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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Those of you who've PCSed OCONUS
I'm putting together a FAQ for MF, I've never done it. Can you give me any info that you think others would find helpful?
Shipping pets? Cars? HHG?
Ways to entertain your LO on the plane?
Getting a license/passport?
Sibil, Spunky, Smudges, Mel, Hilly....looking at you guys. 
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Re: Those of you who've PCSed OCONUS
Heh. I certainly have had a few (3 in a row). So much of it is country specific that it's hard to come up with a definitive list.
For pets, I'd say, at a minimum, the very first thing someone should do is get the FAVN test done b/c the quarantine time counts down from the date the lab (in Kansas, I believe. I think there's only 1) receives the bloodwork. Of course, that's only necessary for a few places like Japan, Hawaii, and UK. Every pet, though, requires a USDA cert, usually issued within 10 days of travel, so you have to build time into your move schedule for a visit to the vet. Call around to see find one with travel experience. My vet was amazing and worked with me to track down all the info I need for Japan. Plus there was a USDA office in the city. We even had to fax the terminal in Japan to notify them of our dog's arrival.
Also, call every airline for pet rates. They vary widely. I know people can be limited in their travel options, but H was able to plan his exact routing b/c the pet allowed an exemption. He even was able to stay overnight at SFO to decrease the continuous flying time.
I firmly believe everyone should have a tourist passport. Having one allowed me to move to Japan when it took 2 or 3 months to process my no-fee. Plus, you want to be able to travel when overseas! No-fee is processed on base, tourist is your standard procedure. It can be done through the post office.
Actually, an answer on the difference b/c no-fee and tourist is probably really good to have. I just always traveled with both, and not even customs really knew what to do. It's confusing for everyone.
Cars: They'll only pay for 1, at most. I paid OOP to get my 2nd to Hawaii, just calling around for the best price. You save money if you can drive it to the port it ships from, but that wasn't an option for me. We weren't allowed any cars in Japan, which would have been difficult anyway since they're right-hand drive.
HHG, again that varies widely on country. General advice is to downsize before packing. Use the move as an excuse to go through everything and donate or throw out what you don't want. Some locations have restrictions on the weight you can bring. Usually that's for good reason. Overseas tends to universally have smaller homes.
Amazon is your best friend. They won't ship everything, though. Garlic presses are classified with the dangerous/forbidden items like knives. Ask me how I know!
Go to AAA and get an international license. It may not work for every location, but in some places it allows you to rent a car before you get processed through whatever slow schedule the base may have.
I've never been thru an overseas PCS, but hope to have one at some point.
I'd be interested in modification of weight allowances (I've heard this is the case for accompanied to Korea), storage back states-side, entertaining LO's in a hotel room or underfurnished home for an extended stay while waiting on overseas housing/household goods, space-A travel while overseas, restricted items for packing (the packers seem to have codes for if it's a straight house-to-house move or a house to storage to house or a house to container ship to house, and those codes impact what items are restricted).
Plus all the other ones you mention.
I'll see if I can think of anything else.
Don't forget info on EFMP, accompanied vs. unaccompanied, and Command Sponsorship info.
I'm just starting the process now, so I don't have much to add, but I did the no-fee passport today and it was really easy. I made an appointment at the travel office on post and they gave me all the information I needed for them to process my new passport.
I'd be interested in modification of weight allowances (I've heard this is the case for accompanied to Korea),storage back states-side
Both Korea and Japan are restricted. Actually, I think they lifted the restriction for Japan, at least our location, after we arrived. Since that home was the biggest I've ever lived in, I'm glad they lifted it. I don't know where you find out exactly what % you get, though. Doesn't it also depend on rank?
We had 3 movers, one of them being for storage. Schedule this one last! They'll store it until you're at a location that allows 100% of your weight. In our case, that was after 2 moves. That particular system is not online unlike the other stuff for moves, so you can't track its progress, so call early and often to confirm they didn't lose your request. We found out the hard way.
entertaining LO's in a hotel room or underfurnished home for an extended stay while waiting on overseas housing/household goods,
No kids, but we did sponsor a family with kids. There were a certain number of free daycare days, either at an in home or CDC, to help with the move, but it was really for things like the all-day orientation briefings or for house hunting. There's no reason to be stuck in a hotel, though, while waiting. We waited 5 weeks so our hotel was just another small apt to me.
space-A travel while overseas
I really should have H come back and answer b/c he knows all the terms. It's doable, but you need a letter. Your pax terminal should be able to tell you which one. There are a couple different ways to travel space-a, and that affects priority. IIRC you can go cat 4 once a year, otherwise you're 5. If your spouse is deployed, you can get a cat 4 letter covering the entire dates of the deployment.
The success you have depends greatly on location. Our little base in Japan didn't have many flights, also we were there when patriot express wasn't. I was lucky that H had access to the flight schedules, so he could help me plan, but it would have been difficult without that. Hickam, however, has their schedule on facebook.
