Each year, tens of millions of people in the US relocate from their place of birth or current residence to another location within the same city, county, state, country or abroad. When her husband’s assignment required they move from Monterey, California, to Fort Meade in Maryland in 2014, she purchased cardboard packaging tubes for her pieces to ensure they’d arrive at her new destination safely. Lt. Col. Alan Brown and his family are among the many that have had to move over and over again for his military career. In the last few years, they've lived in Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New York. “These folks should be focused on their mission, and shouldn’t be forced to deal with cancelled moves, lengthy delays, and scheduling blackouts that cause personal hardships for them and their families. But that didn’t prepare Mayes for what happened in August, when William received a new assignment and her family had to move closer to his base. But Sakrisson did not provide a timeline, and GAO's Farrell says it will be more than a year before the working group begins meetings. We’ve done everything we can at this point, but we are still looking for the items and once we get them, before or after the claim is settled, they will still receive their items when we locate them.” Brzezinski says they have found and delivered one of the two missing vaults, and believe the other one is somewhere on the property. No. Farrell says Defense officials have not acted on many of the policy commendations in the report. His family has lived in this house for three years. According to the country’s military ombudsman for the Department of National Defence, Pierre Daigle, about 16,000 military personnel move in a year. Hurley was on the move often, following her father, who was on active duty in the Army during her childhood. In the background is Lucy, the family's Schnauzer. “Troops and their families frequently have to pack up their lives to move across the country or even the world in the service of our nation,” he told TIME in a statement. ", He continued: "You get folks that really need to go to a new location to expand their skill set and gain new experiences, so the Army really needs them to move somewhere else and try something new.". The Department of Defense knows the stakes are high. Outside of the summer months, about 95% of families report satisfactory moves, Clarke said. Every year, the U.S. military moves hundreds of thousands of service members and their families all across the globe. The deck is a sliver of calm amid the frenzy of packing inside. Fortunately, all moving expenses for current military members and often their dependents are paid for by the military. But his three-year rotation is up and Brown is set to teach English at West Point in New York. Often young and required to move frequently, many military families struggle to maintain a two-income household, find affordable childcare and save for the future. Write to Abby Vesoulis at abby.vesoulis@time.com. “I can’t sell them anymore,” she lamented. Short one year tours and even tour year tours usually only occure if you go to a difficult assignment without a family, or leave your family. Before doing anything else, organize your move on paper. His wife Kristy says that's a streak of consistency compared to the seven moves they've made with the Army since getting married. Lt. Col. Alan Brown stands in his garage, filled with boxes that will be sent to the family's new home in New York. Shelly says that during her move from California to Maryland, there were so many contractors involved that it was hard to find who to hold accountable for their broken goods and furniture. "I haven't used those in a long time. The military doesn't let service members ship certain things, so they reimburse at the other end. All Rights Reserved. The issue stems from the contracted packers and shippers not having the capacity to service the thousands of families that need to move in a relatively short time period, Clarke says. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. For example, Brown pointed to his scuba-diving equipment. Reservists support active duty by being ready and “in reserve” in case active duty troops are stretched thin and more support is needed. The oil paintings ripped and the watercolor ones got wet, making the colors run. The reasons behind each move are much more personal and unique than mere numbers. "When we asked the DOD officials during our review 'When was the last time an evaluation was made of the PCS program,' none of them could recall such an evaluation being done," she said. "Some of the services report it, some don't," said Brenda Farrell, who authored the report. The petition originated as an open letter posted to Facebook by Megan Harless, a stay-at-home mother of three. There is no incentive to shed. Subscribe for just $18. In an email, Maj. Ben Sakrisson, a spokesperson for the Defense Department, wrote that the they're "convening a working group to review and revise, as necessary, the current PCS budgetary reporting requirements.". > View the seven most common mistakes military families make when moving to a new place 500 out of every 100,000. “We owe it to our service members and their families to ensure that the family relocation experience during the Permanent Change of Station is as