Jennifer Barnhill is a columnist for Military.com writing about military families.
In July 2023, the Air Force let airmen and families know it was running low on funds. The shortfall meant a halt to some bonuses and the sudden pause of some anticipated orders for troops, Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves, that would uproot families.
Though the Air Force's hold publicized a potential disruption to military families, those families have always known that having orders in hand doesn't mean a thing until the moving trucks arrive.
Delays to military orders are an anticipated part of military life. Orders can be stalled or changed for any number of reasons — COVID, a failed overseas medical screening, or a congressional hold like the one currently at play at the hands of Sen.Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. Military families are expected to roll with the delays.
When Candice Day, a realtor and Army spouse, heard her husband was getting orders in 2015 to move from Washington state to Virginia for a seven-month training without information telling them where they would be assigned after the training ended, they had a tough decision to make: Move knowing they might need to return to Washington in a few months, or stay and split the family while awaiting more details. The Days decided to stay together and hoped follow-on orders would be issued soon.
“Every effort he made to find out information got delayed until he was two weeks from…
