Survey: Length of time between
PCS moves is reflected in morale
By Kent Harris, Stars
and Stripes
Would fewer changes of station keep more servicemembers in the military and make them
happier while they’re serving their country?
That’s one of the questions raised by a report released in August by the General
Accounting Office at the behest of a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Information in the report came from a 1999 survey of more than 66,000 active-duty
personnel. The average time at one particular station? About two years.
"The duration of PCS tours was related to satisfaction," according to the
report. "Those with shorter time spent between moves were less likely to be satisfied
with the frequency of PCS moves and less satisfied with the military way of life."
Recent interviews with servicemembers in Europe indicate that the issue is not a simple
one.
First, there are those — mostly younger and without families — who actively
seek changes of station and shorter tours in order to "see the world."
Perhaps more importantly, there’s the matter of desires vs. reality. The military
unofficially encourages servicemembers to move from station to station at a fairly rapid
pace. Those who don’t could be hurting their careers.
"The culture you live in is you move along," said Chief Master Sgt. George
Fust, the top enlisted airmen in the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy. "If
you stay in one place too long, it’s a negative. A lot of times, it’s the wrong
impression."
"We have the same thing in the Navy," said Petty Officer 1st Class Chad
Reints, a command career counselor at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily.
"You gain more experience because you’re working with different people,"
he said of a policy that’s "not really written."
Written or not, it’s a rule that Fust and Reints have lived by.
Aviano is Fust’s 10th base. His son is in the sixth grade, attending his sixth
different school.
"My wife doesn’t like moving around," he said. "I’m OK with
it."
Reints soon will move to Norfolk, Va., with his wife and two children. He said he
enjoyed moving from location to location as a young sailor, but it’s gotten harder
with his family.
"The fun of [changing stations] is gone," he said.
Reints seems to have plenty of company with other servicemembers, according to the
report.
About 46 percent of those who had been stationed at least four years in one location
expressed satisfaction with the frequency of their PCS moves.
That number dropped slightly for those moving after three to four years (44 percent) or
two to three years (41 percent). There was a larger drop in satisfaction for those with a
one- to two-year frequency (32 percent) or less than a year (28 percent).
The views of spouses appeared to be more pronounced.
Only about 29 percent of spouses married to those stationed at one place for more than
four years were in favor of their partner leaving the military. The number climbed rapidly
with shorter tours, to 48 percent in favor of early separation if their significant other
were serving in one place for less than a year.
Air Force Master Sgt. David McLane said he’s been to six different bases in 16
years. He’s currently in Aviano after being stationed at RAF Lakenheath in England.
"I like moving around every three or four years," he said.
But finding a job for Nicholle, his wife of 13 years, is usually difficult.
"She’s frustrated about that part," McLane said. "About the spouses
losing their jobs."
Still, unlike many junior enlisted servicemembers, both of them don’t have to
work.
"We’re fine [financially] if she’s not working," McLane said.
"The Air Force has been great to us. We’ve gotten to see the world."
Seeing the world seems to be on the minds of many younger servicemembers, including a
few of McLane’s colleagues at Aviano.
Airman 1st Class On Theus has been at Aviano for three months after her first stint in
Korea. She said the opportunity to travel is one of the reasons she joined the Air Force.
"I’d get bored of seeing the same place for too long," she said.
Staff Sgt. Michael Nedeau said he’d be worried about getting assigned to a base
for a longer tour that he didn’t like.
He loved serving in Panama.
An assignment in Turkey wasn’t as enjoyable. Aviano has been OK so far.
Staff Sgt. Paul Garoppo chose to extend at Aviano. He’s been in the Air Force for
15 years and Aviano was an assignment he was looking forward to. He hasn’t been
disappointed.
"If they offered that option to stay here, and it was good for my family, I'd love
to do that," he said.
That seems to be a pretty common view at Sigonella.
"I really like where I am right now," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeremy
Schroo, who recently chose to extend his stay in Sicily.
He said staying at Sigonella gives him the opportunity to travel. He doesn’t feel
the need to change stations to do that.
"We have a lot of people who want to stay here," said Reints, the Sigonella
counselor.
He added, that since April 2000, the command had received 264 requests to extend tours
at the base. Of those, 134 have been approved and five are still pending.
Sigonella is a rarity in the Navy. Those stationed there receive credit for serving at
sea, even though they’re stationed on land. So for those not wanting to serve time on
ships, it’s a very attractive place.
Erin Meier, a petty officer second class from Lodi, Calif., has been in the Navy for
three years, much of it at Sigonella, and has extended for three more. She said staying in
one place for an extended period makes her more valuable to the military.
"I feel I’m an asset to the command, because I know my way around," she
said.
That theme carried a lot of weight with the airmen at Aviano, too.
Instead of spending several months of a standard tour getting familiar with the job and
the new location, and then several more months at the end getting ready for the next
assignment, servicemembers could be doing their jobs.
Garoppo and McLane, who together have 31 years in the Air Force, said extending the
length of tours could benefit commanders especially.
Adding a year "would give them more of an opportunity to get things done that
they’ve initiated," Garoppo said.
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