I wanted to update you all on how the move is going so far. Thursday, Hubby got his official orders, so Friday we started the process of scheduling movers. It took up my time most of the day on Friday. I started by tracking down the phone number to the transportation office at the nearest military installation. There is not an Army post anywhere near us, so I had to work with a Navy base a couple hours away.
I couldn’t find the phone number for the office I needed, so I ended up just calling another office and asking if they could transfer me or give me the number I needed. The nice gentleman on the phone gave me several numbers that were possibilities, and I called through each of them until I found the right one. Right office, but no human answering the phone. I tried each extension and then finally just left a message.
Hubby had been told that we could not schedule the movers until we attended a briefing on post/base. So, I was calling to find out when the next briefing was, and if I could attend. A nice lady called me back shortly and told me that they don’t do briefings anymore and instead it is all done online. She told me the website to go to and said I should just watch the video online and follow the instructions.
Easy as pie. Or not.
I found the website, watched the oh-so-helpful video, and attempted to start the application. It doesn’t work. Finally I find something that says it isn’t compatible with my browser (Firefox). It is compatible with IE, but I have to turn off my pop-up blocker. Ok fine, I did that.
Still doesn’t work.
I call tech support and find out that I need to download a fix, install it, and try again.
Now, it works. So I begin filling out the long form with lots and lots of pages. I have to stop and call Hubby (who is on the road driving home) every so often to find out what answer to put on the form.
FINALLY, around 3:00, after going through page after page of this online form, I finish and get the application submitted. But then it says I need to give the office all supporting documents (his orders, and a couple other forms). HOW am I supposed to do that if I’m not actually attending a briefing?
Oh, and by the way, after I finish the whole thing, as I was reading other information online it said that if this was our first time to move our personal property, that I could NOT do the process online, but only in person. Are you kidding me?
I called the nice lady from before to ask her. She says that I AM allowed to use the online version, and they need to update their instructions. WHEW! She also says I can email her the forms she needs.
Ok. So I need to print out the forms, sign them, scan them in and email them back to her. It’s just after 3:00, and I assume they are going to close at 5:00. Better hurry!
I walk into our room to print them, and I remember that our printer is low on ink. I say a quick prayer that the printer has enough ink to finish this job, but God has a sense of humor, so it ran out in the middle of my job. I got Emily up from her quiet rest time and drag her to the store to get some ink. Just as I’m getting back home, the nice lady calls me again and leaves me a message (I didn’t answer the phone because I was trying to get the ink installed) to tell me the office is closing (at 3:30?) but to go ahead and send the email and she’ll get it.
Of course that means I couldn’t hear anything back till Monday…but at least we DID hear back from them on Monday! And she called us before 7:00 AM – no wonder they close at 3:30 if they are busy working so early in the morning!
On Monday, the moving company called to say that someone would be coming on Tuesday to look around our house at all of our stuff so that they would know how many packers to send and how long it would take.
Yesterday (Tuesday) a man came out to do just that. 20 minutes or so later and he was done. We got a call later that day telling us the packers will be here Thursday, & they will come on Friday to load the truck. They originally estimated they would need 2 days for packing, but once they saw our house that changed to one day. We only have a 1500 square foot house, and the 3rd bedroom is only being used to store some of the books, furniture, and toys I’ve taken from other rooms, so I had a feeling they could do it in a day.
Making progress!