Pcs check in!

[panicked]

It seems like almost all of us are getting ready to move. Where is everyone in the process? Are you doing a DITY or having the military move you? Happy? Sad?

[ohyouknow]

We are moving to Germany in July after 4 years in the D.C. metro area. (I've had three different jobs while here, same with DH.) We haven't done anything to prepare other than look around the house and sigh about all the shit we have.

Germany has been my dream assignment for years and my husband did some manipulating and strategic planning to get us there. We are contemplating DH going first and setting up things, then I follow with our three kids a few weeks later We are both AD and have always PCS'd separately like that in the past, although usually not by choice.

I'm mostly happy to leave - this past summer all my good friends PCS'd and I feel very much left behind. 4 years is a really long time to stay in one place. I also am unhappy at work - I typically make some great female friends at work and this time I'm the only female here. :-( So overall it will be a great move and I'm excited. I'm ready.

[audette]

We're in purgatory. This PCS has become a giant clusterfuck, and I don't know when it will end.


It has me so stressed, I'm online here after 2am...

[panicked]

Jan 8, 2015 12:16:51 GMT -5 audette said:

We're in purgatory. This PCS has become a giant clusterfuck, and I don't know when it will end.


It has me so stressed, I'm online here after 2am...

You're still stuck?! Oh man, I'm sorry Audette.

[audette]

Jan 8, 2015 12:36:19 GMT -5 panicked said:

Jan 8, 2015 12:16:51 GMT -5 audette said:

We're in purgatory. This PCS has become a giant clusterfuck, and I don't know when it will end.


It has me so stressed, I'm online here after 2am...

You're still stuck?! Oh man, I'm sorry Audette.

As far as I know, we are stuck for anywhere from a couple days, to a couple more months from now.  Without any real visibility on where in the whole process we are...

DH has lodging reservations for us thru to the end of the month, and I just placed an online order for yarn.  I don't think we're getting out of here anytime soon.

[pennylane]

We are in unpacking mode- there's kitchen stuff everywhere bc I had them unpack it to get all of the paper out of here. But now there is no flat surface not covered in kitchen items. Oh well. We also discovered that one of the packers labeled practically everything "master bedroom" including all of the holiday decorations. So shuffling all of those boxes around has been fun.

The only thing that I think is damaged so far is my keurig.

audette I am so sorry! The lodge sucked for us for about 2 weeks, I can't imagine being stuck there longer than that!

[NomadicMama]

audette, my thoughts are with you.  While I know you want your yarn, I hope that your recent order has to be forwarded to you.  

It appears that I am trading places with ohyouknow.  We are moving from Germany to NoVA.  Our HHG were packed up the week of Thanksgiving, so we've been living out of suitcases and using loaner furniture.  Fun times.

We found a rental home in the neighborhood I wanted so DS can attend the school I want.  This is huge.  There were only two properties available this weekend.  Two.  One was a dog.  We are renting the other.  

This move is very bittersweet for me.  I have not been back to the States since we left in March 2012.  I am ready to be home.  I am ready for American conveniences, a gala age disposal, Amerian food, to be able to speak and understand the language, Target, drive-thrus and carpet.  


But, I am not ready to leave my son's kindergarten friends, his bestie, our house two minutes from the vineyards, German Riesling, our favorite schnitzel place, German Riesling (I love German Riesling, real German Riesling is nothing like the shit we have in the States), our German friends and neighbors and this incredible experience.  This is the first move that DS (5.5 years old) is aware of, and it's a big one.  Most of his friends speak German.  So, maintaining those friendships will be more work and effort than usual.  And a lot more expensive to visit.

So yah, I'm conflicted.  But, since staying is not an option, I'm getting closer to being ready every day.  I'm ready to start the next chapter of our lives (DH is retiring).  But, we don't leave until the beginning of next month.

[kpol]

Our DEROS is early summer and we should be getting orders or RFO in the next few weeks. Our fingers are crossed that we get our top choice, but even with the by name request we know it's not a guarantee. I'm at the point where I just want to know where we are going already so I can start planning!

Like NomadicMama, I'm excited to get back to the states for things like Target, a regular size oven, counterspace, and CLEAN air! I'll miss the amazing friendships we've created here, the strawberries, and the opportunity that Korea has given us to travel, but I don't think I'll miss too much else. This is one of those places that, if MH stays in, I'm sure we'll see again. It seems like everyone ends up back here!

