First military move, anything I need to know? I am clueless...

Sarah - posted on 04/03/2010

make sure to get ALL your records from the doc off post you will need all of them.... and make sure you get a relese from him if you are over 28 weeks when you leave the post hospital and tricare will need all of that if you are leaving from one reigion to the next good luck...

Wendy - posted on 04/02/2010

If you're at Fort Meade, you'll most likely deliver at Bethesda Naval Hospital in DC. As for the move, you don't have to do anything but check things off the list as they come into your new home. Kathleen's right about the moves. I've been through moves with the Army and the Marine Corps. It's easy as pie. Your husband will have to do all of the paperwork with TMO (Transportation Management Office) at his command. Most DOD housing these days is civilian managed, so you will probably sign a lease, but with post housing they are really flexible with orders. If you want to look for off post housing I recommend militarybyowner.com.

Veronica - posted on 03/15/2010

I recommend the book SoloOps by Hilary Martin. It is a great book and I still use it for our moves. It actually has information about everything military and is very realistic and humorous. (Not so much how-to as some of the other books out there!) For the moves, it has a bunch of lists, what you should be doing so far out from the move, what to make sure you don't let the movers touch, etc. My first move was overseas on my own and it was sooo helpful! I use it for every move now, just to make sure I get everything done and as easily as possible!! Good luck!

Alyssa - posted on 03/15/2010

They won't pay for any expenses except for the move up there, and the only way they'll give us money back for taking some of our own stuff up there is if we weigh our car empty and then full (on the way up there with all of our stuff packed) and they give us money for the "weight" we took up there. We currently live in florida and are moving to maryland, and with me being pregnant, and already have a two year old, and a dog, and a job it isn't exactly possible for us to go up there and look for houses. I have been looking online and unless he makes e5 it seems the bah an e4 gets wont even pay for the full amount of rent. the cost of living is expensive up there.
we got our orders and we have from july 6th to august 6th to get up there, He will be out to sea until the 3rd week of july, so i am in charge of getting the move process and on post housing set up. unfortunatly it has been that way place we've moved around town. they said to get our stuff we don't want them to take prepacked before they get there, and the moving company needs to come at least a week before we leave so I will be supervising alone as well.
The fort meade base doesn't have an OB on base same as the base here doesn't so tricare won't assign me a doctor, i just have to find an off base one. we are moving 3 weeks before i am due, so it's very stressful.
the wait for on post housing for a 3 bedroom right now is 2-3 weeks, BUT we can't get on the waiting list until 60 days before, so I have until may before we can get on that.

Jennifer - posted on 03/11/2010

a great web site to visit for off post/base housing is ahrn.com. u have to set up a free account since it is strictly for military use but it is a great place to find places for rent. the best way to go is to let the military move you, we did a dity move and fought for weeks to get our out of pocket expenses paid. we eventually got it but we decided to live off post, we were fortunate enough to be stationed only 5 hrs away from where we currently were, so we took 3 weekend trips to look at houses so if ur able to do that i would recommend trying to find something b4 ur hubby's processing in date. of course u can stay at a hotel and depending on the branch of service u may be able to get a refund if ur hubby takes all ur out of pocket reciepts to the travel office. hope this helps some.

Samantha - posted on 03/07/2010

Your hubby should be the one to make all the moving arrangements so don't worry too much about that. And if you chose to do a DITY move then you'd be responsible for packing everything on your own, but I'd go with having the military paying a moving company to come in and move you.

Be sure to WATCH the movers and make sure they pack everything properly. We've gone from NY to NM and our stuff got here fine and dandy. Also I think it took around 3 weeks for our stuff to get from NY to NM.

We had a forced move from one side of the base to the other side and some stuff didn't get to the new house in one piece. Also moved 18 miles from an off base house back to the base and we had a lot of damage. They say you can have the movers unpack everything for you as well, I've never asked them to do that though.

As for housing, if you have a copy of your orders I'd call Ft. Meade housing and ask what you need to do to get on the waiting list. (IF there's a waiting list) Base housing you sign a lease which is usually a year long. Otherwise you can look up apartments off base, Craigslist, and look up local property management places.

I have no info on the Dr. sorry. Except transferring your Tricare area and possibly looking online for a new Dr.

