Please read before commenting on my blog

First of all, I would like to state something that should have been obvious due to the name of my blog:  this was about my PCS to Hawaii.  It is not here to relate my personal experiences, whether they are good or bad, about being stationed in Hawaii.  It was meant to be informative – not a biased account of my daily life in Hawaii, which, quite frankly, is nobody’s business. 

I refuse to provide any personal information about my experience here because I don’t want to influence anyone’s expectations about being stationed in Hawaii based on what things are like for me personally.  If you prefer to post and/or rant about being stationed here, please feel free to create your own blog and do so.  I choose not to, so if you are looking for a personal diary on this page instead of information about PCS’ing here, please feel free to move on and look for another blog to read.

 

PCS – Before and After arrival

We arrived in Honolulu on May 31 and I have a lot to share.  I’m going to start with the flight and finish up with what I’ve learned so far about  temporary lodging allowance (TLA), entitlements and reimbursements.

As I posted in my previous blog, animals traveling between May 15 and September 15 will need to be shipped as cargo.  Because of this, we had to be at Air Cargo 2 1/2 hours before our flight left.  We had a rental car since we shipped our POV out the day before we left.  We had intended to use curbside check in for our luggage, but when we tried, we were told by the Sky Valet that unless we checked our bags at the ticket counter, we would incur extra baggage fees even though we were allowed 4 checked bags each since we were traveling on orders.  I’m going to spare the details of that nightmare because every time I think about it, I get mad.  To make a long story short, we ended up missing our flight.  This led to a major nightmare for my family that I’m hoping others will be able to avoid.  If you PCS to Hawaii, save yourself the potential nightmare my family endured and go straight to the ticket counter to check your luggage and get your boarding passes.  If you are traveling with children, and one is young enough to be put in a stroller, use it and check it at the gate so you can use the special assistance security line since traveling with a child is only considered “special assistance” if he or she is traveling in a stroller.

If you plan to clear your pets for direct airport release, send your paperwork to the Quarantine facility at least 30 days prior to your expected arrival date.  This will give them time to process your paperwork and get back to you if they require further documentation from you prior to your arrival.  The Health Certificate has to be issued within 10 days of your arrival, and it may be necessary to book your appointment well in advance since there is a LOT of information the vet will need in order to prepare it.  Check the post/base vets because some will issue the Health Certificate for a small fee or free of charge if you are traveling on orders.  Request 2 originals and make a copy for your files.  The original will be sent with your pet, but it’s always a good idea to have at least one extra copy of everything in case something gets lost.

If you are traveling with a pet, plan for “oh shit” in case there is a delay or cancellation.  If you are clearing your pets for direct airport release, try to find someone in your gaining unit who will volunteer to pick up your pets from the Quarantine facility if something happens and you will arrive after the facility closes.  If your airline tells you that your pet will be picked up at Air Cargo in Honolulu, this is a LIE.  Once animals arrive at the Quarantine facility, they will NOT be released to anyone who is not listed as being authorized to pick them up.  On a side note, the airlines require a original Health Certificate to clear your pets for travel, and it will be with the shipping paperwork, so if you are delayed, your pets will still be cleared for direct airport release.  If you don’t have a back up plan, expect to pay the difference in fees between direct airport release and the 5 day or less program.  The current fees are $165 for direct airport release and $224 for 5 day or less, so if your pets have to overnight in Quarantine, you will have to pay the difference before you can pick them up. 

The following is what I know for the Army, so I can’t speak for the other branches.  I’m not sure how helpful this will be, but hopefully I will still give information that will be helpful.

There is a Liaison at the airport you will have to check in with when you arrive.  Your sponsor will have to present his or her orders and DA-31 since he or she will be “signing in” from travel/leave with the Liaison.  In-processing on Schofield, where we are stationed, is Monday through Friday and it is a set schedule, so in-processing will start the first Monday after your arrival in Hawaii. 

