1. Impatience Mode…
Because let’s be real here, the one thing the PCS Move process will never be is fast. Every part of the process takes a lot of time, from waiting for your orders to waiting for your move date, so once PCS season is upon you, you may as well take a seat and “hurry up and wait”.
2. Speed Bucket List Mode
A sudden urge to see and do everything you’ve been meaning to do at your duty station over the last few years while trying to cram spending all the time you can with your friends in between your daily “last trip evers” to all your favorite places.
3. Anxiety Mode
Anxiety over where you’ll get stationed, when you’ll get stationed there, when you’ll find out, starting over, finding a new job…the list goes on.
4. Adventure Mode
Oh the places you’ll go! Although a PCS Move every few years, or even more frequently, comes with its special set of challenges, it also comes with the promise of new discoveries and adventures.
5. Sadness Mode
It’s hard to leave a duty station behind. From your kid’s school to your favorite restaurant to your friends, there are a lot of sad goodbyes to be said every time you get ready to PCS somewhere new.
6. Pull-Your-Hair-Out Packing Mode
If we’re being honest here, the PCS Move process is often quite frustrating and overwhelming. There’s a lot of military jargon, (HHG, PCS, TLE, etc.), and paperwork to sort through and somehow despite how long you may have been waiting to PCS it all of a sudden feels like there’s no way you can get everything done and organized in time. It’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out and hide in the closet clutching a bottle of wine. Or maybe that’s just me?
7. Panic Mode
There are a lot of things to worry about during a PCS Move, from getting everything figured out to hoping your HHG shipment makes it there unharmed, to hoping that the landlord you’ve only spoken to over the phone, if you’re moving off base, isn’t secretly a slumlord and you’re not moving to the Compton of your new duty station.
8. Car Ride Dread Mode
Because as much as we love our families and spouses, 14 plus hours a day in the car with them on a roadtrip across the country to your new duty station is enough to make anyone crave some alone time.
9. Thankfulness for PCS Move Mode
Thankfulness for the opportunity the military lifestyle gives you to explore the country, and sometimes even the world, together with your family.
10. Relief Mode
When your HHG’s arrive, maybe not in one piece but at least in one truck, and the dust settles you can’t help but feel a weight has been lifted off you…for a couple years anyway…
Read here for more PCS Move Tips!