Military spouse Vanessa Seals, who was 5 months pregnant on the time, was pressured to sleep on an air mattress for greater than three weeks whereas her household waited for the supply of their family items at Hunter Military Airfield, Georgia.
“As you may think about, it’s fairly uncomfortable,” mentioned Seals, mom of three younger kids ages 5, 3 and 14 months, on March 12. Whereas the movers who packed and loaded their family items at Fort Cavazos, Texas, on Feb. 19-20 have been nice, she mentioned, “now the difficulty is ready for our HHG to indicate up — we don’t know when that’s going to be.”
The required supply date was Feb. 28, and their mover, HomeSafe Alliance, advised them they hadn’t discovered a driver to ship their belongings, she mentioned. Ten days later, on March 22, their family items have been lastly delivered.
And that is early within the season. The busiest season for army strikes is mostly mid-Could to mid-September.
With the army transferring season bearing down on service members and their households, the prognosis for pickup and supply of family items is unclear. A lot of it depends upon the quantity of army shipments and the capability of movers to deal with the load.
“The quantity of shipments within the coming peak season in the end depends upon how many individuals the providers are transferring,” mentioned Scott Ross, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command, the Protection Division command in command of the bodily motion of service members’ belongings throughout a everlasting change of station.
Following current experiences of points with army strikes, TRANSCOM officers not plan to completely transition all home shipments into the brand new International Family Items Contract, or GHC, by the April/Could timeframe, as beforehand deliberate. The GHC contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, is dealing with the Seals household’s transfer.
TRANSCOM officers mentioned they’re adjusting their plan, however declined to specify how a lot they’re lowering the variety of strikes that will likely be dealt with by HomeSafe.
The command will function each applications — the legacy system and the GHC in the course of the 2025 peak season, “and maintain business accountable in each,” Ross mentioned. “This twin strategy permits TRANSCOM to leverage capability from each applications whereas additionally permitting HomeSafe the chance to enhance their providers.”
Members of the transferring business reported that greater than 1,000 shipments have been picked up by movers within the legacy system after the shipments have been turned down by HomeSafe when it was unable to schedule movers, in accordance with info supplied March 13 by Movers for America, a coalition of transferring professionals and impartial owner-operators who transfer army households. The coalition has requested members of Congress for a pause within the implementation of the GHC.
The brand new GHC system, which started rolling out in April 2024, goals to repair long-standing issues with missed pickup and supply dates, damaged and misplaced gadgets and points with claims. It consolidates administration underneath a single contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, which is chargeable for overseeing all points of army households’ strikes. TRANSCOM retains oversight of this system and holds HomeSafe accountable.
Beneath the legacy system, TRANSCOM works straight with greater than 900 particular person transferring corporations, making it troublesome for the federal government to trace and resolve points. These issues culminated in the summertime of 2018, when transferring corporations didn’t have the capability to deal with the variety of strikes.
HomeSafe officers have acknowledged there have been some delays in transferring households, associated to the capability of their community of transferring corporations. Some corporations have been reluctant to do enterprise with HomeSafe as a result of its charges are decrease than these underneath the legacy system.
Some households are feeling the consequences of the delays each originally of their transfer and on the finish, when they’re awaiting supply.
An Air Drive lieutenant colonel and his spouse at Ellsworth Air Drive Base, South Dakota, are among the many army households who’ve felt the direct impression. Greater than a month after his transfer was awarded to HomeSafe, the corporate was nonetheless telling him “we’re diligently working to search out you a service supplier,” mentioned the officer, who requested to stay nameless. He was in communication along with his native transportation workplace at Ellsworth the complete time, which he describes as “superior.”
At first of March, about two weeks from his requested transfer date, his transportation workplace on base transferred the transfer again to the legacy system.
The Air Drive and Military have issued notices to their transportation places of work that any service members’ shipments that don’t have any mover assigned with lower than a 21-day lead time earlier than the transfer have to be pulled again into the legacy system.
The legacy system discovered a mover for the officer’s household. A transferring firm drove from Nice Falls, Montana, to their dwelling in Speedy Metropolis. “They’re loading in the present day, so large win there — no because of HomeSafe or GHC,” the officer mentioned on March 18.
(Jenn DeHaan/Military)
Shifting business forecast
HomeSafe Alliance has made “vital progress” in strengthening its community of movers, and is pursuing “each accessible choice for rising our capability” for the subsequent months of army strikes, officers advised Navy Instances.
It’s working with TRANSCOM to resolve points and carefully coordinating on a cautious phase-in of the brand new program “to make sure a clean peak transferring season,” they mentioned.