The TLA approved hotel we are staying at is very familiar with the whole process.  Upon our arrival, they faxed our paperwork (orders/DA-31) to the Inn at Schofield to request a Certificate of Non-Availability (CNA) for our stay since they do not accept pets.  Our hotel also holds mandatory TLA briefings once a week.  If you plan to get post/base housing, it is a good idea to go by the Housing office to get on the wait list since it can take 30 to 60 days for housing to become available.  There is a different Housing office you have to check in with in order to start the TLA process, so check with your sponsor or someone in your gaining unit about where to go.  This has to be done within 5 DAYS of arrival, so this should be very high on your priority list of things to do once you arrive. 

One of the first stops during in-processing is Finance.  If you are traveling with pets, take your receipts for your quarantine fees since you will be reimbursed for it and do not expect it to show up any sooner than 10 BUSINESS DAYS after it’s been submitted to the Finance office.  If it shows up sooner, consider yourself very lucky.  Your hotel for shipping your POV is not reimbursable unless the hotel you are staying at is within 50 miles of your losing or gaining duty station. 

If you are staying at your hotel on a Promissory Note (translation: you receive your TLA, you pay the hotel), every 10 days you will have to get paperwork from the front desk at the hotel, a CNA from the post/base hotel and submit your TLA paperwork for processing.  If you have accepted housing, you will also have to get a memo stating your anticipated move-in date to go with this.  If housing is not available, I’m pretty sure there is a memo for that too, so make sure you have what you need before you submit your paperwork.  I believe TLA is funded on paydays, so you will be funded depending on when your file your TLA paperwork.  Since our first TLA paperwork was filed after June 7 and our next one was filed on June 19, we are SUPPOSED to get our TLA on 1 July payday.  You and your family will also get per diem and as of now, we don’t know if it will be funded separately or together with our TLA reimbursements.

You and your family will receive per diem while staying in a hotel and until you move into housing.  If you want to get an idea of what per diem you can expect, use the per diem table provided by the DoD and subtract TLA from the maximum per diem received by your sponsor, then divide it by the percentages you are entitled to for each dependent.  The percentage of entitlement depends on whether you are a spouse or a child and a child’s per diem rate depends on age.  (example:  Maximum per diem – TLA = meal entitlements.  Meal entitlements / percentage entitlement for dependent = per diem amount owed per day).  Once you figure out how much per diem you are entitled to, multiply that by 10 and this is what you will receive every 10 days while you are staying in a hotel. 

Do not count on your pay being correct on your first paycheck after you arrive in Hawaii no matter when you arrive and start in-processing.  If it’s right, count your blessings and consider yourself very fortunate.  If it’s not right, you will get “back pay” so it’s better to plan on not getting it than expecting to get what you are supposed to.  If you stay in a hotel, you will be limited to what can be kept in the mini-fridge, canned goods and other non-perishable food items, so you will probably be eating out a lot, so expect to pay a minimum of $10 per person per meal every time you have to eat out.

If your POV is here or you are renting a car, expect to pay a minimum of $1 per gallon more for gas than you are currently paying on the mainland if you buy your gas on base/post.  If you go anywhere, you will have to pay to park and the rates vary depending on where you are.  If you go to Waikiki and are not opposed to walking, park at the Hale Koa parking garage since they will give a Military discount (if you do this, make sure to get your parking ticket validated at the front desk).  There are a few meters around, but parking at one is more a matter of luck than availability since they are few and far between. 

That’s all for now.  I’m sure I will have more to post at some point.

Countdown to Hawaii: t-minus 7 weeks

It’s been a while since I’ve had anything to post, and now that we are leaving in less than 8 weeks, I have more information to pass on.  All I can say is I really feel sorry for anyone who will have to PCS to Hawaii – I wouldn’t wish what I’ve been dealing with on anyone.  I have a lot of information to post, so I’m going to try and lay it out as organized as possible.

PAPERWORK AND VALUABLES:

Anyone who moves with the Military knows it’s never a good idea to allow the movers to handle anything you don’t want to lose or anything of monetary or sentimental value.  This includes any records you have like birth certificates, marriage license, immunization/school records for your children, pet records, etc.  If you have photo albums, it’s recommended you put them in a travel-safe container, tape it securely shut, and take them with you on the flight as a part of your checked baggage.  One good thing about traveling on orders is you will be allowed more than one free checked bag, so take advantage of this if you need to.  How many bags you will be allowed to check free of charge will depend on your carrier.

