housing at 1st duty assignment

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i am going to BOLC next week and ordered to fort bragg june 15th, i was looking into housing.. my recruiter told me not to worry about this until i get to bolc, is this true? he told me that once i check into fort brag i will be put into temporary lodging and will request 10 days of TDY where i can look for housing.. anyone else do this and did it work for them? I think i'd rather have an apt/house set up before then.. he did tell me to fill out the housing form online n shedule to have them pick up my belongings but he said they just store them until i have an address for them to deliver to

Specializes in EMT, ER, Homehealth, OR.

When I PCS'd last year the movers even took things out of boxes in storage and repacked them. Yes, getting pictures etc. is a good idea and do not sign off after the delievery until you have had time to check the condition of all items.

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And I wouldn't call them experts by any sense of the word - which is why we're all telling you to WATCH them like hawks when they're packing your stuff, and I don't care how much griping they do, DON'T let them pack more than one room at a time. It's your move, not theirs, and your stuff, not theirs.

Yes - the movers will pack EVERYTHING. And I do mean EVERYTHING. When I was a kid they once packed and shipped a box of garbage...it went from Hawaii to Florida so you can imagine the smell...we laughed about it about three months later but my dad came unscrewed at the time.

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Yes, I believe they have to pack it otherwise they can't be held responsible. They are experts and will pack accordingly, then you or your represenative will sign off on everything. If something breaks or comes up missing in the move then the move company will be responsible. I remember reading on a previous post, may have been from Corolinapooh, but I am not positive but anyway the post said to take pictures of important things and video tape things that work such as a TV, computer, video game. It seems to all make sense to me. Just still unsure about the whole report time, permissive leave, house search time etc. I know we will learn more at BOLC and be in touch with a sponsor as well.

That was me and I'm flattered you remembered. :)

By the time you get to BOLC your stuff will have been moved already. They will NOT teach you about this sort of stuff. The move and arranging it is completely your responsibility. You all need to get with your recruiters, get the information from the DoD, and start arranging this now. I sound like an alarmist but I did this for too many years (or saw it done) and believe me, it can be a nightmare.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Years of experience as military brats = we know about losing stuff/stuff breaking in transit, right? ;) When we moved from Washington State to Italy in 1982, I lost the footboard from my bed, but somehow ended up with a bathroom scale that was NOT ours. All this, from supposedly sealed containers. Good times! :D

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Years of experience as military brats = we know about losing stuff/stuff breaking in transit, right? ;) When we moved from Washington State to Italy in 1982, I lost the footboard from my bed, but somehow ended up with a bathroom scale that was NOT ours. All this, from supposedly sealed containers. Good times! :D

PRICELESS.

Another fave: my mother had a lockbox with marble eggs in it my dad brought from Italy (men will buy strange things on deployments that they think women will like - my dad had few misses and more hits but some of the misses are legendary, you know?) When we moved from California to Florida, the lock had been pried off and fortunately nothing had been stolen from inside. Now keep in mind this was the 1970s...when my mother went down to file a claim (this was back when you filed a claim with the Feds directly and they're the ones who paid you; now it's the carrier) this enlisted kid behind the counter looks her in the face and says, "Well, you probably pried the lock off yourself to get your stuff out." Or something to that effect.

Mom looked at him - I don't know how she didn't swat him, he came across as very smart-mouthed - and told him, "Why would I do that when I have the key??" She then put the key on the counter and asked again, very calmly, for a claim form.

A petty officer who knew my dad (Dad was a corpsman and knew EVERYBODY) came out of the back and asked the seaman why he was giving the Chief's wife a hard time.

My mom got her claim.

We also had friends who were shipped someone else's stuff. Someone else's house of stuff was tagged with their information and sent to the wrong base. They got their stuff (miracle of miracles) eventually, but I remember loaning them things until their stuff came. Funny thing was, the shipments weren't switched - Family A didn't have our friends' stuff - it was just completely tagged wrong. Their stuff never left the point of origin.

Awesome.

BUT - remember, these stories are garnered from a twenty-five year Navy career - nine times out of ten everything's fine - dont' think that just because we can all quote moving horror stories that your experience will be a nightmare. It happens, but it's RARE, and it's even more rare now than it was.

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Loved the story with the gift from Italy. Men will ocassionally surprise us.

I have some questions about shipping household goods. It's Saturday and i just can't wait

till Monday to call and get some answers from TMO: if i sell my house

before i get orders (comissioned though) and i have a company move my stuff all the way to Eglin area where I"ll be stationed after COT will the feds reimburse me? The feds won't move me without orders

right? How soon after comissioning do i receive orders?

Sorry about the layout of this post, i'm typing on the phone.

Thanks

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I don't know. I know you can hire a company but they won't necessarily reimburse for storage; you may be paying to store your stuff for a month or more out of your own pocket. The danger here is if the Feds change your orders - and it happens; it happened to one person in my COT class - they may not pay to move your stuff a second time if you did it yourself and before orders were cut. So if they change your orders to California, you might be stuck paying to move your stuff all the way across country out of your own pocket.

The Feds can be very funny about moves.

I would definitely talk to TMO on Monday morning.

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Specializes in ED. ICU, PICU, infection prevention, aeromedical e.

I have questions!

I can't call TMO until I get official orders, right? I'm hoping to pack up and clear my house before I leave for COT. I'm going to rent out my house and need it empty and there won't be enough time after COT to get home, ship my stuff, and then drive to Texas. What happens if they cant' ship my home before I need to leave for COT?

I'm not worried about the other end, I'm ok with a sleeping bag on the floor. Carolina, do you think you can research a place to board my mini schnauzer there until I find a place to live? It would be better to take him when I first come. I'll fly to COT, fly home, then drive to Texas.

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I have questions!

I can't call TMO until I get official orders, right? I'm hoping to pack up and clear my house before I leave for COT. I'm going to rent out my house and need it empty and there won't be enough time after COT to get home, ship my stuff, and then drive to Texas. What happens if they cant' ship my home before I need to leave for COT?

I'm not worried about the other end, I'm ok with a sleeping bag on the floor. Carolina, do you think you can research a place to board my mini schnauzer there until I find a place to live? It would be better to take him when I first come. I'll fly to COT, fly home, then drive to Texas.

If you have dependents and request TLF and tell them you have pets, you'll get pet friendly housing. We did - we have three ferrets (!!!) and got TLF with tile floors. It was great! They tried to tell a friend of mine that you need to be waitlisted - this is garbage - we just called and got pet TLF.

It'll work just like it did when you were enlisted - you'll have to have a POA for someone to be responsible for your stuff. It's not that much of a pain, really. You can call TMO at any point, they just can't arrange anything until you have orders. CRAWL on your recruiter if you have to; I had to - they'll use all sorts of excuses to keep from contacting Randolph AFB - just stay on them.

They'll get your stuff moved. TMO is pretty flexible.

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Specializes in ED. ICU, PICU, infection prevention, aeromedical e.

okay, so do you call for TLF (which is what exactly? lol) before you leave for COT?

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, Home Care, Med-Surg,.
okay, so do you call for TLF (which is what exactly? lol) before you leave for COT?

I think it may be Temporary Living Facility?

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It's actually Temporary Lodging Facility - it's an apartment-like place as opposed to the billeting you remember as an enlisted troop. TLF units are controlled by the base lodging facility (old VAQ/VOQ - Visiting Airman's/Officer's Quarters, though each branch has designators for their own enlisted and officer billets). At Lackland it's the Air Force Inns - basically whatever the on-base hotel is.

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