Oh my gosh, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted. I’ve had the best of intentions each day, but this blog just keeps getting neglected amid the daily grind. Once we found out our orders for real, things have sort of crawled, then there was a flurry of activity, and now we’re crawling again a little bit – but that’s just how moving with the military goes. Call it nostalgia, but since this is our last military move, I want to remember it, so I’m here with our PCS updates, timelines, and what’s next…if only for a bit of posterity.

PCS Updates, Timelines, and What’s Next

For those who’ve followed this little corner of the internet for a while, you might remember what the OCONUS PCS process looked like last time we went to South Korea. Well, most of that’s the same, but we’re lucky in that a lot of the things we had to do before our last PCS to Korea are still valid. For example, we have our SOFA passports (these are our official passports that allow us to stay in South Korea on Ryan’s orders for the duration of his assignment). Those are valid through 2026, so we won’t need to update them at all until a year into this assignment.

Now, here’s your fun non-update. We have incredible friends who’ve helped us navigate bureaucracy and arbitrary dates, and we got our EFMP (medical) screening pushed up from 3/28 to last week, and we submitted our packet to Camp Humphreys. However, since Ryan’s original orders had his report date listed as 4/15 – something that we couldn’t swing – we asked to defer. And, in that deferment, his actual assignment was pulled, so our packet was kicked back. We’re still waiting for that to be fixed, but his DEROS is listed, and we move 5/19.

So, What’s Next…

In true military fashion, no PCS can go off without a hitch, so we’re in that “wait” period of the process (again) right now. Once his assignment is back in the system, our EFMP packet will get sent back to South Korea for approval. Once approved, Fort Wainwright will cut “hard orders,” which will have our family listed as “command sponsored dependents,” which basically approves us to go with him on this assignment. Until that happens, we’re dead in the water.

We can’t schedule household goods (movers), we can’t book flights, we can’t schedule appoints for the pets’ health certificates yet, and all we can really focus on is downsizing and prepping. So, while we slowly stew in it and lose our minds, we consistently remind ourselves that this is our final PCS. This is it. This is our last active duty military assignment, and then we get to decide what’s next. That’s a concept that’s so entirely foreign to us, that I don’t even know what to do with it yet.

Two Months and Counting

Ultimately, this move is happening faster than we expected, though we’re not unhappy about that. We’d expected late summer and, instead, we’re getting mid-May, and that’s a good feeling. So, for now, we’re soaking up all the proverbial “lasts” here. We’re enjoying church with friends, basking in the longer days even though it’s still quite chilly, the kids are still swimming, and we’re enjoying time with our great neighbors.

Moving comes with all sorts of emotions, but to say that we’re ready would be an understatement. So, here we are. Less than two months left in Alaska. Wish us luck as we navigate ever-changing PCS updates, timelines and what’s next for the Moores.