A portable filing system is an excellent way carry your paperwork.  I have a 15 slot poly file envelope for our family documents, pet records, hotel/car confirmations and miscellaneous information we may or may not need en route.  My husband has one for documents he will need while traveling on orders and for out/in processing.  Both you and your spouse should have copies of the current orders.  I have one copy in my file and my husband has about 20 in his because we will have to distribute copies to various entities along the way.  Any copies you don’t use en route can be shredded and/or recycled once you finally arrive in Hawaii and won’t need them anymore.

SHIPPING YOUR STUFF:

If you are traveling with dependents, it would be a good idea to get your spouse a Power of Attorney to send/receive household goods (HHG/UB) and your car (POV) just in case you will not be available to receive them when they arrive.  The Military will pay for a hotel in the city you will be shipping your POV from if you are allowed to take one with you.  Where you will ship your POV from and fly out of will depend on your geographical location and you will be told which airport and shipping facilities you have to choose from.  Some locations are by appointment and others will tell you it’s first-come, first-serve.  The shipping company will have a website that you will have to check for their specific requirements and what you will need to do to prepare your POV for shipping.

You will be entitled to 2 shipments of your stuff – Household Goods (HHG) and Unaccompanied Baggage (UB).  The HHG shipment will be the bulk of your stuff and UB is a smaller shipment that will go by an expedited shipping method.  Both should be scheduled at least 2 weeks in advance so you have a good chance of getting your requested move/pack dates.  There are weight limits for both shipments, so check them very thoroughly to make sure that you don’t incur “excess baggage” costs that you will be responsible for paying.

PETS:

Make sure the Travel office that is booking your flight knows you are traveling with pets because they need to know this before they book your flight.  This is because the Quarantine facility at the Honolulu airport has set hours of operation for processing incoming pets for direct airport release and if you arrive too late, your pets will have to stay at the Quarantine facility overnight.  The Military will not pay for shipping your pets, so plan to have at least $250 per pet saved up to cover the cost.  Once you know what airline you are flying on, check their pet travel and regulations for any information you will need in order to reserve space for your pet.  Read the requirements and restrictions for your airline VERY CAREFULLY.  We are flying on Delta and they have a pet Embargo that prohibits animals traveling as checked baggage between May 15 and September 15 and pets traveling between these dates must be sent as CARGO.  You will NOT be able to take your pets as carry-on luggage because they will have to be processed through the Quarantine facility in Honolulu prior to being released to you.  If you are unfortunate enough to fall under a pet embargo, you cannot reserve space for your pet until 14 days prior to your departure and you will have to PRAY that your pet will be sent on the same flight as you are on.  You will also have to deliver your pet to Air Cargo, so you will have to plan on going there to deliver your pets for their flight.  Check with your carrier to find out how much in advance you will have to drop off your pet.  Most facilities are open 24 hours, but they will NOT keep your pet overnight.  Delta requires our pets to be at Air Cargo 2 1/2 hours prior to their departure, so if we get lucky and our pets travel on the same flight as us, we can drop our pets off and head straight to the airport to check in for our flight.

