Advice on Army TDY, Part I

Being on temporary duty (TDY) is a great way to make extra money -- provided you know what you're doing. Unfortunately, the best TDY opportunities come at the very start of one's Army career, exactly when people have no idea what's going on.

So in this post I'll go over my experience -- what I did right and what I could have done better -- and then offer some advice. First, let me describe my experience so far.

I joined the Army from Korea in July 2008 as an E-4 officer candidate (MOS 09S). The Army paid for my flight from Korea to Fort Benning, Georgia, where I did basic training. I graduated on September 11 and went directly into Officer Candidate School (OCS), which is also at Fort Benning. It was during this time that my wife and son moved from Korea to stay with my family in Wisconsin.

I received my commission on December 4 and immediately went on leave to spend the holidays with my family in Wisconsin. Having already received orders a few weeks prior, I knew that I'd be going to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for BOLC II; to Fort Eustis, Virginia, for my branch training; and then to Fort Hood, Texas, for my first duty station.

Before all that, though, I spent two weeks doing hometown recruiter (HRAP) with the recruiter's office closest to my parents' place, followed by another two weeks of regular leave. After the New Year holiday, I drove my family to Virginia so that they could stay with friends while I attended BOLC II.

BOLC II lasted seven weeks from January 11 to February 28. After those seven weeks were finished, I drove back to Virginia to pick up my family so they could be with me during BOLC III.

BOLC III started on March 5 and lasted until May 28. Unlike the previous schools, we were not required to stay in barracks and we weren't required to eat in the dining facilities. Instead, the class was set up in nearby off-post hotels and using the dining facilites was optional.

Getting from Virginia to Fort Hood was complicated, so I arranged for my wife and son to visit my parents-in-law in Korea for a month while I got things set up. I had some boxes with family in New Jersey, more boxes in Wisconsin, the stuff we'd brought to Virginia, and a few items that my wife wanted to send from Korea.

I picked up the boxes from New Jersey and sorted through them. I then packed everything I could into the car and mailed the remaining odd boxes to Wisconsin. At the same time, my wife mailed the few stuff in Korea to my parent's house.

I took three days to drive to I had a hitch installed on our car and arranged for a U-Haul rental. Since we didn't have any furniture, the move itself was pretty simple. Having concentrated just about all my possessions in one place for the first time since I was 20, I started the trip down to Texas.

I arrived in Texas late Friday night, June 12, and checked into a hotel for ten days. During that time I in-processed, checked in with my unit (and was given "permissive TDY") and signed up for housing. I also stashed my put the rest in a U-Haul storage unit, then turned in the trailer.

I was lucky that there was an on-post house available at the end of the ten days -- I was able to move in just as the "temporary lodging expense" reimbursement ended. I was also able to move all those boxes from storage.

And with that, I had completed my first "permanent change of station" (PCS).

In the next post, I'll cover what I did right and what I could have done better.