Restricted items for packing
I know nothing about codes, but I think this is somewhat dependent on the actual movers. The idiots who packed us up in Omaha, who didn't even know what an espresso maker was, packed anything I told them to
This is how I got 2 giant Costco bottles of olive oil shipped overseas. Priorities! Knives I think were technically prohibited in Japan, but it's not like I was going to get rid of my kitchen knives, nor was anyone going to check.
Coming back from Korea, I was surprised to open boxes with the opened contents of the pantry. So, I really don't think they pay attention to restrictions. Don't pack explosives? That's all I can think of.
Cars, however, do have to be almost entirely empty. The degree of emptiness depends on the carrier, though. One of them made us put the car matts, cigarette lighter, and the ashtray, along with everything from the glovebox, into a cardboard box. The other just required that the car not have any boxes or loose stuff.
I feel like I'm writing novels with my anecdotes, but that's kind of the point. There is no one answer. Even for the same country, people will have different experiences.
Also, the base you're leaving will impact it, like different experiences with EFMP. I've gone from having to meet before a panel that had all my medical records to just chatting with a social worker after I tracked down everything on my own.
The information is good! Don't worry about writing too much.
As mentioned, someday I hope to deal with an OCONUS move, so the more I know, the better I'll be prepped. For example - I didn't realize that they did the three separate packs on different days. I knew there were three, but not this detail. It definitely makes sense to have the storage one last.
Storage is basically non-climate controlled, right? I'm assuming something like a large warehouse that keeps the crates out of the rain, but not neccessarily at a normal temperature or humidity...
Can you remember the questions people have asked that led you to want an FAQ?
I'm really lucky with H. He's awesome at tracking down JTFR regs. He's usually the one schooling whoever is supposed to be helping us. I guess that's where rank comes in handy. He's willing to fight, with documentation in hand, if we're being yanked around. And he's really good at tracking down who exactly to contact to get a situation straightened out.
So, because of that, I don't know what it takes to ensure that paperwork is correct for things like command sponsorship. It's just always worked for us, despite some of the stupid hassles I've gone through with EFMP.
However, if you see questions come up that I haven't addressed, I'll have him answer, with proper terminology even
I don't think I've mentioned what field he's in, but he's been flight commander for TMO (along with some other transportation units) before, so he knows his stuff.
I think Sibil pretty much covered it in terms of logistics, but I can add a couple of other things.
1. - Make good use of your sponsor. We didn't do this and I kicked myself for it later. Ask every question that pops into your head, even if you think it's stupid. Keep a notepad in your pocket from the moment you find out you're going OCONUS, through the move, and until you get settled and really feel at home. Use it to write down every question that pops into your head. You will forget if you don't and then you'll never get an answer.
2. - If you're going somewhere that the native language is not English, learn some of the language before you go; at least hello, goodbye, thank you, please, and numbers 1-10. Every base library has Rosetta Stone in tons of languages that you can use for free whenever you want. Knowing and using at least a few words of the native language will go miles in terms of finding friendly and helpful people when you're out and about, and it will make you a better ambassador for the base you're at. Everyone I've met in foreign countries is thrilled when I speak a little of their language, even just a greeting and thank you. It shows that you cared to make the effort.
3. Travel to nearby countries. H and I kept saying that we would travel later after we'd been there a while, and we never did. There are so many things I wish I'd seen while we were in the area. Don't be afraid to do it. Cut back here and there on small luxuries and put that money into a travel fund. There are tons of online resources for tips on traveling cheap.
4. Ask your sponsor if your location is equipped with voltage and outlet converters. We assumed our apartment wouldn't be, so we put all of our electronics into storage. When we arrived and found out that there were converters, we felt pretty silly. It would have been nice to have our kitchen appliances and some other stuff for that time.
I'm sure there's still more. My first few weeks were a blur. I'd never been in Asia, our orders had changed from Guam to Japan fairly last minute, and my brain still hadn't adjusted, and I had almost no experience with the military.
I didn't even recognize rank to know that every 0-6 from the base was there to greet our plane, well, to greet the new commander of the navy thingie (joint base, still don't know navy terms) who was on our plane. I was there, jetlagged, just chatting away with the wing cc's wife about the squatty potties in the airport. I'm sure I made an impression
We just moved to Korea with the Army, so I can you some answers. We were allowed half of our weight for household goods. We moved from Hood, and our "non-temporary" storage items were put in crates and we were told it is not in climate controlled at Hood. The housing office here loans out furniture for your tour.
Asfor entertaining children, you do what you can. You can't use the CDC until you register with CYSS and here you have to have a TB screening test done to register. We watched a lot of TV in lodging! Ditto the sponsor, ours picked us up at the airport and drove my DH around to inprocess. We were even able to borrow cars from the unit. GL, it's been an interesting experience.