During OCS my husband put the following on his preference list for where he'd like to be stationed: Virginia, California, Florida, Washington. After getting re-designated to a different community (sub to SWO(N) ), and waiting around for new orders in student pool, he finally got his orders!
The orders are in all caps, long-winded, confusing, but basically said: San Diego for school, then assigned to a ship in Hawaii !!!!!
We were shocked, but elated and excited! Obviously they don't really take your preference list into account, and there was even another guy waiting for orders who put Hawaii has his first choice, and he ended up getting something not on his list too. After receiving the orders, we packed up the car and drove all the way across the country, from Rhode Island to San Diego.
PCS Moving Process:
- Orders
- Service member reserves hotel and rental car for about 3 weeks. Make sure to do this with plenty of time in advance to ensure getting a room in a hotel on base!
- Navy books the plane flights (and vehicle shipment if necessary) for the service member and dependents (really close to the actual leave time)
- Service member arrives in new duty station and reports to command.
- Service member and/or dependents goes to the Housing Office as soon as possible to get TLA (Travel & Lodging Assistance) set up and to look at housing options.
- Depending on the command and situation, the service member may be able to take up to 10 days off for house hunting leave.
- Find a house on or off base, move in (usually just the spouse does it as the service member is always working!), and settle into your new home for the next couple years!
When you are given orders for Hawaii, you should be really excited because it is one of the best states to get shipped to! Every single military installation has a base on Oahu, including Navy (obviously, Pearl Harbor), Air Force (Hickam AFB), Marine Corps (MCBH), Army (Schofield Brks. plus 5 more), and the Coast Guard, so there is a wide military presence.
Housing:
One of the first things you'll want to do is figure out housing and whether to live in a military housing community or off base. There are pros and cons to each, and it really comes down to what becomes available, the prices, and the commute time. If possible, ask around beforehand from people already in the new station to get tips and insight on where they are living and the best prices. You can start looking online at houses/apartments for rent at AHRN.com (for military folks), Trulia.com, Zillow.com, etc. to get a feel for what is available, the different areas and the prices.
In terms of military housing, you cannot book an appointment with the Housing Office until you physically are on the island and show up at their office - Extremely frustrating I know. Unfortunately that is only the beginning of the immense frustration in working with them. (!!) We had to wait forever just to talk with an employee, and they were so unprofessional and slow it was ridiculous!! ... government work, ugh.
We originally wanted to live in Kailua or Kaneohe (towards the West of Oahu - beautiful beach town area), and we watched the rental sites like a hawk to see what became available. It turns out that most of the options that fit in the BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) were pretty small or in crummy neighborhoods, and had added expenses for utilities and such. In addition, the only good rentals would get taken within hours of being posted, and most of them were edging out of our budget anyway. After seriously looking at the costs, we decided to sign up for base housing. The house we wanted was scheduled to become available 58 days after we arrived. That turned out to be a good thing because they Navy allots up to 60 days of TLA while waiting for base housing, so we were able to max the TLA allotment while still getting base housing so it was a win-win. We would lose the chance to save some of the BAH by living on base, but we would not run the risk of spending more on utilities, the commute would be much shorter, and they would cover basic maintenance and upkeep.
Base housing is allowed ONLY for married service members. Single sailors need to find something off base, and it's best to try and find a roommate to cut costs. I know this kind of stinks as they have to deal with the longer commute and other hassles, but during deployment they can leave the apartment and save their entire BAH, saving thousands each month!
Housing options are assigned based on the married service member's command, rank, and number of dependents. In Hawaii the options ranged from 2-bedroom houses to about 5-bedroom houses. When you get to the housing office, you're put on a waiting list based on when your orders were given. Since Kenny got orders in September, and had the 6-month stay for school in San Diego, we had a 9-month wait time since the orders were given technically, so we were bumped to the top of the list for most everything! That gave us an advantage over other people waiting for housing, but we still had to wait for the housing type we wanted to actually become available (aka for people to move out, and for it to be cleaned out.)
The Housing Office has a binder with a few pictures and floor plans of the options available in various neighborhoods. You can't actually go inside and see the housing style you want until a few days before the move-in date. This is obviously a little unsettling, but you can still drive by or get to know people from your command and see what their house looks like if they invite you. A few days before your move-in date you are allowed to go with a Housing Office Rep to see the property, and if you like it and agree to it, you'll sign the lease.
