When you join the Air Force, do they ship your belongings to your assigned base?

Question

I have heard they will arrange to have up to "x" pounds of your belonings shipped to your station? How does this work? What is excluded?

Answer 1

You do not qualify for movement of household goods until after graduation from tech school. Depending on your rank and if you have dependents (spouse or kids) you will be allowed different weight allowances. When you go to move you will be dealing with the Traffic Management Office (TMO). They have all the info you need as it changes a little from year to year.

You can NOT ship candles, cleaning solvents, lighter fluid, anything that would require a haz-mat certification on the moving truck. They will tell you all about this when you get the briefing. I reccomend you do a "particial DiTY move". Just ask TMO what that is, you can make some money from it.  

Answer 2

Ive been in the air force now for over 4 years and have PCS'D 3 times,the answer is Yes! after you have been through basic and tech school, before you leave the base where you attended tech school will have a briefing with the TMO office and they will explain all your weight limits (it varies for married and single), they will set up your date to have your stuff picked up and when you get to your new base you will call the shipping company and set up your delivery date....and make sure you keep track of serial numbers of electronics and everything that you have boxed up. hope this helps...good luck.  

Answer 3

They don't do it when you join, but after you graduate Basic Training and Tech School and get your permanent duty assignment, you can request to have your household goods shipped to your duty station.  It's been years since I had anything moved by the military so I don't remember the whole process, but you'll get all of that information while you're in Basic Training before you graduate.  

I don't think anything is excluded in what they'll ship.  If there is, it would probably be weapons.  They'll even ship cars depending on where your assignment is.  If you're single, they'll ship up to one amount, can't remember how much, if you're married, they'll ship more than what they will if you're single.    

Answer 4

Yes, they will ship your belongings for you.  If you will live in a dorm, I think the limit is like 500 or 800 lbs, something like that.  If you are married and/or have kids, you can have several thousand pounds.  They will move furniture, motorcycles, anything you need.  When I left for my first base, I had the movers set up a time with my mom to pick up the rest of my stuff from her house in North Carolina.  They packed everything up (it wasn't much) and drive it up to Delaware.  Or you can do a DITY move, which means you move everything yourself, keep the receipts and ger reimbursed.