Army would relocate her along with him once he was stationed to his duty assignment after basic.
Does the Army do this even for privates? I know soldiers families live in base housing, but does the Army provide assistance to relocate? I just think she’s infatuated with the idea of being stationed along with him in places like Italy or Germany, and thinks the Army will just pack up all of her things and give her a plane ticket to wherever he’s stationed.
It’s probably not a lot of trouble to put one more person on a and a couple hundred more lbs. on a C-130 to ship them over to whereever.
Apparently any military personal can travel between bases using “hops”, but it means you have to use military cargo planes for transport. No first class airliner seat and in-flight cordon blue accessory kit.
The catch is that it’s not exactly a non-stop flight, since these are cargo planes, and they reserve the right to kick you off if they need the space or weight for cargo or passages who have to be somewhere sooner then you do. It might also take a while, since speed and passenger satifaction is not the military’s big priority with cargo planes.
Only two posts and we’re already drifting away from the OP…
I was not in the Army, but I did spend a long time in the Air Force and I suspect DoD rules are the same regarding spouses. Yes, the DoD (Army) will pay for a member’s spouse and kids to accompany him/her on an assignment (most of the time). If it’s a REMOTE assignment, then the family stays where they are while the GI goes off to his lousy duty (usually places like Korea, Saudi Arabia and other logistically difficult places end up being classified as remote).
If the tour is “accompanied”, then wifey and kids and all their stuff (subject to weight limitations, usually based on rank and number of people) get shipped off to wherever Private Good Deal goes.
This travel is NOT done on military transports - the trip to and from an overseas PCS is done on commercial carriers (unless there is no commercial service). IE, if your friend’s step-daughter’s husband gets sent to Italy they’ll be riding Alitalia over there. If they want to come back to the states while stationed in Italy they’ll have to go through the Space-A nonsense mentioned above. Or they could just buy a ticket! For the trip home it will be via commercial carrier as well.
So the bottom line is yes, they will pack up your stuff and buy you a plane ticket (with restrictions). A private will not have a very large weight allowance, so don’t plan on bringing the family dining room set or even a lot of books.
Remember, of course, that there are a lot of people in the Army and relatively few desirable overseas locations. Your friend could have all her stuff packed up and sent to Fayetteville, NC (Ft Bragg), El Paso, TX (Ft Bliss) or one of many other garden spots!
Thanks pilot141! When you call him Private Good Deal, does this mean that not all privates get this benefit, or are you refering to choice duty assignments? I asked my friend if his step daughter got the “promise” of relocation in writing. Does this matter?
I’m currently in the Air Force and concur with everything that pilot141 said.
Also, I think that a married soldier will have more than twice the weight allowance of a single soldier because single soldiers generally live in the barracks and don’t need much furniture. But it makes sense to me that they get married before basic training. He might be able to take leave between basic and his next assignment and get married then, but there wouldn’t be time to change his orders to reflect his new marital status.
As far as getting the policy in writing, I think your friend might want to read the Joint Federal Travel Regulations. Chapter 5 deals with travel to a permanent duty station. There’s a lot to read through, though. He/she may want to call the nearest Army base’s personnel center or traffic management office to find the applicable sections. They would know more about travel regulations than the recruiter.
You can let the gummint move it for you. Depending on the duty station, this may mean that you don’t get all of your stuff all at once. You get the essential stuff first, but it may take some time to get all of it. It’s done at the convenience of the gummint (a phrase your friends will do well to remember). Basically, the gummint sends people over to pack your stuff, load the truck and drive the truck.
You can also move it yourself. You’ll get all your stuff at once, since you’re the one moving it. But, you bear the initial cost of renting the truck and equipment, and you’ve got the hassles of packing and getting it there. You are reimbursed for the move at the gummint’s cost, so you may not get everything back.
In a related aside, I’m going to agree with heresiarch as to the timing of the wedding. If she marries the guy before he goes to basic training, benefits like Tricare (the gummint insurance program) start immediately.
Monty was a personnelman in the Navy for quite a while and dealt with these issues; you might try e-mailing him with your questions.