low stress as possible,” Clarke says. But there are ways to lessen the stress and the transitions of moving. In the background is Lucy, the family's Schnauzer. Four of her children have special needs. Subscribe for just $18. "We came up here for the stability, because before this we'd moved annually and that got quite challenging," she said. 34% of movers relocated to a different county (including same-state and different-state moves). Somewhere in or between Florida and Illinois, Mayes says, the moving company the military contracted to pack and ship the contents of their home lost or damaged $26,000 worth of furniture and prized possessions, including her 6-year-old son’s bed, her great grandmother’s jewelry, her children’s birth announcements and her husband’s golf clubs from his great-great grandfather. There is one thing you can count on as a military family. The mover rate between 2013 and 2014 was 11.5 percent or 35.7 million people age 1 year and over. Lt. Col. Alan Brown stands in his garage, filled with boxes that will be sent to the family's new home in New York. A version of this story also appeared on Alaska Public Radio. For most of human history about .5% of the population died violently (murder or war) every year. So, to prevent emotional attachment, the military invests over $4 billion every year into relocating troops and families. U.S. Transportation Command is considering a number of solutions to minimize the number of Permanent Change of Station transitions that have to take place during peak season. At only 4 years old, my twins are already living in their third city, but their dad has moved more than 10 times throughout his career. And her family isn’t alone. “The situation is that we put the stuff into our storage and we accidentally misplaced two of her vaults out of seven,” he said. The statistic I have heard - though college was a few years ago, it may not be current - is that the average family in America moves once every 7 years. But as an officer with three family members, he hits the most expensive categories for pricey moves. report last year by the Government Accountability Office. But that doesn’t help Mayes, who has waited months to be reunited with her prized possessions. House Hunting Prior to a Move . She says her family has sacrificed too much to have to go through a complicated and disorderly ordeal every time they pack up their family so it can serve the country. The one thing damaged traveling all the way from Alaska, was his snow blower. That's according to a report last year by the Government Accountability Office. When was the last time we went scuba diving?" Military families move an average of once every three years. This is the reality children with parents in the military continue to face each year. Moving companies working with the military must be held to the highest standard of service, transparency and accountability.”. And that's a violation of the Department of Defense's own guidance that it assess how it spends taxpayer dollars. As he was reassigned, his faithful family followed, each time having to build new relationships and adjust to new surroundings. Though their claim was $26,000, she said her family “would be lucky to see $10,000 of that.”. Among the common stresses involved in relocating to a new school are the differences in achievement standards, school protocol, course offerings, extracurricular activities, and academic requirements. Being emotionally attached makes it a lot harder to lose a life on the battlefield. And her family isn’t alone. Next to divorce and death of a relative, experts say that moving is rated as the third highest cause of stress. Since 2001, more than 2 million American children have had a parent deployed at least once. This is your last free article. As a First Class Petty Officer in the Navy, being stationed on a destroyer ship in the middle of an ocean is just part of William Mayes’ job description. Military families move an average of every two to three years, that means approximately 500,000 military children change schools every year. Organizing Your Move. During the season, the satisfaction rate dips to as low as 80%, Clarke said. Other things you can’t really put a price on.”. You have 2 free articles left. Many of Them Don't Go Well. It looked at more than 10 years of data and found that basically the military doesn't keep great records on moving costs. “When you’re asking a family to pick up and move every two years — across the country and around the world — when things get broken and things get lost, it becomes a financial burden on that family,” Harless says. Even so, it is worthwhile to double-check your eligibility, and make sure you utilize moving services that don’t cost more than your military moving allowances will cover. And while losing the paintings was a financial burden, it’s not the worst thing contracted movers have done to her family over the years, Shelly said. You have 3 free articles left. Military families themselves come in many forms, including not only the categories familiar from civilian life—two-parent, single-parent, and so on—but also, unique to the military, dual-service families in which both parents are service members. It took more crates than he'd expected, but they were still under the limit. National Guard members defend the homeland. 