Any pet that is moving to Hawaii will need to be MICROCHIPPED.  This is extremely important because (1) Hawaii requires all animals have one and (2) this is how you will check if the results of the OIE-FAVN test have been received in Hawaii if you want to do direct airport release of your pets.  The microchip has to be implanted BEFORE the rabies shot or it will seriously screw things up.   Make sure you get the OIE-FAVN test done more than 120 days prior to your anticipated arrival date in Hawaii because the day your pets will be permitted to actually enter Hawaii will be exactly 120 days AFTER the sample is taken and received by the lab.  If your pet is arriving prior to 120 days after the sample is taken and received by the lab, they will be quarantined until the 120 day requirement is met.  For example:  our samples were taken on 21 December 2011, received by the DoD testing facility on 22 December 2011 and our cats are cleared to enter Hawaii on or after 20 April 2012.  If we were arriving in Hawaii anytime prior to 20 April 2012, our cats would be quarantined until on or after 20 April 2012.  If you are using a Military vet facility, don’t count on them notifying you of a passing result.  Call the vet at least once a month until they tell you the results have been received and sent to Hawaii and ask for a copy of the test results for your records.  Hawaii keeps a database online that can be searched by your pet’s Microchip number to verify that Hawaii has received the OIE-FAVN results, what the test results are, whether they “passed” or “failed” their requirements and the date your pet can be released into Hawaii.  Instructions for locating your pet on the database can be found at http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/info under OIE-FAVN TEST RESULTS.

A Health Certificate is required for both the State of Hawaii and the airline to accept your pet.  The Health Certificate has to be done WITHIN 10 DAYS of your flight and/or arrival in Hawaii.  Once you get the Health Certificate, there is a form AQS-278 that needs to be filled out, NOTARIZED and sent to Hawaii along with the Health Certificate, one current and one previous rabies certificate and the fee that is required for processing.  It is highly recommended you send your paperwork to Hawaii by a traceable means (FedEx, UPS, USPS Priority Mail, USPS Express Mail, USPS Certified Mail with a return receipt).  If you choose to send it Certified Snail Mail, there is a chance your paperwork will not arrive in Hawaii before you and your pet arrive, so I would recommend sending it either overnight or 2-3 day guaranteed delivery.

It is not recommended that your pets be sedated.  If your pet gets stressed while traveling in a carrier, here are some tips that I found to encourage them to see getting into their carrier and being shut inside as a positive experience.  We started doing this about 2 months before we are due to fly out since our cats will have to travel in their carriers while we are on leave and en route to Hawaii.  First, leave the carrier on the floor with the door open and put treats inside for them as a reward for going inside on their own.  We did this for about 2 weeks.  Once they reach a point where they aren’t hesitating to go inside, we exchanged the treats for soft cat food.  When we started this, we gave them 1/4 can of soft cat food.  We closed, but didn’t lock the door so they could get out after they eat.  About 2 weeks before our car travel will start, we will give them dry cat food instead of soft cat food until we are ready to leave.  The purpose of this is to make going inside and staying in a travel crate a positive experience in the hopes it will reduce the stress they will experience while being in a crate for 15+ hours while they are en route to Hawaii.  The carrier will have to be lined with some type of absorbent material prior to shipping them to Hawaii in case of an accident (news paper, house training pads, towels, etc.).  We are planning to use receiving blankets and sleeping with them in order to cover them with our scent in the hopes it will give our cats some comfort.  I am also planning to make satchels of lavender flowers to put inside with them.

ENTITLEMENTS:

Traveling by plane and traveling by car during a PCS are two entirely different things.  The only entitlement for PCS to Hawaii is Dislocation Allowance (DLA) and reimbursement of hotel costs when you ship your POV.

You are entitled to up to 60 days of Temporary Lodging Allowance (TLA) while you are waiting for post housing or trying to find a place to live.  In order to get your TLA, you MUST meet with a Liaison at Honolulu Airport and sign in.  Follow your Liaison’s instructions very carefully or you could end up paying for your hotel while you look for housing.

You will have to meet with the Housing Service Office (HSO) within 5 DAYS of signing into your installation for a briefing.  If you plan to take permissive TDY, your hotel costs will NOT be reimbursed under TLA unless you sign in with your Liaison and you take permissive TDY AFTER you have completed in-processing.

You will NOT be paid a per diem or mileage.

You will NOT be reimbursed for a rental car while your POV is in transit whether it is before or after you arrive in Hawaii.  Your POV will be shipped to Hawaii over land and by boat, and the shipping company will not be able to provide you with an exact date that your POV will arrive in Hawaii because there are way too many variables.  It can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 60 days to receive your car in Hawaii, so if you plan to rent a car while your POV is in transit, make sure you have the money to pay for it.