Just to clarify this a little, as someone that was stationed in Sicily for 3 years, and flew back and forth on orders several times, this is not exactly a true statement. For locations overseas that have a lot of constant personel moving back and forth to it, the government will sometimes have ‘chartered’ a commercial company to fly that one route all the time. The airline will be a commercial craft, but only filled with military-related people (ie servicemembers, retired personel, dependants, ect.) Keep in mind that since the government works on lowest bid, that the commercial line you’re flying with is the one that cost the least. I will never forget the flights over to Sigonella on Rich International. I swore after the second trip on that hell of an airline, that next trip I’d just pay for the damn ticket myself.
In addition, the info MsRobyn gave is good, but only within the continental US. If you’re going overseas, there’s no option of moving yourself. If you do have the military move you, keep in mind that it works the same as some of the flights. A commercial moving company that bid the lowest, so keep a close eye on your stuff, and make sure they inventory everything that goes in the boxes.
Atrael , you’re right - I should have clarified about the contract carriers. I was trying to convey that they would not be stuck in the back of a noisy C-130!
I agree about the movers as well - the contract goes to the lowest bidder. When I left Panama I videotaped all of my stuff on the day of the move and also videotaped the movers themselves as they packed it up. I made it very obvious that I was getting their faces - thus discouraging theft, which was a problem then.If you are going overseas you cannot do a DITY (Do IT Yourself) move. DITY moves are usually the best way to make money on a PCS, if you don’t mind hauling all your stuff around.
And Maera , calling him Private Good Deal was just a joke referring to someone who would get Italy or Germany out of basic training!
I will never forget the trip back to the States in 1970 when Alitalia went on strike. Cargo plane to Naples; train to Rome; three taxis to the airport (my folks, me, seven siblings, and travel paraphanelia for all); plane to Paris with no idea when we were getting out; and finally to New York - disappointing all of us who were hoping for a day or two in Paris.
BTW, did you live on base or in the country? We lived in Belpasso.
Oh yeah, the OP - we got sent everywhere my dad did except when he was on a carrier.
Robin’s right. & I won’t mind getting the questions via e-mail.
Let me talk about just a couple of general issues here first.
Military Space-A “hops” are for unfuncded travel. PCS (Permanent Change of Station) travel is funded and thus those travelling on PCS orders (to include family members) are not eligible for the Space A travel to execute the relocation.
For funded travel, the requirement is to use a US-flagged carrier unless one is not available within certain restrictions. Thus, Alitalia’s out fro flying from CONUS to Italy.
For remote unaccompanied assignments, the governemnt will foot the bill to relocate the family to a designated place (also subject to certain restrictions).
A very good place to begin with these questions is the recruiter. Not only are they living PCS changes (obviously) but they can also show you the information in print (kudos to heresiarch for posting the link to the JFTR) and give you the contact info/direction to get to their support office (the folks that do the paperwork for their PCS moves).
The most important thing to remember is that the funded move can only apply to command-sponsored members of the military family and that requires that they be members of the sponsor’s family on or before the effective date of the PCS orders (not the date the orders were issued, but the effective date–also discussed in the JFTR). Now, if the couple decides to wait until after the Servicemember arrives at the new duty station, then the fiance(e) will have to arrange and pay for own travel, to include whatever visa requirements the host country has, and apply for command sponsorship there. That is not automatic and I really don’t recommend going that route. The best idea, IMHO, is to get the screening done before the transfer and that screening will get paid for by the military (actually it’ll be done at a military medical facility) provided the person(s) getting screened is (are) already member(s) of the military sponsor’s family.
Last, about the movers: it doesn’t matter about lowest bidder or not. What matters is that the outfit that manages to keep the contract is the outfit that doesn’t destroy the stuff being moved. If you get anything damaged in transit, you get it replaced or the value of the item instead if there’s no replacement available. If you’ve ever hired a mover yourself, you no doubt went with what you considered to be the most affordable and if anything they moved was damaged in transit, you got the same remedy. To disparage the entirety of movers based on zero evidence is called prejudice. The outfit the government hired won’t pack any of your stuff unless you or your legal representative is there to monitor the event.
Note: by “member of the family”/“family member” here, I mean “dependent family member.”