Warning: The housing office had a few housing communities that were offered below BAH, at "market-rate". They
tried to sell it to us as a "good deal" where we could save money each month, and gave one of these as their first offer. That sounded awesome initially, until we saw where they were located. They were all near the southwest of Oahu, meaning there would be a huge commute stuck in the infamous H1 traffic each day. Losing that precious time with your service member while he's stuck in traffic each day was just not worth it to us. Choosing the "market-rate" housing can be a good option though if your spouse is deployed and no one has to commute though! I met a few spouses who moved there once deployment started just so they could get the market-rate for those months while their sailor was gone and save a portion of BAH.
We ended up choosing the second option that was offered to us, an older home near Kenny's base. We had to wait about 2 more months to actually move in though. At this point we had been in a hotel in Waikiki for about 1 month, so agreeing to wait in the hotel for 2 more months was not easy, but worth it! TLA would cover the hotel costs, basically like BAH but for travel expenses, and TLA is only allowed for 3 months, so we just barely made the cut-off time.
When the move-in date finally came, Kenny was working still (again, what else is new) and was on an under-way for the whole week. I moved in everything by myself. Yes, I checked out of the hotel, drove to the housing office early before traffic, waited to get the keys, signed for the keys with the Power of Attorney form (don't forget that!), unlocked our new home for the first time, and waited for the movers to come. When the movers finally came I rushed to help them get everything situated as quickly as possible, then scrambled to get internet. Our router ended up not working so I had to buy a second router from the NEX (Navy Exchange - the Navy's tax-free department store for service members and dependents) and after more trial and error finally got the internet to work. That week had quite a few late nights of getting things out of boxes and trying to clean and organize, while still working remotely, but I finally got it done. This house is MUCH bigger than our previous [tiny] apartments, so our furniture looked minuscule in the space. After a few weeks of searching for the best prices, we decided to buy a big comfy couch from the NEX furniture store, and we got a tall dining set for a great deal on craigslist. With spending as little as possible, our home came together beautifully, and we love how it turned out.
We originally wanted to live in Kailua or Kaneohe (towards the West of Oahu - beautiful beach town area), and we watched the rental sites like a hawk to see what became available. It turns out that most of the options that fit in the BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) were pretty small or in crummy neighborhoods, and had added expenses for utilities and such. In addition, the only good rentals would get taken within hours of being posted, and most of them were edging out of our budget anyway. After seriously looking at the costs, we decided to sign up for base housing. The house we wanted was scheduled to become available 58 days after we arrived. That turned out to be a good thing because they Navy allots up to 60 days of TLA while waiting for base housing, so we were able to max the TLA allotment while still getting base housing so it was a win-win. We would lose the chance to save some of the BAH by living on base, but we would not run the risk of spending more on utilities, the commute would be much shorter, and they would cover basic maintenance and upkeep. Base housing is allowed ONLY for married service members. Single sailors need to find something off base, and it's best to try and find a roommate to cut costs. I know this kind of stinks as they have to deal with the longer commute and other hassles, but during deployment they can leave the apartment and save their entire BAH, saving thousands each month!
Housing options are assigned based on the married service member's command, rank, and number of dependents. In Hawaii the options ranged from 2-bedroom houses to about 5-bedroom houses. When you get to the housing office, you're put on a waiting list based on when your orders were given. Since Kenny got orders in September, and had the 6-month stay for school in San Diego, we had a 9-month wait time since the orders were given technically, so we were bumped to the top of the list for most everything! That gave us an advantage over other people waiting for housing, but we still had to wait for the housing type we wanted to actually become available (aka for people to move out, and for it to be cleaned out.)
The Housing Office has a binder with a few pictures and floor plans of the options available in various neighborhoods. You can't actually go inside and see the housing style you want until a few days before the move-in date. This is obviously a little unsettling, but you can still drive by or get to know people from your command and see what their house looks like if they invite you. A few days before your move-in date you are allowed to go with a Housing Office Rep to see the property, and if you like it and agree to it, you'll sign the lease.
Warning: The housing office had a few housing communities that were offered below BAH, at "market-rate". They
We ended up choosing the second option that was offered to us, an older home near Kenny's base. We had to wait about 2 more months to actually move in though. At this point we had been in a hotel in Waikiki for about 1 month, so agreeing to wait in the hotel for 2 more months was not easy, but worth it! TLA would cover the hotel costs, basically like BAH but for travel expenses, and TLA is only allowed for 3 months, so we just barely made the cut-off time.