MISCELLANEOUS RANDOM INFORMATION:

Check your flight itinerary very carefully for any errors.  In my case, my first name was misspelled, so we had to call the Travel office in order to correct this.  Since the name on your flight reservation has to match both your ID and the orders, this could potentially cause a huge problem if it’s not fixed ahead of time.

Once you have your flights booked, you may want to apply for a PO box at a post office close to your Installation to receive your mail while you are in transit and/or waiting on housing.  Check usps.com for a post office near your Installation.  If you have to wait-list for a PO box, plan accordingly by asking the Post Office to hold your mail when you vacate your current residence or by asking a family member to receive your mail and forward it to you once you have an address in Hawaii.  If you are anticipating any refunds for deposits you have paid at your current residence, (for leasing an apartment, utility deposits, refunds owed to you by the cable company, etc.), the safest thing to do would be to provide an address for a family member to receive your refunds and asking your family member to forward them to you once you arrive in Hawaii.

When booking a hotel en route to the shipping facility for your POV and flight to Hawaii, don’t get set into using the Military/Government rate because sometimes this can cost more than a special the hotel may be running.  You will be reimbursed for the hotel when you ship your POV and fly out, but keep in mind you will have to submit receipts for reimbursement and this cannot be done until AFTER you start in-processing into your Installation.  You will not get ANY reimbursements you are entitled to for 7-10 days AFTER meeting with Finance during in-processing.

Rental car companies will likely “hold” a deposit on your credit card at the time of rental.  Typically it is a percentage or set amount, which ever is GREATER.  Read the terms of your car rental reservation very carefully because the information pertaining to a deposit requirement will be on it.  If you plan to rent a car at any time during your travels, plan to have the amount to cover any deposits they will hold because it will take 3-5 business for the credit to become available to you AFTER you turn in your rental car.  For example: our car rental in Hawaii is about $130 for a week and because we do not have a round trip ticket, the car rental company will “hold” $350 on our credit card until it’s turned in, then “release” the difference, which will take 3-5 business days to process. Since we have to rent a car the day before we fly out in order to deliver our cats to Air Cargo, we are planning for $350 to be tied up for the car we will return the day we fly out and $350 to be tied up when we rent the car once we arrive in Hawaii.

I probably won’t post any more information until after we arrive in Hawaii, then a new nightmare will begin and I’m sure I will have a lot to share.

Bad News: We’re leaving Ft. Campbell. Good News: We’re going to Hawaii

This is how my husband told me that we were going to be PCS’ing this year.  PCS is an acronym used by the Military for “Permanent Change of Station” and is a short way of saying “we got orders to move to a different post/state/country”.  As of now, we are due to report to Hawaii on 10 June, and since I am dealing with a major amount of frustration in trying to find information I am looking for regarding the “big move to the big island”, I decided to write down what I am learning as my journey progresses.  Hopefully, somewhere in Cyberspace someone will find what I’ve learned useful and be spared some of the stress I’ve dealt with so far.

This post concerns taking a pet to Hawaii because this is all I’ve dealt with so far.

Being the research junkie that I am, I started looking at information about moving to Hawaii and I seriously gave myself a splitting headache due to stress within about 30 minutes of my search.  I decided to start with what we would need to do in order to get our cats prepared for the move and I found some information on the Hawaii rabies quarantine laws.  Since Hawaii is 100% rabies free, they have strict guidelines when bringing an animal to Hawaii.  If you are going to be moving to Hawaii and taking pets with you, the link for the brochure can be found at  http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/aqsbrochure.pdf

If you are in the Military and a PCS to Hawaii could possibly be in your future, I want to give you some tidbits of information that I have learned along the way so far concerning pets:

