Son in law going to Iraq but what happens to possessions?

Question

If my son in law goes to Iraq what happens to his possessions? Someone thought the Army would ship it back home but someone else said he'd have to store it? What usually happens to their furniture and possessions? Thanks

His wife is going back home with him for the holidays. She;ll stay and he'll go back until he's shipped but to keep the apartment would be too expensive. The storage units are 30 minutes away and start at $50 so that would be cheaper then keeping the apartment but he would prefer to have the stuff shipped. You hear a lot of misinformation from other soldiers and even sargents sometimes.

Answer 1

Stateside locations: If they are currently in MFH, they would lose the unit after 30 days of it being vacant. If they are out in town, well, that's up to what their rental agreement says. regardless.. BAH remains at the current zip code no matter where his wife moves to during the deployment. storage or relocation of all goods would be on their dime, the military will not pay for it.

The only way the military would pay to mnove their things someplace else is if he requested early Return of Dependants from an OCONUS location. BAH would be based on her location, not the Overseas one.. BUT the military will NOT relocate her back OCONUS at the end of the deployment, she would lose SOFA sponsorship and would completely be ineligible for housing on base.

With ERD they could opt to have items stored at Gov't expense and the next time he gets orders to PCS, it would be paid for. If they choose to excercise a HHG move early, then it would NOT be paid for when it came time to go to his next duty station.

Answer 2

I believe that he can either store it, or it is your daughters responsiblity. I *think* they only give a limited amount of space though, so if he has a house full of stuff, I don't think the Army will store it all. He will either have to rent a storage place himself, or he will have to pay for it to be shipped home.

I know when my husband deployed it was all of our responsibility and if I had moved home, it would have been at our expense to move our belongings or to store them.

Some of the single guys who live in the barracks threw away loveseats and other stuff that was too big to store.

But, my hubby is a Marine, so I am not sure how the Army works.

Answer 3

I am a military wife and I have done this before. They military will not pay to ship your items unless he is getting out of the military soon. The military could possibly store it for you, but you won't receive your BAH, so its a BAD deal. If this is what they are wanting to do, they will have to pay for storage or the move. Then they will still get the BAH for where he is stationed. Oh, BAH is the housing allowance.

Answer 4

The Army will Store anything he wants until he gets back. If he wants to do a partial storage, that is good too. He does not have to pay for it. When he goes through his readiness process for deployment to Iraq he just needs to tell transportation what he wants done.

They are pretty flexible..

Answer 5

His furniture/possessions will just stay in his home/apartment. He should keep his home. He can arrange to pay his rent from his military $$. In some cases of active duty, the military will pay his rent.

Answer 6

He can store it or if she decides to get an apt they can move it. She'll still get the BAH but will have to pay to move or store any personal property.

Answer 7

I think he will have to store it. Is there someone he is close to where he is based? Where is his wife? In any event, if you are responsible, he should arrange to have this paid for with his salary.

Answer 8

Sorry, they won't pay to move his stuff.