No less than nine moving trucks lined our street in base housing this week.
The screech of packing tape being pulled across boxes echoed along the avenue.
Are we there yet?
It is PCS season: time for new friends, new adventure and the bittersweet goodbye that comes with leaving behind those who have supported us through thick and thin.
Join our staff writers as they share more of their best and worst PCS tales over the years. And then, get back to sorting!
Samantha Carroll
Our move from Fort Rucker, Ala. to Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., consisted of seven hours in the car. I traveled with our one-year-old who was grumpy after receiving his baby shots and a 65-pound German shepherd. My husband drove alone in the other car. We had been bickering a bit before we left, due to the general stress of moving.
We got separated early on and didn't know we would lose cell service. I left several minutes after him, made a wrong turn and couldn’t seem to find him. Still, I didn't worry, because I had my map. And, since I was slightly irritated with him, I certainly didn't want him to know I'd made a mistake!
I continued on my merry way for an hour or more and assumed we'd just meet up at our destination. All of a sudden, I saw a silver bullet whiz past me, pull over and flash its lights. It was my husband! While I was driving along, happy because the baby was sleeping and the dog was quiet, thinking I'd show him I could do just fine, he'd been fretting.
We'd purchased new phones the day before and he thought the service problem was our phones. Not being able to reach us, he had stopped at a store, purchased a disposable phone, tried to activate it, but had no service. Frustrated, he threw the phone on the floor, then drove like a bat from you know where, and decided to pull over and wait for us. He had been sitting, waiting for us, saw what he thought was our vehicle and buzzed out in the road to flag us down!
Moving tip: When you pack your car with your clothes and children's toys for immediate needs, remember to pack yourself two plastic wine glasses. My husband and I are big wine fans and we love to toast our first night in our new place. Grab a bottle of wine on the way in and enjoy. Who knows when your good glasses will arrive!
Sarah B. Young
I think my sweet soldier’s favorite Young family PCS story is of our first PCS from Ft. Benning, Ga. to Ft. Huachuca, Ariz. We were due for our final inspection of quarters and this was back when the inspector would lean into the wall to make sure that the caulk perfectly filled the hole. I am now a caulking ninja! All of our belongings that were traveling with us were out in the yard waiting to be loaded on the truck. We loaded the truck and he signed out of post. We were officially homeless.
My sweet soldier called the Ft. Huachuca housing office and they told him on Friday that if we could get there by Monday we would have a house right then. We faxed in our paperwork and we were ready to go.
Early Saturday morning, we got on the road: a soldier fresh from the fight, a newly unemployed mom and a nine-month-old. We were in a big pickup truck that was packed from front to back, towing an SUV that was packed from back to front. We drove 26 hours and stopped for a little bit in Abilene, Texas, for sweet soldier to rest.
As we drove down the highway, I looked as my sweet soldier and said, "You know where you're going, right?" He replied, "No, I just figured when we got close, we would follow the signs." As a "planner" type of person, that sent me into a tailspin! How could he not know where we are going?
Everything ended up being ok, we made it and we got our house Monday morning. But that first move taught me it's ok if everything isn't planned out fully and now that I have 5 moves under my belt, I've become much more relaxed.
My advice for others is don't try to take everything with you. I used to worry about our things but I now allow the movers to take china, movies and even some clothes!
In this PCS season, may the moving gods smile upon you and may only the junk that you don't like get broken!
Strength and Courage … sby