(1) Shot records from any of your vets (if you are using a Civilian vet who hand writes the slips for vaccines) need to be done in ink that is any color other than BLACK and if you get an original and a carbon copy of the shot records, guard the carbon copy of your shot records with your life (don’t do what I did when I found mine being carried around the house by my son and shove them in the back pocket of your jeans only to realize where they are when they come out of the dryer with said jeans and are completely ruined).  Yes, I am serious.  I realize that this is contradictory to the “everything must be done in black ink” thing that we are all familiar with when dealing with paperwork with the Military, but this is very important.  I had my cats vaccinated in Michigan last year and the vet used black ink on the handwritten shot certificates he gave me.  When we took our cats to the vet on post, the only copy of the shot records from Michigan I could find at the time were the originals in black ink (the carbon copies being mysteriously misplaced in the back pocket of my jeans at the time).  The post vet told me that Hawaii won’t accept the original copy of my rabies certificate because there is no way to “prove” they are original and not photocopies due to the fact that it is written in black ink.  No, I am not joking.  When I was told this, I was completely flabbergasted because I can look at the shot certificate and tell that it is, in fact, an original and not a photocopy.  Maybe it’s because I wear glasses or I’m smarter than the average person working in the office that processes paperwork for incoming animals that I can tell the difference, but I honestly don’t know why that’s the case.

(2) You have to have one previous and one current rabies vaccination certificate.  If you use Civilian vets and lose or misplace one, good luck trying to get your previous vet to issue you a replacement.  Because of what happened with the carbon copy of the previous rabies certificate for my cats, I had to call the vet in Michigan where I got my cats vaccinated last year and ask for them to send me another copy of their shot records so I could start getting my paperwork together to send off to Hawaii before we move.  After explaining this whole ordeal to the vet tech who answered the phone and after she (apparently) garbled what I was telling her about what I needed and why, she told me I needed to come by their office with my original certificate, photo ID, and something else I can’t remember in order to get another copy of their rabies certificate mailed back to me once they were able to verify that I was, indeed, the owner of said cats and was “allowed” to have a copy of their rabies certificate they previously issued me.  I told her I don’t live in Michigan anymore because I was only there while my husband was deployed to Afghanistan and he came home last May.  I am currently living in Tennessee where we are stationed and it would be 10 hours one way for me to drive to Michigan in order to get a certificate reissued to me.  She then told me my only other option was to get my cats vaccinated again before we leave in order to make sure I had the records I needed to take my cats to Hawaii. My cats got 3 year rabies vaccines in Michigan and a 3 year vaccine here and I was supposed to get them ANOTHER vaccine so I could have a current and a previous rabies vaccine record because they didn’t want to take 5 minutes to fill out a form and put a stamp on an envelope and mail me another one because I could be trying to scam them?  Seriously?   If there had been any way for me to reach through my phone and bitch slap said vet tech, I would have done it.  I was so mad when I got off the phone that I seriously wanted to hit something.  About 15 minutes later the vet called me back and asked me to explain (AGAIN) what I needed and why and he then said he would send me another original and carbon copy of the rabies certificate.  Apparently the part about not using black ink didn’t sink in because the original was done in black ink (again) which was why I had to call them for another copy in the first place.  After the ordeal they put me through in getting the rabies certificate reissued, I counted my blessings and moved on.  One small suggestion for any Military family with pets:  use the Post vets and avoid Civilian vets because (1) they are cheaper and (2) it will be much less hassle to get any misplaced paperwork.

(3) Your animals will also have to have a test to confirm the presence of rabies antibodies.  This test is NOT cheap and if you use a post vet, it will be cheaper than using a civilian vet because the Military has access to a testing facility at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio that perform the tests for the rabies antibodies.  I called a civilian vet to price what I needed (shots for 2 cats, the rabies antibodies test, microchip for one of my cats) and it was going to cost around $400 and at his suggestion, I called the post vet to see how much it would cost and it was less than $200.  The date the test sample was taken has to be more than 120 days prior to your arrival in Hawaii if you want to avoid any quarantine time and if you use the post vet, the results of the rabies antibodies test will be sent to your sponsors AKO address (or equivalent for other branches of the Military).  This is called “5 day or less” quarantine in the rabies quarantine brochure and refers to direct airport pick up.

I’m hoping to have more information concerning housing, shipping a POV and household goods, entitlements, etc., so more to come soon!