Danielle - posted on 03/06/2010

I have moved 5 times in the last 8 years. I have learned that if you pack things yourself, they will repack it. They will not move any liquids, medicines or candles. Make sure you check everything for damages once you get to Ft Meade. The first couple times it was overwhelming and we just signed the paperwork... Big mistake! Make sure nothing is broken and you have all your things.
Our 4th move was when I was 20 wks pregnant with twins...make sure you book an appt a few days after you get there. The move and the drive may cause you stress and you want to make sure you and the baby are well taken care of. Good Luck!

Alyssa - posted on 02/24/2010

I am a Navy wife, we are being moved to an army base for shore duty. I am tricare Prime, but currently see an off base OB. I will probably see an off base OB there as well. It's just cutting it so close to the due date that if I go into labor early, I will be traveling to a hospital and or doctor that I've never met and haven't formed a relationship with yet. It just adds to the stress of things.
Whitney I'd love to meet up with you when I get up to fort meade. That would be awesome to go up there and have a friend already. Add me on facebook. =) We can keep in touch!
I went to the Piernce on post housing website, but they don't give very much information, and they don't have any pictures of interior or anything.
to be honest with you, the only nice things we have is our tv and laptop. We don't have anything that we'd be heart broken if it broke during the move. It was all 2nd or 3rd or even 4th hand, and thrift store stuff...

Shelby - posted on 02/23/2010

Start here..Always start here.



http://www.militaryonesource.com/default...



Then look here.



http://www.meadepicerne.com/



I'm not sure what branch you are with, but in the marine corps before you move there is a class you take that gives you all the information that you need. We all freak out MUCH more than is needed, and rightfully so, but just calm down, and it all works out in the long run.



Oh and Doctors/Ob's...Are you Prime or Standard?If you are prime you will more than likely be seen at the Medical Center on post if they have one on post, and if there isn't an overflow of A/D patients...If you are Standard call the Tricare North number and they can give you a list of Ob's in the area and you can always call around to give yourself a heads up if that will help ease your mind a little. That number is

1-877-874-2273

Sara - posted on 02/23/2010

Im sorry i have no info for you, simply because im in the same boat!!! my hubby is in tech school right now, he graduates march 18th, we will be stationed in spangdahlem germany. i think it will be easier for you all to move because youre still in the states. One thing you can do is call a a military transportation office near you or the base you will be stationed at and they can give you alot of helpful info, if they cant they will give you numbers of agents that can help. thats what i had to do. but good luck and i wish you the best!!!

Tanya - posted on 02/23/2010

don't worry to much there is a lot to consider in a move but it's not that hard. don't worry about setting out any thing for the movers it's there job to do it they will break down everything that needs to be and put it back together. just keep an eye on them sometime you may have to tell them to do it. make sure that you keep a log of all your high value stuff, and double and triple check your packing list because sometimes your list may be missing things... oh and make sure you account for everything when you get your shipment because you may have things missing or broken if you can take a picture of your stuff as the movers are packing it. It may be useful if they damage your property. They tend to put these so called standard codes on things like that look like a bunch of letters but mean dirty, soiled, marked, stained, scratched, stuff like that. I have moved 4 times now and the last too moves has been the worst with broken furniture, but we just had everything in line to make it easier to file a claim so it wasn't to bad it was just sad that somethings that we had were sentimental to my family are now broken. As for housing your husband can try and call or even go on the post web site and see what the housing is like and what the availability is. I have really not had to much of a problem receiving housing but every base is different.... Good luck to you and your family and hope you enjoy your new duty station..

Kristi - posted on 02/22/2010

My husband is in the Army. I'm not sure which branch your family is a part of. But for us, each time we have moved, the movers came in and basically did everything. The only thing we needed to do was take pictures off walls and take the curtains off the windows. The moving people will take care of EVERYTHING else! The only thing I can tell you is that on our first move, my husband and I had pretty much complete trust in the movers. As it turned out, not everything made it to our destination! The next time we moved, we were a little less trusting. As a result, everything made it to our next home! So, make sure that you keep track of how many boxes you have (a copy of the movers' form will be given to you) and check to see that they are all delivered when your stuff arrives (just look at the form and check each box off). Each box will have a number on it and be listed on the form that you get from the movers. Just make sure the numbers match up and you should be good to go. Oh, and one more thing. ANYTHING THAT IS TRULY VALUABLE AND/OR CANNOT BE REPLACED, TAKE WITH YOU!!! DON'T LET THE MOVERS TAKE IT WITH THEM!!! This will only guarantee that it will not only make it to your destination, but it will also arrive in one piece!

