Questions about moving and if we do it ourselves!

[kiley91]

My husband will be graduating A school in May, and we currently have all of our stuff already packed and in a storage unit. So if we want to move ourselves what exactly are the steps we need to do. I will be picking him up from Great Lakes when he takes leave after school (because we live 4 hours away) so is there anything he needs to do before I pick him up to arrange that? Do we still get a moving allowance even if we do it ourselves? Also how do we get the DLA that I keep hearing everyone talk about? Does he have to have a hard copy of his orders before he can apply for that? if not, can he apply 3-4 weeks before he graduates school?  and where does he go? 

[EmilyNicole98]

I'm not what the DLA is, but yes he needs a hardcopy of his orders before you can submit your moving application. You have to set up a move on move.mil because they have to approve everything in order for you to get reimbursed. He will only get so much of a weight allowance and if your belongings go over that, you will have to pay the extra. They also do not ship cars so you will have to move them yourself. For a DITY, you pay most of it upfront I believe and then they pay you back. I went through the entire process of setting one up last year, but we never ended up using it so I'm not positive on all the details. Check out the moving site, there's a lot of great information and walkthroughs. Oh, it can take about 6-8 weeks in peak season (summer) for the applications to process so do it as soon as you can. 

[kiley91]

so if we do it ourselves we still have to set up a move through them? We do not have very much stuff at all. But if we do it ourselves do we rent our own moving truck and then the Navy reimburses us? How do I know who to contact to get this info? where is the moving site? is it the moving.mil

[kiley91]

I didn't find anything on moving.mil. like I didn't find the site?

[Anti M]

DLA is Dislocation Allowance.  It is advance travel pay (essentially).  He can put in for it through PSD once he has his hard copy orders.  Many  new sailors have no idea they can and should ask for it.  It is not an advance on his base pay, it is additional money... beginning around $850.  Do NOT skip asking for it.

http://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/allowances/dislocatio...

http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/otherratesDLA.cfm

Moving yourself is not as simple as saving receipts. The Navy goes by miles and weight, so you must weigh your rental truck empty and full.  You can do this at a truckstop cat scale for around $10.  Save that receipt.  

Yes, moving.mil will tell you how (I think you have to have orders to access it).  You can also call the Personal Property Office (PPO) at your husband's base for guidance.  Since you are so close, you may be able to just go in and talk to someone (often more effective than phone calls).

[Jenn_NicksWifey]

I was in the exact situation when my hubby finished A School.  I wrote a blog post about it so other people could see what we did.  It's at My First Navy PCS.  Some of the items may be outdated, since this happened in 2012, but it should give you a general idea of how it all works and familiarize you with the terms and acronyms that will soon be a part of your daily life.  :).  Let me know if you have questions, I'll try to answer.  I'm a big fan of "straight from the horse's mouth", so to speak, so definitely try to get in touch with the PPO and TMO offices at Great Lakes.  

And have your hubby look into RAP duty, I highly recommend it.  It's up to 5 days of leave that he doesn't get charged for because he is helping the recruiter that he enlisted with in their office.  My hubby did it and it worked out great, he was able to spend the same leave time, but only got charged for 5 days instead of 10.  And he was able to talk to the recruits getting ready to ship out and answer their questions about bootcamp and stuff.  

Good LUCK!  

[kiley91]

oh my goodness.....I just read through your blog and am SO overwhelmed!!!! on top of this being our first time doing this, I will have a newborn, Around a week or two old. He should get his orders at the end of May. I have no idea what a PPO or a TMO is. Let me just also mention that trying to get my husband to get any sort of information from anyone is almost impossible. He does not ask questions, and just expects things to happen!!!! I am stressing about this!!! I will def read through the blog more closer to time, but I am still very confused. Do I contact a moving truck of our own? and pay upfront? I seen that you had something about getting a percentage of money. basically I need to know if we have to have it upfront to pay for the move how much I should have?  How in the world do I begin to estimate the weight of our stuff.....and you say to underestimate or overestimate? Oh I just seen PPO is personal property office. Is there any info that I can get before my husband gets a hard copy of his orders. I am a planner, and having no idea whats going on, or what to do is very odd for me. and basically I am 4 hours away from Great Lakes, So going there for things will be difficult as well since when he gets his orders I will be like 38 weeks pregnant. that is if I don't go into labor early from stress!!!!   

