The first step...

If you are not familiar with the Military, what every one else calls a “move,” we call a PCS...Permanent Change of duty Station.  To quote the Princess Bride, “you keep using that word, but I don’t think it means what you think it means.  In the military, “permanent” just means the whole family is going and that’s where you are going to live.  It could a year or three.  It could be longer or it could be cut down to just 9 months.
If the whole family is traveling, then it is a permanent thing.

For ZD, my darling husband, the first step of a PCS is getting an email from the guy who handles his career moves called the Branch Manager.  The Branch Manager send out a message to all the guys at one rank that have up coming moves and says, “Ok guys...you’re moving this summer.  Here’s all the spots that will be open.  Here’s the job titles which don’t mean much so you’ll be doing whatever job they tell you to do.  Give me your top 5 choices.  One of the top three has to be an overseas assignment.  If you’re in the DC area, you can’t put a DC area job on your list.”

We mull over the list for a couple of weeks, checking housing options and homeschool laws before ZD dutifully sends in the requested list.

For us, the list has never amounted to a hill of beans.  His last three assignments we not on his list at all.  So we joke that the list will be the five places that we won’t be sent to.

About a month later, the Branch Manager will email ZD and tell him which job he’ll have next. Well, that’s not really correct.  He tells him where the duty station is and what unit he’ll be assigned to.  Jobs are always at the discretion of the commander.  Those change.

We used to find out information way in advance.  Almost a year out in some cases.  But the last couple have been shorter and this one...well...we are cutting it mighty close.

So once the email is sent, ZD then waits for the Request For Orders (RFO) which states where he’s going, unit, duration of the station, and whether he can bring the family and pets.  RFO’s are usually send out about five months before the date that ZD has to report to his new duty station.

Then he waits until the RFO appears.  And this is when things are most up in the air.  RFO’s can change or be canceled.  This is the time when you know you’re leaving but you really can’t do anything else.  You can ask questions but you really can’t start planning anything with the military moving people.  All you can do is start working on your own household to get ready to move.

When the RFO is received, ZD can then request Orders.  Orders are what give him permission to move himself and his household.  Orders can change too...but it’s a lot less likely.  Orders can also be cancelled...we’ve had that happen once.  But that’s pretty infrequent.
Once you have orders, you can meet with transportation to plan your move of household goods, get passports and legal paperwork, and contact housing on the gaining duty station.  Orders are usually received about 4 months before the report date.  Military moving takes a good bit of coordination.

So where are we?   Yesterday, ZD got his RFO.  Yep...still Germany.  Three year duration.  A family move with pets.  With less than four months total.

Yeah.

There’s a whole lot to do.