Short Takes: Military Moves

A Compilation of Stories from the USAFA Class of 1959

Military Moves

by Colonel Jim Reed

Frequent household moves are a fact of life for military families. They leave an impact on the entire family, and anyone who has served will recognize the chaos, humor, and frustration in the stories below. These aren't intended to be extraordinary tales of heroism, but rather a snapshot of what almost any military family can expect.

We’ll start with the experiences of Jim Reed and his family, focusing on that unique blend of luck, timing, and resilience required to survive a Permanent Change of Station (PCS).

Right Place, Right Time

Jim Reed had just graduated from the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California, and received orders to move to Ottawa, Canada, as an Exchange Test Pilot with the Canadian Forces. He dropped the family off with in-laws in Denver and went ahead to Ottawa to find a place to live.

It was late May, and Jim had accumulated a full year of leave that he had to "use or lose" before the end of June. While driving through Iowa, a realization hit him: next week was the opening of trout season in Ontario. As any fisherman will understand, priorities shifted immediately. He decided on the spur of the moment to take a week and go fishing.

He changed his route, drove up through Minnesota and Wisconsin, and crossed the Michigan Upper Peninsula to Sault Ste. Marie ("The Soo"), Ontario. Relying on past knowledge of the area, he boarded a train that dropped passengers at remote fishing camps in the northern wilderness. He spent a glorious week catching rainbow and brook trout, completely disconnected from the Air Force.

When the week was done, Jim took the train back to the Soo, stayed overnight, and then drove to Ottawa. He arrived around 5:30 PM, only to discover the Exchange Office where he needed to report was closed. He headed to the Canadian Forces Base, found a room, and went to the Officers’ Club for dinner.

By chance, the Canadian Officer-of-the-Day (OD) was also dining there. Jim introduced himself and discovered the OD was assigned to the very unit Jim was joining. At the OD’s suggestion, Jim arranged to meet the Commander first thing the next morning.

Upon walking into the office the next day, the Commander looked at Jim with surprise. "I was told you weren’t coming!" he exclaimed.

Jim then went downtown to the Exchange Office to report in, and they were equally shocked. It turned out that while Jim was waist-deep in a trout stream, his orders had been cancelled. He was supposed to report to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio! State patrols in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio had been watching the interstates for Jim’s car to divert him.

After explaining the mix-up and enduring a couple of days of discussion, the powers that be decided that since he had already arrived—and since it would be too embarrassing to tell the Canadian Forces he couldn't stay—he should remain in Ottawa. That inauspicious beginning led to one of the greatest assignments of his career.

It turns out, the key to success is simply to be in the right place at the right time. You never know where the "Right Place" is, but for Jim, the right place was apparently a trout stream in Ontario.

The "Star Rascal Band"

The Reeds’ son, Scott (who would grow up to be USAFA Class of 1984), was about four years old when the family moved to that Exchange Officer position in Canada. Living on the local economy, Scott’s first few years of education were in the Canadian school system, where he thrived.

However, the next assignment was Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama. The Deep South is quite different from urban Canada. On the long drive down, the Reeds discovered that while Scott knew all the words to "God Save the Queen," he was under the impression that the American anthem played before baseball games was called "The Star Rascal Band." He was gently corrected and coached all the way to Montgomery.

They got the National Anthem sorted out but failed to anticipate the linguistic barrier. They were trading the clipped precision of Canadian English for the drawl of the South. After renting a house in the small town of Millbrook, Alabama, Scott came home from his new rural grade school looking perplexed.

"It’s very strange," he told his parents. "I’m talking to them in English, and they’re talking to me in English, but neither one of us can understand the other."

Move / Don’t Move

The Reed family had been living in Washington, D.C., for about five years when Jim received notice of an overseas assignment. He completed a year-long language school with the State Department in preparation. With the training done, the machinery of the move began to turn. They:

• Sold their home in Northern Virginia,

• Gave away the family dog,

• Watched the children say tearful goodbyes to school chums,

• Moved their household goods into storage, and

• Purchased airline tickets for their next assignment in Hong Kong.

The day before they were set to fly out—suitcases packed and house empty—the phone rang. The incumbent at their next assignment wanted to stay one more year, and the Air Force suggested the Reeds simply "wait and take another year of language training."

It took significant effort—and some high-level assistance—to convince the personnel system of the personal and family hardships this "pause" would create. After a tense review, sanity prevailed, and they were allowed to proceed to Hong Kong on schedule.

USAA to the Rescue

The assignment in Hong Kong lasted four years, during which the Reeds acquired a treasure trove of memorabilia: custom carpets, photos of travels through China, pottery, antiques, and other valuables. Realizing their household inventory had significantly increased in value, Jim had a moment of foresight.

The day before the movers arrived to ship their goods to the next assignment, Jim dropped a letter in the civilian mail to USAA, doubling his household goods insurance from $50,000 to $100,000.

The shipment arrived at a warehouse in Hawaii while the Reeds were debriefing in Washington, D.C. Before the family could arrive at their destination, the warehouse burned down. They lost everything.

When they arrived at Hickam AFB, they had only the clothes in their suitcases and some cold-weather gear they had picked up during a fishing stop in Canada en route.

Fortunately, USAA honored the change in their insurance based on that letter mailed from Hong Kong—a letter that likely hadn’t even arrived at the insurance office when the fire occurred. The Reeds became USAA members for life.

Are the Household Goods “Safe”?

After Hong Kong and Hawaii, the Reeds’ final active-duty path led them back to Language School and then to the American Embassy in Bangkok. Following the Thailand assignment, Jim retired from the Air Force but stayed in the Far East for three years working for a civilian company.

Consequently, their household goods (HHG) were shipped back to the U.S. at the end of the military tour but remained in government storage while the Reeds worked overseas. The government kept their goods "safe" at a warehouse in Homestead, Florida.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew away the warehouse and everything in it. None of their HHG was ever found again.

From fires in Hawaii to hurricanes in Florida, the Reeds learned a difficult lesson about material possessions. If there is a moral to this series of events, perhaps it is this: Stuff is just stuff. It can be burned, lost, or blown away. But the family—and the resilience you build together—is the only thing that truly survives the move.

We Want Your Stories!

Jim Reed’s adventures are just the tip of the iceberg. We know that every family in the Class of ’59 has a mental box of memories labeled "PCS"—some filled with chaos, others with unexpected blessings.

We are looking to expand this collection, and we need your help. Whether it’s a story of humor, resilience, creative solutions, or faithful answers to prayer when things looked bleak, we want to hear them.

Your stories offer encouragement to our classmates, widows, children, and grandchildren. They remind us that while the orders changed and the addresses shifted, the community and spirit of our class remained constant.

Please send your stories (long or short) to: Jim Reed