[G22]

We are set to PCS summer (June), but are still waiting to hear where we're headed. H will be cross training into a new job and should find out any day now what that job will be.

So right now all we know is well be moving. Everything else is up in the air right now.

[G22]

Jan 8, 2015 17:17:13 GMT -5 kpol said:

Our DEROS is early summer and we should be getting orders or RFO in the next few weeks. Our fingers are crossed that we get our top choice, but even with the by name request we know it's not a guarantee. I'm at the point where I just want to know where we are going already so I can start planning!

Sound like we are in a similar position! I can't wait to find out where we're headed so I can plan either!

[NomadicMama]

Jan 8, 2015 16:43:54 GMT -5 Stan said:

NomadicMama how is your son's German? Any thoughts about getting him a tutor so he can keep up with it? H learned Japanese until he was 11 and now it's just gone. He found it easy to pick back up when he lived there, but he's no good with it now sadly. Good luck with the move!

He's fluent, for a five year old.  The house we rented is in the boundaries for a school that has a partial immersion program in his second language.  I am doing all that I can to get him in.  I feel very strongly about supporting DS's second language, for me it's a legacy of DH's deployment.  DS may be one of the few children required to what TV every day, provided it's in German!  I have other ways that I plan to support his language skills.  

I know of other adults who, like your DH, Stan, had second languages as children, but lost the ability.  I want to do all that I can to preserve what DS knows now and provide him the opportunity to learn more.

i have been formulating this plan of mine for two years.  As military spouses, we know that those plans seldom come to fruition.  This one is getting close to realization.  

[amaristella]

Jan 8, 2015 12:16:51 GMT -5 audette said:

We're in purgatory. This PCS has become a giant clusterfuck, and I don't know when it will end.


It has me so stressed, I'm online here after 2am...

As soon as I get A down for nap I'm going to put my amazeballs Microsoft Paint skills to work creating a "Save Mr. and Mrs. Audette" campaign.

[audette]

Jan 8, 2015 15:37:42 GMT -5 NomadicMama said:

We found a rental home in the neighborhood I wanted so DS can attend the school I want.  This is huge.  There were only two properties available this weekend.  Two.  One was a dog.  We are renting the other.  

YAY!!!  This is awesome news!

[audette]

Jan 8, 2015 13:16:07 GMT -5 pennylane said:

We also discovered that one of the packers labeled practically everything "master bedroom" including all of the holiday decorations. So shuffling all of those boxes around has been fun.

I _know_ I shouldn't laugh, but this just sounds so funny.  Maybe I'm slap-happy.  Maybe it's just so typical of PCSing... 

Jan 8, 2015 13:16:07 GMT -5 pennylane said:

The only thing that I think is damaged so far is my keurig.

Oh, boo!  That bites! 

[audette]

Jan 8, 2015 17:41:57 GMT -5 amaristella said:

Jan 8, 2015 12:16:51 GMT -5 audette said:

We're in purgatory. This PCS has become a giant clusterfuck, and I don't know when it will end.


It has me so stressed, I'm online here after 2am...

As soon as I get A down for nap I'm going to put my amazeballs Microsoft Paint skills to work creating a "Save Mr. and Mrs. Audette" campaign.

Aw, shucks... *scrapes toe in dirt*

I think it's mostly the uncertainty. DH has apparently been given 3 or more different dates for when this could all be done, and he's not sure which to believe (nor am I). Frankly, he doesn't really trust anyone to give him correct information, seeing as none of them were capable of telling him about the stop-movement that was in place when he was directly asking them if there was one...

[amaristella]

Ours is not at all a PCS at this point. It's more of a self-funded "Stella cannot be stuck on this island all day every day with her absolutely precious snowflake for 11 months." We did at least find out that we should get to keep our current BAH rate. I got a quote from the company that unloaded our stuff here (we really liked them) and they're cheaper than PODS or Upack to move about 1,000 lbs. of stuff for us.

I thought I had us all sorted out for transport back to the mainland only to discover that the one airline that will take our guinea pigs on a direct flight to where we want to go has a pet embargo for the whole month of February. Well. January is too soon for me to leave. As of March or later I either have to fly my mom out here to help me or try and get someone here to be my helper for a couple days. I keep wanting to call the whole thing off but then I have days like today where little one won't take his nap, or yesterday when he wanted to nurse all day and cried when I gave him table food for dinner and suddenly I cannot stomach the idea of being alone for longer than 7 days.