62% of movers in 2017 remained in the same county after their move. Military OneSource can help make your move easier with helpful tips, resources and hands-on information. For a military child, it’s possible to have moved 10 times by the time they’re 12, and to change schools 6 to 9 times between kindergarten and high school graduation – it’s just what happens in the military. But instead of rolling the artwork into the tubes, Shelly, who asked that her last name not be used, says the movers folded her masterpieces and put them into boxes. NOV. 16, 2016 —The percentage of Americans moving over a one-year period fell to an all time low in the United States to 11.2 percent in 2016, according to tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media “We recognize that with the exception of a deployment of a service member away from home, this is the second-most stressful time period that most service members and their families will experience.”. Only the Marines move families around a date, which is about Jun every year. It adds up to fewer than 4 percent of the military's personnel budget. When the family relocated from Maryland to Nebraska, the movers lost needles her daughter with spina bifida needs for medication, according to Shelly, who says it took a month and a half for the family to get new ones. Criticism and anecdotes about excesses in the program are common, but there are very legitimate reasons why the military moves people so often. Moreover, military families’ needs change over time as they move through personal "You got to go buy mops, you got to go buy cleaning supplies, you got to go buy ketchup and mustard and all the stuff that we have to leave behind," Brown said. She’s a professional artist who sells watercolor and oil paintings online. Brown asked his wife. You have a limited number of free articles. The Pentagon is also improving its data-reporting on the program. “They don’t have the capacity to fully support our peak of the peak move period with quality movers and with sufficient truckers to prevent some of the problems that occur periodically and that have been exasperated this year.” At the same time, Clarke says, many families want to move during the summer months, so that their kids aren’t disrupted during the school year. Every year, the U.S. military moves hundreds of thousands of service members and their families all across the globe. For military moms, relocating their lives and uprooting their children is simply a way of life. The real reason the military moves so often is emotional detachment. 88; updated March 2017. Active duty service members commit to the military full time often as a career. He is the director of strategic plans, policy and logistics at United States Transportation Command, not the director of strategy, capabilities, policy and logistics. A previous version of this story misstated the title of Rear Admiral Peter Clarke. "The Army could save a bunch of money — if we were all stationed here for four or five years, it would cut down on the rotation," Brown said. In 2014, the Defense Department spent more than $4.3 billion on moving costs, but officials don't know where all that money is going. In that time, we moved (Permanent Change of Station) roughly every 3 years. In military jargon each move — roughly 650,000 of them each year — is called a Permanent Change of Station (PCS). This story is part of a project we're calling "Back at Base," in which NPR — along with public radio stations around the country — is chronicling the lives of America's troops where they live. The family has moved nine times in the four years she served in the Army, lastly as a battalion maintenance officer, and the 13 years her husband has, currently as a logistics officer. Moving can be full of new opportunities and new experiences – each one a little different. For the past several years, the mover rate has remained between 11.5 and 12.5 percent, according to new 2014 statistics released today from the U.S. Census Bureau. And even though the number of moves a year is declining as the military shrinks, the cost of a move is going up. Shur-Way Moving & Cartage’s long distance operations manager, Eric Brzezinski told TIME the company is going through their vaults everyday to locate Mayes’ missing items. The Average Military Family Moves Every Two to Three Years That's three times more frequently than the average civilian family. Military Families. Subscribe for just $18. Most tours with a family are 3 years, one year extensions can happen--moreso on overseas tours. These “citizen soldiers” are generally called to serve after Reservists have been activated. “We do apologize. ... for $220,000 last year. About 40% of them take place in the summer. One of the many challenges that you will be faced with on your journey is a Permanent Change of Station ( PCS). The Army hasn't told Brown the full price tag for how much moving his family across the continent costs. Because the government covers moving costs, there's not really a need to make choices about what stays or goes. “Some of the things we are able to put prices on and hope to get reimbursed for them. Farrell said the spotty data keeps Pentagon officials from seeing what factors are driving PCS moving costs. Assistance is available for every stage of your PCS, whether you’re traveling solo or taking your family