Moving and storage during Flight School

[Ave8tor]

Currently I am married and I own a lot of furniture and stuff. I wanted to know how anyone else handled the situation about moving your stuff around during flight school up until you entered the fleet. What I was thinking, was to ship everything to Pensacola and stick it in storage there until I get out of TBS. But I was talking to a navy buddy and he said that he moved quite a lot of times during flight school and I don't really want to unpack everything if I am going to be moving a lot.
Also, I take it that most officers (and especially those that are married) will be living off base. If this is the case, is it just like finding an apartment, or are there government houses with basic furnishings?
One more thing, if I choose to keep all of my stuff in storage here in California (which is where I would like to get stationed, preferably Miramar), and I get stationed on the east coast, will the govt. send all of my things to my new duty station from CA or will it have to come out of my pocket? Thanx for putting up with my lengthy questions.

 

[VarmintShooter]

Currently I am married and I own a lot of furniture and stuff.

Me too, so I can probably help some. I am in the Navy and the regs should be the same, but I don't know as much about the Marine training process as I do about the Navy, so perhaps some of the Marines will chime in too.

I wanted to know how anyone else handled the situation about moving your stuff around during flight school up until you entered the fleet. What I was thinking, was to ship everything to Pensacola and stick it in storage there until I get out of TBS.

I am Navy, so I can't help with your needs for TBS, but ...

But I was talking to a navy buddy and he said that he moved quite a lot of times during flight school and I don't really want to unpack everything if I am going to be moving a lot.

True, unless you get helos you'll move a couple of times. As of a year ago, all married guys (short of extrordianary circumstances) went to Primary at Whiting Field so that the Navy/Marine Corps didn't have to PCS you and your family twice. This being said, you should be in Pensacola close to a year, depending on the amount of time you spend waiting to class up at API and Primary.

As far as sticking your stuff in storage in Pensacola, I'm not sure why you would (I may not understand your situation). I don't know if your wife will need your stuff while you are in TBS, but I would guess that she would, right? Once you get to Pensacola you will need to get a place, and it will not normally be furnished (Navy housing is not, I suppose you could pay an arm and a leg for furnished housing out in town, but why?). So when they pack up your stuff and move it to Pensacola, the Navy will store it for free for a length of time (up to a couple of months I think, perhaps longer) while you find a place to live. Beware though, as furniture that goes into Navy storage during the move tends to get broken more regularly.

What your buddy may be referring to is the fact that it is a hassle to unpack your stuff knowing that they are just going to pack it up again shortly. My wife and I use this as an excuse to throw away all of the crap we don't need, and we don't unpack the boxes containing stuff we aren't going to use while we are there. For instance, my wife has some china dinnerware that we haven't unpacked in several moves since we never use it anyway. Everything else we unpack.

Also, I take it that most officers (and especially those that are married) will be living off base. If this is the case, is it just like finding an apartment, or are there government houses with basic furnishings?

It is just like finding an apartment for the most part. You can chose to live in base housing if you wish, but check into it first as the housing on different bases varies widely in terms of quality. Whiting housing wasn't too bad (had friends living there), Corpus housing wasn't up to snuff in our book, but some people don't mind it. You can look up the numbers for each base's housing office on-line and give them a call as far as wait times, etc. Before we moved to P'cola we talked to a real estate agent who helped us find a house we liked (to rent). Most people just look around and find an apartment I think. If you do a search on this site when you are getting ready to move you should find several threads on the various housing options available at each location.

One more thing, if I choose to keep all of my stuff in storage here in California (which is where I would like to get stationed, preferably Miramar), and I get stationed on the east coast, will the govt. send all of my things to my new duty station from CA or will it have to come out of my pocket? Thanx for putting up with my lengthy questions.

Well, again I am not sure why you'd do this. If you keep your stuff in storage in CA, then you'll have to pay out of pocket to store it. You also won't have your stuff for two years or so (TBS, API, Primary, Advanced, FRS). You'll also have to rent furnished apartments. Not trying to get smart with you, just thinking I perhaps don't fully understand your situation.

To answer the question though, yes, the Marines will transfer your stuff out of storage, you just have to set it up that way. You will need to talk to the Personal Property office when you are getting ready to have them go and get it, as there is some additional paperwork to do when picking up from a location tht you are not at. I had this done once from my wife's parents house when I stored some stuff there.


Hope this made some sense, any more questions feel free to ask.

 

[KBayDog]

Varmint was pretty much right on the nose - the services are similar in what you can/cannot move.

We can help you better if you tell us where your wife will be throughout this process.

If she is with you, bring your trash from Cali. Every move in the flight program is PCS (Permanent Change of Station), meaning that the government will fund your moving expenses. Six months in sunny Quantico may sound short, but you will be thankful that you brought your "stuff" with you.

As far as where you will do Primary, that is decided prior to leaving TBS. They (MATSG, the Pensacola bubbas) do a pretty good job of getting you what you want, whether it be Whiting, Corpus, or Vance, but the ultimate deciders are 1. Needs of Service (get used to that phrase), and 2. TBS standing. Basically, the better you do at TBS, the more likely you are to get your Primary preference. Marital status didn't seem to play a role in Primary locations - my class was pretty evenly split between single/married going to each Primary location.

When you PCS, the government will store your property for up to 90 days. You can get 90-day extensions on that, up to 365 days total.

Varmint and I agree on this: Get rid of the crap you don't need! The Corps is a nomadic lifestyle; get used to moving, and get used to packing. If you don't need it, ditch it. Also, like he said, prioritize what you use - if it isn't used frequently (like most of your stuff when you are at TBS), leave it in the box. (I have found that getting one more bedroom than you think you need provides for that extra storage space pretty nicely.)

Finally, if you go with your last option (Cali storage until you wind up wherever), keep in mind that you will pay out-of-pocket for your 3+ years of storage. If you wind up on the East coast, you can have your stuff shipped to you - you rate ONE "Home of Record" move in your career, meaning that they will pick up your goods at your home of record and deliver them to you one time.

My recommendation is to bring your gear with you. Sure, it's a pain in the butt, but it is YOUR stuff, and you should have it with you. Don't pay extra for storage AND a furnished apartment. When you switch bases, if your stuff hasn't arrived yet, you can always get basic furniture from the "lending lockers" on base, until your stuff arrives.

 

[makana]

Very well said, VarmintShooter. Bottom line is, the whole flight school process takes too long (API, Primary, Advanced, FRS, not to mention waiting pools!) to be without your belongings. Before you transfer to Pensacola for API and because you are married, you can arrange to have follow-on orders to ensure you go to Primary at Whiting which will eliminate one move and/or keeping your stuff in storage. Also, as far as keeping your stuff in storage in CA in hopes of being stationed at Miramar, to be blunt: chances are very slim you will get what you want. I'm not trying to be negative, but there are just too many unanswered variables in flight school, such as grades, platform availability when you select, etc. And if you do end up getting Miramar, that will be a long time until you are back there. Take your stuff with you and just remember that the more times it is handled, the more chances there are of it getting broken (i.e. loading, truck to storage, storage, to truck, unloading, etc.). At least during the loading/unloading phase, you can supervise how they are handling your stuff. Good luck.

 

[VarmintShooter]

Oh, a word to the wise ...

If you get Whiting for primary, the Navy (don't know about Marines) writes the orders to API as "in transit". That means that you won't get paid for your move until after you get to Whiting, not Pensacola. We ran up a pretty hefty TLE bill before we showed up to Pensacola only to find out that we wouldn't be reimbursed until several months later at Whiting.

I don't think they do this if you are headed to the other Primary Locations.