Every year the Army moves thousands of troops and their Families to and from military installations around the world. This year presented a unique set of challenges for the Army team with the emergence of COVID-19 and the impacting factors that came with it.
From health protection levels changing at garrisons and stay-at-home orders, to passport and visa delays, the Army met the challenges of the 2020 permanent change of station, or PCS, season, safely completing more than 72,000 PCS moves with quality assurance inspections on 97 percent of those moves.
“We had a running start on this year’s PCS season,” said Lt. Gen. Doug Gabram, commanding general, U.S. Army Installation Management Command. “We spearheaded this with multiple Army teammates. It was a complex problem set, and with our Army and industry partners, we tackled it together, moving forward.”
IMCOM got its running start because the command had been working on a PCS move campaign last year, prior to the virus, which focused on three installations with high annual turnover and Army Families experiencing back-to-back moves within one calendar year. Those three installations are Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
“The intent was to improve the PCS moves at those locations this year, learn best practices, and apply the lessons across the Army next year to improve PCS moves for Soldiers and their Families,” said Gabram.
When COVID-19 hit, what was a three-installation focus became a task of moving Army Families, single Soldiers, and trainees around the globe.
“From a PCS orders perspective, I feel the Army has done an excellent job during the pandemic. U.S. Army G-1 continually revised guidance as needed, and Human Resources Command was able to prioritize assignments and make necessary adjustments to Soldiers’ reassignments based upon senior Army leadership guidance,” said Mike Fosbenner, human resources specialist, IMCOM G-1.
Fosbenner and IMCOM Military Personnel Divisions published more than 86,000 reassignment orders during the last fiscal year, with the majority published post-pandemic.
“Our team set out to achieve a goal of issuing orders to Soldiers no later than 120 days prior to their PCS move,” said Gabram. “Then COVID-19 happened. But our focus on coordination across the Army to place assignment orders in our Soldiers’ hands earlier was a major success this year and promises to improve next year.”
Each PCS season is a logistical feat accomplished through teamwork and partnerships, and this year’s complications introduced many new challenges. Between IMCOM, U.S. Army Materiel Command, the Army’s Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Human Resources Command, Army Sustainment Command, the Army’s Residential Communities Initiative partners, other government agencies and moving industry partners, the Army was able to work through the complex problem set that included more than just orders and moving Soldiers and Families. The Army team also had to look at quality of life issues such as housing, child care and spouse employment.
“IMCOM is investing to increase child care capacity with new facilities and better incentive plans to increase staffing. We’re supporting spouse employment, making it easier for our spouse employees to move with a job,” said Gabram. “The relationships with our housing partners and Army Family residents is the best it’s ever been. We’re making real progress in these areas, despite the challenges we experienced with the pandemic.”
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