As for the broader universe of transferring corporations, a few of that are doing enterprise with each HomeSafe and the legacy system, there’s uncertainty.
Typically, transferring corporations are struggling a bit, as a result of enterprise throughout the board has been sluggish in the course of the winter, mentioned Dan Bradley, vp of presidency and army relations for the Worldwide Affiliation of Movers. But when the variety of individuals transferring within the DOD system is much like what it’s been over the previous two years, there shouldn’t be a capability concern, actually not within the legacy system, he mentioned.
However there’s uncertainty. TRANSCOM had beforehand touted its plan to maneuver 100% of all home shipments underneath the GHC by the beginning of this yr’s transferring season, he mentioned. Movers have been not sure how many individuals to rent for the summer time or whether or not to purchase extra vans, as a result of they don’t know the way enterprise will likely be break up between the legacy system and GHC, he mentioned. There’s additionally uncertainty about whether or not TRANSCOM will cut back aggressive price ranges that have an effect on what movers are paid underneath the legacy system. These new price ranges go into impact Could 15.
“Movers are asking, ‘How far do I’m going proper now to organize for the summer time, after I don’t have actual good visibility of the panorama for the summer time?’ ” Bradley mentioned.
All this boils down as to whether there will likely be sufficient movers to maneuver army households this spring ans summer time.
What army households can do
As quickly as service members get orders to make a PCS transfer, they need to go to Navy OneSource, the place they’ll discover a wide range of suggestions and directions, and a hyperlink to begin organising their transfer. At that time, they are going to be put into both the HomeSafe Alliance system or the legacy system. They’ll both deal straight with HomeSafe, or with a transferring firm assigned by the legacy system.
A lot of army households who described their expertise mentioned they’ve had bother speaking with HomeSafe concerning the standing of their cargo.
One soldier mentioned he went by way of the system as quickly as he acquired his orders in October 2024. HomeSafe accomplished his pre-move survey Feb. 7, however as of late March had but to assign a transferring firm to pack and cargo his belongings forward of his Could 10 report date to Fort Irwin, California.
Communication with HomeSafe has been “horrible,” he mentioned. “This will likely be my fifth PCS transfer, and I’ve by no means needed to wait this lengthy to search out out who was transferring my stuff.”
HomeSafe officers mentioned they’ve addressed points with communication to make sure service members get the well timed updates they want. They’ve standardized communication between departments, improved their coaching program, and added extra “proactive communication to prospects all through their strikes.”
When service members are having any kind of drawback — no matter who’s transferring them — they need to contact their native transportation places of work, Ross mentioned.
HomeSafe advises service members to arrange their HomeSafe Join accounts as quickly as attainable after receiving an electronic mail with directions for utilizing the Okta person authentication system and HomeSafe Join.
In addition they advise to:
* Replace the vacation spot handle in HomeSafe Join as quickly as attainable; when the cargo is prepared for supply, it’ll notify the service member.
* Have somebody accessible on the residence — the service member or somebody standing in — from 8 a.m. to five p.m. on all scheduled transferring dates.
* Separate gadgets equivalent to drugs, vital paperwork, uniforms and different important gadgets, in addition to jewellery and different valuables, to hold your self. Place them in a separate, marked a part of the home, or in a locked automotive, in order that they aren’t filled with the family items cargo.
Those that expertise delays ought to contact HomeSafe or their transferring firm to file an inconvenience declare. “When a declare is accepted, we compensate the service member and every of their members of the family on the PCS order for day by day that their transfer is delayed,” HomeSafe officers mentioned.
Whereas the providers’ transportation places of work are being watchful of those HomeSafe shipments, and pulling them again if HomeSafe can’t discover a transferring firm inside 21 days of a transfer, service members needs to be conscious and communicate with their transportation workplace in the event that they haven’t been contacted by an organization.
Cowl your six
No matter who’s transferring you, take photographs and movies of your family items beforehand in order that if one thing is misplaced or broken, you have got proof of their prior situation.
Earlier than disposing of damaged up or broken belongings, examine together with your transferring firm or transportation workplace to see what proof is required for the declare to be substantiated.
One army spouse who simply started the transferring course of in March expressed the hopes of many for the busy transferring season to come back: “I’m attempting to remain constructive with our PCS transfer this yr as adjustments happen throughout the army system,” she wrote.
“As of now we’re skeptical, however hopeful, issues will end up for the higher with our transfer come this summer time.”
Karen has lined army households, high quality of life and client points for Navy Instances for greater than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media protection of army households within the e book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Navy Households.” She beforehand labored for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