Whitney - posted on 02/22/2010

we're going to ft. meade in may :) is ur hubby army? we're navy...we'll hafta keep in touch LOL military knows one thing and that's moving ppl. u need to have a couple copies of the hubby's orders. he can just go to personal property on base and just schedule it from there. check out "army housing onestop" ( just google that) and then go to ft. meade and it will have everything u need to know. u'll need to get on the waiting list for post. my hubby's an E5 but we only have 1 kid so they wont give us a 3 bedroom on base so we're gonna live out in town. that website will have all the contact info for everything on that base which includes medical stuff. my son will be 2 in august :) well keep in touch!!! and u have more ?s just keep shooting them to me!

Veronica - posted on 02/22/2010

Hello. My husband is a marine and we were stationed in 29 Palms, Ca and moved last March to Virginia Beach. I too was 2 months pregnant. We decided to do a ditty move being we didn't have much, so we thought. But we bought a box trailer and car pooled across the US. At the time of the move, the military was supposed to give us a certain percentage of what it would cost us to do it ourselves, but my husband had just returned from Afghanistan and the timing was off, of course. So we ended up having to fund most of the move out of pocket. Boy was it expensive. But we managed. When we arrived here, we did not have housing set up or for that matter we didn't have any place set up since everyone out here in VB told us we needed to wait until we got here to rent a place. That was excellent advice. The housing off base is expensive or you get what you pay for. When we got here to Fort Story, we stayed in the hotel here on base and began house hunting. It was a nightmare. Of course being pregnant, I was in tears daily and my husband was stressed with the new station and command. We didn't have much time to find a place. Actually, the military stopped our BAH stating we didn't have a physical address, so they didn't have to pay us. I still feel that was false, but I'm over it now. So being we didn't have much money and really no time, we decided to go with base housing. We are fortunate though cause this base is small and most of the housing is only 2 yrs old and were right on the beach. It took about 20- 30 days for us to get in. You are in a lease like contract, but being you're military, they can't make you sign a year lease or anything to have to stay but you sign for responsibilities of the house, etc. Generally they like a 30 day notice if you need to move. Our housing is paid out of our paycheck directly and it works out nice. I wish before we moved that I did have things more organized, but it was hard since my hubby was't home and I wasn't familiar with the area. But in the end we were payed back for our move, hotels, food, gas, etc. Which was a nice sum of money.
As far as tricare, it took me about 30 days to get everything changed over since I had to change regions. I just stuck with a military facility and they got me in pretty quick. I do believe if you are pregnant they do expedite paperwork a little faster and since you will be further along, I would think all will be faster for you.
I hope this helps, and good luck. Remember not to stress, the military will take care of you.

Kathleen - posted on 02/22/2010

Hi! Is your husband army? I'm an army wife so I can tell you my experience with the army and I hope that it helps. I was also expecting when we moved from Fort Jackson SC to Fort Drum NY. I didn't have to take any classes with my husband or anything. He set up everything for the move with transportation on post. The moving company showed up at about 8 in the morning on the day of the move and packed EVERYTHING. The only things that I wanted to take with me was what I packed. I left everything exactly like it was, they even packed all my clothes that were on hangers. They boxed things and kept track of everything they packed (they also mark all the current damages i.e knicks dents rips in any furniture). You put aside anything you don't want the movers to pack and they will leave it alone. Make sure that you mark whatever you want to stay. We personally moved into an off post apartment. It took us a few days to find the apartment so while we did the movers kept all of our belongings in storage. When we wanted our stuff to be returned to us my husband contacted transportation and they gave us a date for our stuff to be unloaded. The movers that moved our stuff into our house didn't actually unpack us but they put all the boxes in the correct rooms and marked everything as we got it back. Make sure that if anything is broken or damaged you take pictures and file a claim so you can get it replaced/fixed. I don't know much about base housing, i've never lived on post. I am pretty sure that you don't have to sign a lease, I would contact housing and ask how it works. When I moved I was about 4 1/2 months pregnant and all I did was go to the onpost clinic (i'm assuming you have tricare like i do) and transfer your care to your current location and they will tell you exactly how to get into a new care facility whether it is on post or off. I think it moves a little bit quicker if you are pregnant, I got right in within a week or two. I hope I helped at least a little bit. Good Luck!!!!