Option C is have DH badger the detailer to get him his follow on orders as soon as humanly possible and do an advance move based on those, but even those would likely take a minimum of six months from right now to get. More likely, DH says, that we'd have to wait for the next fiscal year and I'm back to losing my mind.

I know that there are units in other branches on this island that deploy for that length of time but at least they have each other for support. Here on shore duty, it's like, coffee talk once a month. Most of the people I know here their kids aren't even the same age as mine. They're either school age or infants so I can hardly even take A to other people's houses.

Okay that's my rant. I need to take a break and try to put A down for nap again. It's time for me to look at flying into other airports and then driving to the new location.

Follow up: It's a Christmas miracle in January. I left him alone in his room for 10 minutes and he put himself down for nap. This is the first time in his whole tiny life he has put himself to sleep without another person to snuggle with and he didn't even cry.

[ilovecandy]

Our movers come Tuesday to pack us. We leave a week later. We are mostly ready. H picked up his clearing papers today.

I am excited about this move. We are buying a house in the new place and got back the inspection and termite report today. So we are getting that sorted out.

[nsl]

NomadicMama, we may need to plan a GTG this summer since it looks extremely likely that we'll be headed to the DC area (on the MD side) in June. It's going to be a bittersweet move if it happens. We've been very happy in El Paso, both of my kids were born here, and I will be ugly crying about leaving my students if we get orders. Still, we've been incredibly fortunate to stay here for almost 9 years, and I am thrilled about the opportunity to live in DC again.

[VillainV]

We just moved here in August...and are moving again in May! Guess we can stop unpacking now...

[panicked]

Jan 8, 2015 21:59:49 GMT -5 VillainV said:

We just moved here in August...and are moving again in May! Guess we can stop unpacking now...

We're in the same boat. Moved in April, will leave before April this year.

[Deleted]

Jan 8, 2015 20:44:56 GMT -5 nsl said:

NomadicMama, we may need to plan a GTG this summer since it looks extremely likely that we'll be headed to the DC area (on the MD side) in June. It's going to be a bittersweet move if it happens. We've been very happy in El Paso, both of my kids were born here, and I will be ugly crying about leaving my students if we get orders. Still, we've been incredibly fortunate to stay here for almost 9 years, and I am thrilled about the opportunity to live in DC again.

Awww, this makes me sad...but happy. I am assuming you are a teacher, and it warms my heart to see that you love your kiddos so much. 

[Deleted]

We were in VA for 10 years. Been here in El Paso for 4...and probably are stuck here since my hubby's unit is deploying some...so BOO! LOL! He has 3 years left in...and I want to head back east. My teenager is heading back to VA (our home state) for College (hoping for GMU) in the fall...so I need to be there. LOL!!

We always do a DITY. Always. We end up making money, but last time we were tired. LOL!! VA to TX was hard.

Next time, I think should be the last time...and we will let the military move us.

[killercupcake]

I want to be in the midst of a PCS!

::cries::

lol

[killercupcake]

Jan 9, 2015 0:09:23 GMT -5 Stan said:

Jan 8, 2015 23:21:02 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

I want to be in the midst of a PCS!

::cries::

lol

You so cray!

I miss it. We would probably be square in the middle of one if he had stayed in, too. 

[killercupcake]

Jan 9, 2015 0:15:06 GMT -5 Stan said:

Jan 9, 2015 0:11:13 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

I miss it. We would probably be square in the middle of one if he had stayed in, too. 

Yeah, because he'd be on recruiting duty! A is a perfect human being. She makes it look easy, plus C is in TX where it is a bit easier. It is the suck! Miserable.

I think he'd actually go DI. We talked about it at length the other day while watching boot camp videos. lol

[amaristella]

Now my kid doesn't want to go to bed for the night. I'll be back later with a flyer.

[amaristella]

[kpol]

Jan 9, 2015 1:32:02 GMT -5 amaristella said:

Great work amaristella !!

[NomadicMama]

nsl, it's a plan!  Our boys are close in age, too, I think.

I understand the difficulty in leaving a home.  I can't imagine being in one location for nine years and having developed such roots, personal and professional.  I'm struggling with leaving after just under three years (which is, by far, the longest we've been in one location).

I'm kind of surprised to see so many of us are in the midst of a PCS.  I know that December is popular because of the school break, but it looks like late January and February moves.

 

[audette]

Bwahahaha! _Awesome_ amaristella!!!