[Jenn_NicksWifey]

First step, deep breaths.  I'm a planner too and I have seriously had to let go of that since Nick joined the Navy.  It's all totally out of your control.  Educate yourself on how things "generally" work and have an "idea" of how you'd *like* things to work but be willing to roll with whatever they throw at you.  

You don't HAVE to do the move yourself.  You can have the Navy do it.  That might be an option you want to consider, since you'll have your hands full with not only a new baby but also will be recovering from the birth yourself.  I have no experience in that, other than having seen my neighbors move in and out with a full service moving company.  

Your hubby will have to be very proactive to get anything accomplished.  He will HAVE to ask questions, go to offices and talk to people.  You will not be able to do much without him.  (and later, have him get a POA for you because then you'll be able to do more/most of everything without him).  For now, the most you'll be able to do is what you've already done, which is to pack.  Once you get orders, then the fun begins.  My hubby was the last one to get his orders in his A School class, He was there for about 12 weeks and he got them about a month before he checked out.  He had an opportunity to volunteer to be put on hold for a couple days which gave him time to get to the offices he needed to before he graduated.  His normal school hours were during the normal office hours, so he couldn't go while he was in school.  The day he checked out, I went to pick him up and we went to TMO (Tranportation office, can't remember what the M means) and PPO and got the paperwork dealt with.  I had done most of it on Move.mil, but had some questions before I finalized.  

We got a lump sum for the upfront move costs direct deposited about a week after we finalized everything with PPO.  It wasn't broken down, so I can't tell you how much of what we got when, but after I submitted the reimbursement packet, we got another deposit and the two worked out to pretty close to what I was expecting.  You have to request DLA and the advance when you finalize the move with PPO or move.mil (if there is ANY way you can get to the office, I highly, highly recommend you do it in person, the guy who dealt with us was a retired chief, very kind and thorough in explaining everything and what we needed to do.  Especially stressing the weighing the truck part.)

[kiley91]

I am having him go to the legal office today to see about the POA because we have already had an issue with his check, and obviously he doens't have much time because he is in school all day. so he is going to try and go on his lunch, That way that is done for when we need it, I still think that we will want to do the move ourselves simply bc everything is already in our storage unit packed. and for some reason I feel like it might be easier for us to do it that way. So the day I go pick him up we should go to the TMO and PPO office and do the paperwork. How far in advance can we request the DLA, what is confusing me is the fact that my husband is saying that people are currently getting their orders aren't getting them until graduation day. or even after. and everyone is saying we can't apply for the DLA until he has a hard copy of his orders. So how could we request it in advance? Also, I have heard about getting additional "move" days. Do you know anything about that? he is only guessing that he will get around 7 days of leave. if that,so If we are doing the move ourselves will they give him more time to move? and does he need to contact his new command to get that? we would obviously need someone to drive our vehicle and then a moving truck.  I will just set it up so we can go into the office, do we need an appointment? and when we go there what info do I need to make sure that I have with me? 

[kiley91]

also is DPS the same thing at the PSD? just want to make sure I have the correct place to go for the DLA

[Anti M]

Yeah. "Personnel" has more than one acronym depending on the facility. So as long as the P is something along those lines, it is good.

[kiley91]

I also seen on your blog post about per diem. to save all the reciepts for food and stuff. how do we get that? is that something we get reimbursed for once we get to our new duty station and turn all of them in. How is the per diem different then the DLA

[Anti M]

Per diem and DLA are two different allowances.   DLA is for the moving costs, per diem is for food and lodging.  DLA can be advanced, per diem is a reimbursement.  

MALT is the allowance for driving your vehicle to the new duty station, and is calculated per mile and by number of authorized travelers.

TLE is temporary lodging expense, which is AFTER you get to the duty station, and need a place to stay for up to ten days (per diem is on the road).

He may also ask about advance pay and advance BAh, but do not use those options if possible, it takes a year to pay that back.  

Once he gets to his new duty station, his sponsor or someone at personnel should be able to walk him through his travel claim.  He must do that in order to get some of these reimbursements.

I have a link, but it may not be 100% up to date.

http://www.military.com/spouse/military-relocation/pcs-moves/managi...

As always, things may change, so always ask about current regulations and allowance amounts/rates.