Every year, approximately 300,000 families across the United States military change their duty station, moving from one base to another where the service member will be assigned. Uprooting entire families every couple of years during a service members career can be difficult, but the Department of Defense is attempting to make things a little easier on them.
The Permanent Change of Station Joint Task Force was set up to identify weaknesses in the system used to move service members and their families, known as Permanent Change of Station or PCS. The Task Force is led by Maj. Gen. Lance Curtis, who says that he wants to make it easier for service members to move and easier for them to get help when something goes wrong with their move.
Back in May, when the Task Force was established, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spared no words about how he felt about the current PCS process. "We know it's not working, and it's only getting worse," he said. "We've heard your concerns about contractor performance, quality and accountability. We hear you loud and clear, and that's why we're taking decisive action immediately."
The Task Force currently has 20 members, but is expected to jump up to 50. The biggest change made so far is the cancellation of the Global Household Goods (GHG) contract and moving transportation services back to TRANSCOM. GHC was run by contractors, but there were not many incentives for those contractors to work with the military as opposed to other clients, which left some families hanging when it came to their PCS move.
Hegseth gave Curtis permission to cancel the GHG contract as it failed to meet expectations. Moving services have reverted back to what there was prior to GHG, a process known as Tender of Service (ToS), which is run by TRANSCOM. Service members can still conduct a "do-it-yourself move" by hiring their own moving service and getting reimbursed by the military for the expenses. These types of moves are now known as a Personally Procured Move or PPM.
We're working on trust, timeliness and accountability," Curtis explained.