Amid military moving mess, defense chief cuts down on relocations

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The U.S. secretary of defense is asking the military to reduce family relocations in an effort to cut spending and improve the quality of life of those affected.

This comes amid a monthslong 12 On Your Side Investigation that has exposed a pattern of problems with a new program to move our service and their families.

Two U.S. senators got involved and launched an official inquiry, asking the commander of the U.S. Transportation Command to look into those problems.

Last week, we told you the U.S. Transportation Command relieved Robert “Andy” Dawson of his duties as the director of the Defense Personal Property Management Office.

It was his job to oversee the hundreds of thousands of military families that move each year.

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Since then, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has gotten involved, directing the Transportation Command to make some immediate changes to what he calls “deficiencies.”

It’s important to note – this initiative is separate from other changes we told you about last week – including some top brass at U.S. Transcom being out of a job.

In a memo dated May 22, Hegseth’s office says the department spends about $5 billion a year moving military personnel and their families between assignments.

The hope – they can slash PCS budgets by half over the next five years.

These are called “permanent change of station” – or PCS – moves.

“While these permanent change of station moves mission requirements, the frequency can reduce quality of life for service and their families, harm spousal employment, and disrupt functional communities, unit cohesion, and long-term talent management,” the letter reads.

According to the memo, the Department of Defense is now directing each military department to immediately begin reviewing its PCS budgets.

“The military departments should provide implementation plans for this reduction, identify potential risks and recommend mitigation strategies,” according to the letter.

The letter targets two areas. The first is efficiency, tasking each branch with chopping budgets for moves that could be considered “discretionary.”

The hope is that they can slash PCS budgets by half over the next five years, starting with 10% in 2027, moving to 30% in 2028, then 40% in 2029, and 50% by 2030.

The second area is career development. If service stay in one place longer, they could further specialize.

That’s a benefit to the service member because it could mean more promotions. It’s a benefit for our military because it could help retain those with unique skills.

READ THE FULL LETTER:

About 260,000 to 280,000 service participate in a PCS move each year, according to the department.

“By reducing the frequency of PCS moves, the department seeks to enhance its ability to deliver on mission, while generating efficiencies, optimizing resources against its core functions, and offering greater geographic stability to service , military families, and military-connected communities,” the letter states.

The plan to reduce the number of moves is not being linked to HomeSafe Alliance, the private company that’s supposed to be in charge of military moves, rocky transition.

HomeSafe says its focus remains on modernizing and streamlining its moving process.

With the Pentagon’s plan to cut back on military moves, each department has three months to come up with a plan to make this work.

And seeing as though the Department of Defense estimates as many as 80% of moves are likely discretionary, this could mean big changes for military life.

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