When the move-in date finally came, Kenny was working still (again, what else is new) and was on an under-way for the whole week. I moved in everything by myself. Yes, I checked out of the hotel, drove to the housing office early before traffic, waited to get the keys, signed for the keys with the Power of Attorney form (don't forget that!), unlocked our new home for the first time, and waited for the movers to come. When the movers finally came I rushed to help them get everything situated as quickly as possible, then scrambled to get internet. Our router ended up not working so I had to buy a second router from the NEX (Navy Exchange - the Navy's tax-free department store for service members and dependents) and after more trial and error finally got the internet to work. That week had quite a few late nights of getting things out of boxes and trying to clean and organize, while still working remotely, but I finally got it done. This house is MUCH bigger than our previous [tiny] apartments, so our furniture looked minuscule in the space. After a few weeks of searching for the best prices, we decided to buy a big comfy couch from the NEX furniture store, and we got a tall dining set for a great deal on craigslist. With spending as little as possible, our home came together beautifully, and we love how it turned out.
A few things to know before you arrive:
- Hawaii is SOOOO expensive!! Everything here costs about 2-3 times more than it would on the mainland, so just prepare for that and try not to pass out when you see peanut butter might cost $14. Just shop at the commissary and don't get stuck having to shop other places. Also go to farmer's markets and try to get meals/food there during the time you don't have a home/kitchen. If you can use Amazon prime to get free shipping on quality things that are cheaper to order, like raw cacao powder, protein powder, organic coconut oil, etc. Also look on Craigslist on try to get furniture and other necessities used. Don't be tempted to decorate or fill up your home with expensive furniture.
- Traffic - is Really bad! The H1 runs all the way from the southern East of the island to the West, from Honolulu to all the towns starting with "W". As one person advised Kenny, don't move to a "W" town. Every morning the traffic going into Honolulu is ridiculously slow, and every afternoon the traffic leaving Honolulu and the military installations along the way are mind-numbingly slow. There are also several navy/airforce base gates that go directly to the H1, so all the people leaving from the bases clog it up even more. As a general rule of thumb, try not to travel on the H1 from 6:30-8:30am or from 2:30-6:30pm. The traffic gets that bad, and basically turns into a parking lot inching along. The traffic situation is a big point to consider in where to move, and where to work. Wasting hours of your life every day in that is not ideal. The H3 running through the mountains down from the Kailua to the South normally doesn't have nearly as much traffic. Living up there is a much better option, and makes the commute from Pearl Harbor about 30-40 minutes, but with actually driving the whole time.
- International Auto Logistics (IAL) is probably going to mess up your car shipment. (sad, but true!) We dropped off our car in San Diego on June 17 (hello rental car!), and it was supposed to arrive in Honolulu on July 12. The tracking number which you could see updated on the website. It still said July 12 all the way up to date, but after I called to confirm the pick-up time the person on the phone said "oh, the website doesn't work anymore actually" and they had no idea where my car was or when it would arrive. I had to extend the rental car for weeks more while IAL said "your car isn't in the system now actually - it might be in LA... " - what!!! It finally arrived on August 4, about 2 months later! The pick-up area was packed so be prepared to for an epic DMV-style wait. When you are finally reunited with your car, it is truly a beautiful thing.
- RIMPAC - aka "Rim of the Pacific Exercises" is the world's largest international naval warfare exercise which occurs in Hawaii every other summer. If you're PCSing to Oahu in the summer there's a good chance you'll run into RIMPAC or that your spouse will be deployed during July for it. There will be ships and navies from countries all across the Pacific Rim harbored in Pearl Harbor, making for an even more crowded base and city! Make sure to book your hotel WAY in advance, since almost every hotel will be booked with tourists and visiting sailors. I didn't realize this and tried booking a hotel about 2 months in advance, and every hotel in Oahu practically was booked! Book the hotel room as soon as you get the orders, just in case. Speaking of hotels ...
- Temporary Lodging Assistance (TLA): TLA is normally allowed for 10 days, but can be extended for up to 60 days under special circumstances. Make sure your service member talks to the Housing Office about this if you think you qualify, and sort it out with them. We were given the 60 days because the house they offered us was not available until that time. The 60 day extension is quite uncommon actually, and even if you do qualify the service member has to submit TLA paperwork to the finance person in his command every 10 days. Only certain commercial hotels will accept government TLA rates for service members. Search online and call in advance to make sure the hotel you're looking at will accept TLA rates.