with you, so that you can seize the adventure of your move and make it as smooth and seamless as … How you get your stuff from one corner of the country or world to another depends on where you are headed and what kind of move you want to do. 4% of the moving population came from abroad. And the costs include more than freight. Thank you for reading TIME. Most military families move every 2 to 3 years, and some even more frequently. After the move to New York, Brown said everything went smoothly. More than 200 military families displaced by winter storm damage to their base housing; some wonder what’s next Shelly, a mother of five children whose husband is in the Air Force, knows what that’s like. The United States Armed Forces orchestrates between 420,000 and 450,000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves for … More than 900,000 children have experienced the deployment of one or both parents multiple times. #milspouse Click To Tweet That's an average of three times more frequently than non-military families. Postings in Alaska are a year longer than in the lower 48 states because Alaska counts as an overseas rotation — similar to Korea or Germany. A few months before your the move to your next duty station, military members are allowed a permissive TDY (Temporary Duty) for up to 10 days in conjunction with a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move between and within the … And this is what it looks like: boxes, furniture, piles of stuff, everything from the essentials to random clutter. More than 100,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding better. My husband served 30 years in the US Air Force, and we were married for all but the first two years of his service. You have 1 free article left. Teamwork creates emotional attachment. Subscribe for just $18. You can connect with a counselor to schedule an appointment 24/7 over the phone, in person, via secure online live chat or via … Military OneSource offers free, confidential non-medical counseling to discuss adjustment difficulties or ways to manage relocation stress. Here’s a breakdown: 2. Traci Mayes knew there would be times her husband would be away when he joined the military. Standing on his deck earlier this summer, Brown pointed to the edge of a river winding through a subdivision from his back porch in Anchorage, Alaska. © 2021 TIME USA, LLC. In fact, the average child in a military family will move six to nine times during a school career. As a percentage of the worlds population it’s never been lower than now. TIME, therefore, was unable to reach the responsible party for comment. In 2014, the Defense Department spent more than $4.3 billion on … Not always. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Australian Women Force a Reckoning on Sexism, The Military Moves Hundreds of Thousands of Families Each Summer. A move like Brown's — an officer, with a family, in a remote posting — would have cost around $11,000 in 2001 and costs a little less than $16,000 today. Together, that equals $12,120 of yearly income before you even get to pay. That means, every summer, thousands — if not tens of thousands — of Permanent Change of Station moves don’t go as planned for military families. Global conflict and unrest have led to deployment of large numbers of military personnel (active duty, Reserves, National Guard). Well, almost everything. The contractors the military uses are responsible for 100% of the damages incurred, Clarke said, but getting them to pay isn’t always a simple process. “They never treat us families right,” she said. As for how many families move every year, you could get a rough estimate (based on moving every 7 years) as 1/7 of all families with children living at home will move within a given year. Reservists are likely to have civilian jobs outside their Reserve commitments. Updated: October 22, 2018 1:19 PM ET | Originally published: October 19, 2018 4:59 PM EDT, Inside Space Force: Here's What the New Agency Does, Underwater Noise Pollution Is Disrupting Ocean Life—But We Can Fix It. The first four ranks are bringing in $2,904 in BAS each year, plus at least $9,216 in BAH each year. National Guard units operate on a state level. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat and ranking member of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, says military families deserve to have simpler moves. hide caption. “[Moving companies] have a business model that provides capacity to be able to satisfy the needs of America, and as a result, the needs of the Department of Defense for the average number of moves that happen per week, per month, throughout the year,” he says. "But it doesn't work that way. In fact, statistical data show that the average American moves once every 5 years. "Some of the services report it, but they don't report it for all years.". Most movers never even leave their own county, let alone their own state. The United States Armed Forces orchestrates between 420,000 and 450,000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves for military families annually, Rear Admiral Peter Clarke, director of strategic plans, policy and logistics at United States Transportation Command, tells TIME. During peak season, the contractors sometimes have to contract out more help.
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