The U.S. Air Force delayed the moves of an unknown number of airmen slated to change duty stations within the continental United States.
In a Facebook post Thursday, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Flosi said he’d gotten word that due to a “problem with the [Permanent Change of Station] budget … many of our airmen just got notified of an extension of their PCS cycle, some in close proximity to their PCS date.”
“Terribly unsettling,” he said, adding that he would look into the issue. Flosi warned that “some of you may be experiencing a hardship.”
In a statement to Military Times, Air Force officials confirmed that as of Wednesday, the service implemented temporary adjustments to PCS move dates for certain CONUS-to-CONUS assignments.
“The Air Force is proactively managing its FY25 budget to ensure responsible stewardship of resources,” officials stated. “As part of this effort, we are carefully reviewing the timing of personnel actions to continue operating within our allocated budget.”
The delays primarily affect airmen without authenticated orders in hand who received projected departure dates between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, officials said.
The changes don’t affect airmen with authenticated orders in hand, regardless of their projected departure date, nor those with a projected departure date of Sept. 30 or earlier. Airmen making a PCS to or from overseas locations also will not be affected, and neither will airmen with assignments that meet special criteria, such as those assigned to deployable combat wings, formal training or those with humanitarian moves.
The changes don’t affect Guardians and members of the Air Reserve component, either.
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The delays do affect airmen with assignment availability code AAC 50 with a report date in November, and those who have an assignment AAC 50 that expires in November. The AAC 50 is a designation for a controlled tour — such as an instructor position — that is scheduled for a set duration and typically ends with an assignment to a different duty location, officials said.
Those affected by the delays can request an exception to policy and should work with their leadership to submit that request, the service said. They can contact their local Military Personnel Flight with questions.
Information is hard to come by right now, Flosi said, and if airmen aren’t getting what they need locally, they can contact The Airman’s Dispatch.
The Air Force obligates funds for a PCS move at the time orders are authenticated. Airmen must have authenticated PCS orders before they can schedule their household goods move.
The Air Force previously had to impose restrictions on PCS moves in 2023 for a couple of weeks, also because of funding problems.
In a May memo, Pentagon officials ordered the military service branches to cut in half the amount of money they spend on PCS moves by fiscal 2030. DOD spends about $5 billion per year on these moves, which include the physical moves of household goods, as well as allowances and other entitlements related to moving.
The services are required to submit proposed plans in September to reduce the moves, and it’s not yet clear how many actual moves will be cut to achieve those savings.
Officials will target “discretionary moves,” according to the memo, such as PCS moves within the United States and overseas, as well as individual service member training travel.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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