Husband leaves for bootcamp on May 16th!

[Michele_Ava]

Hi!

     I'm Very new to all of this but very excited about this new life we're about to have! My husband and I have 2 young kids ages 3 and 1 and after he finishes with bootcamp in July he's supposed to be moving to Monterey Ca to go to school there to become a Linguist. It's a 2 year program so I know we'll be moving with him but they had said he won't be able to help us with the move since he has to go straight out to school. I'm just trying to figure out how I will move a 3 year old and 1 year old from Ohio all the way to California without him! Anyone have any advice on this? Should I fly with the kids and have our car and things shipped?

Any advice is helpful! Thanks so much!

[Jenn_NicksWifey]

I don't think the Navy pays to ship a car within the US.  Here is a link to my blog post about our first move DITY, we did a "Do It Yourself" move.  This is called a PPM, but it used to be called a DITY move.  Also, if you're on his orders to A School, you may have the option of having the Navy send movers to pack and ship your belongings.  I don't have experience in that.    I know he hasn't even left yet, but if you have an idea of the base he'll be assigned for A School, you can use HEAT - Housing Early Application Tool to start the housing process.  We used it when we did our first move and it worked really well for us.  Here is the link:  NAVY - HEAT. 

At least it might give you some info on the moving process.  I have found that knowing is MORE than half the battle, especially since there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" in the military.  You can always have the Navy move you, you don't have to move yourself (assuming you are on his orders).  Then you just have to worry about getting you and the kids there.  I suggest taking your time, researching the distance and planning a good route.  We used 6 days to get to my husband's first duty station and we had a 9 year old, 10 month old and two german shepherds.  It was an experience, lol. 

You'll want to look on here after you get his first letter, which will be a form letter that shows what day he is supposed to graduate.  Look for a group called PIR and the date.  PIR is Pass In Review, which is graduation.  People who join that group will all have recruits with the same graduation date and there will be a few people who have been there before and have some knowledge posting links and answering questions.  I found the group here and on Facebook to be invaluable to me.  Also, on Facebook, your husband can look up a group called "May Shippers" and it should be a bunch of people shipping out to bootcamp this month.  *That totally brought a tear to my eye, I joined that group almost a year ago.  My hubby shipped out May 23 last year.*  Anyway, the groups are really, really helpful in terms of getting info (which is heresay, it's not official) and supporting each other.  I found the group here on NavyForMoms to be the most useful for actual information and the Facebook page was good for socializing. Feel free to add me or message me if you want. 

[Anti M]

The Navy doesn't ship cars, so you will need to plan a drive.  It is possible!

[Michele_Ava]

Thanks so much you've been SO helpful! I'm definitely gonna look into that website too:)

[UrabissWife]

hey girl congrats on all of this. its a totally new/different life :) it will be tough, but hang in there! 
you can try and call the housing in cali, but a lot of places wont help you until your husband has orders but you can try and call and see if there is anything you can do. you can definitely have the navy ship your stuff, but you will have to pay out of pocket to get your car shipped. if you have the navy move you I would suggest driving down and packing your car plum full of necessities. depending on how busy the navy is, it could take up to a month + to get your stuff to cali. that depends on how far away you are and how busy the navy is moving people. I've heard horrible stories about them moving people. my husband and I did a DITTY. I know loading the uhual would have been impossible without him. but I know you can pay for the uhual people to pack up the uhual for you  (just an idea) a uhual towing a car and 2 kids does sound really tough. if you do a DITTY the navy will reimburse you for the coast, if the navy moves you , you don't have to pay. if I was in your situation, I would drive down there and have my stuff shipped. this way you have things and you would save money by not shipping your car. :)

[Anti M]

You can also see if a friend or family member will drive down with you and fly back.  That is often cheaper than shipping the car, and then renting one until your car actually shows up.

[Michele_Ava]

Thanks! As long as our car from 2003 will make it that far that would really be a good idea:)

[Michele_Ava]

Hey!

Thanks for your help im totally pumped on this new life! just a lot of change for sure. Haha

Id totally be down to drive my car except for the fact that it would be with my 3 year old ( who does fairly well in the car) and the 1 year old who doesn't like the car AT ALL. He cries when we go even a half hour and I mean we're in Ohio now so all the way to California would be SO far! That's the only thing I still will really have to figure out asap. My dad suggested I fly down with the kids, sell the car that we have now and buy a new car there but who knows if there would be enough funds for all of that!

In any case thanks so much for you help and I'm sure it'll all come together! ( I hope!)

[UrabissWife]

when my husband went to A school in pensacola, i drove from idaho :P we sold both of our cars and got a new one . it was hard though. moving was hard on us financially. i would start saving now. once he gets to basic his first paycheck wont come until a month after hes been there. That was hard on me . his recruiter told us it would start right away LIES!!! lol 

you can always look online for car before you get there, but be careful. i dont know which area you will be going to, but try and buy stuff from other military families. nothing against cali, but it can be really sketchy.. idk if you have ever been there or not but be careful.

from experience its super hard getting around with no car. i can't imagine how it would be with two kiddos. one great thing about the military life style, is there are so many people who will help you with as much as they can. if you rent a car and you have USAA you get a discount through enterprise . also fleet and family support on base will help you ALOT if they are the nice ones ;)

it will all work out. its going to be a stressful process but itll get easier. and once he gets his orders to his first command he will be able to help you move to his command

[Anti M]

Do research taxes and registration in California, you will not be able to register a car purchased in California in your (much cheaper) home state. (Until you move back)  You can keep the registration on your current car if you drive it down.  We were able to keep our registration from WV when we drive out (with three cats!!!) , but had to switch the motorcycle which had been registered in Japan.  The bike cost us more than the Jeep!  

[Jenn_NicksWifey]

Good point Anti M.We did a liitle research on that when we were looking for a car and found that you have to pay CA taxes, but can fill out a form to waive the registration fee if you are a military family and are legal residents of another state. You'll want to decide about your residency, too. Be proactive in finding the pros and cons and the hows that way you don't "accidentally" change your residency if you don't want to, different states seem to have different rules for changing it. For instance, I read that in FL, you can change your residency to FL just by having a will made there. We chose to keep IL residency because we own a home there and would like to be able to vote in local elections that affect our tax bill and the state tax laws are more favorable. Definitely do research.

[Anti M]

If you didn't have property, then switching to FL would have meant no state income tax.  I was a WV resident for years (via marriage) for that very reason.

California is not a state you want to switch to unless you need to be a resident for tuition purposes.  

[georgiam0323]

Oh my goodness! so i actually am in the same boat as you, My husband Brian is leaving May 16th and going to monterey for CTI as well...I saw this post and couldn't help myself! We have 2 year old boy/ girl twins and we live in Cincinnati OH I'm also trying to figure out this whole new process on getting out there without him :) So im here to chat whenever you like!