Nicole Vogel learned early on during her marriage to a service member that permanent change of station, or PCS, doesn’t exactly mean permanent.
Today, she has been married to her husband for 15 years. Recently, Vogel ticked off her family’s military-related moves like a baseball fan reads off their favorite team’s batting lineup: “To Germany, DC, to Langley, to Wyoming, South Carolina, and then back here,” Vogel said recently. “We’ve been all over the place.”
“Back here” is Ramstein, Germany, which was the site of Vogels’ first PCS shortly after they were married and where they returned to in July. They did not have children for the first move but now have three all under age 8. That dynamic changes her priorities, but doesn’t change her spirit when the time comes for the Vogels to move on while her husband serves the country.
“I am a glass half full kind of gal. You will barely see me have a bad day,” Vogel said. “During PCS, during everything, you have to give yourself some grace and hope everybody else pulls you along, because it is an incredibly stressful time.”
One of the biggest challenges that spouses find while relocating during a PCS assignment is finding work. Fortunately for Vogel, that’s a hurdle she overcame during her very first PCS move with her husband to Germany.
When she arrived at Ramstein 15 years ago, she started the process of seeking employment and checked in at the United Service Organizations office, or USO. She walked through the doors cold, eager to start her new life, in a new country.
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” she said of the USO. “But they were just the friendliest people there.”
The USO happened to have a job opening, which she filled and led to her current position as the senior manager for military spouse and family programs. In her role, she helps families like hers adjust to life in the military, like moves.
Other challenges for military spouses is to fit in with their new communities, find friends and pursue hobbies. During her first time in Germany she started “Coffee Connections” that helps military spouses find friends in their new homes. It’s a program that’s now extended to 95 countries across the world through the USO.
“It’s so beautiful, because moving back here, I can go to the USO and meet friends and find people who are in the same boat,” she said.
More than 400,000 service members make PCS moves each year. So while the practice may seem common, the initial moves can be daunting for a spouse making the moves for the first time, whether it’s across the country, across the world, or across the state.
Vogel encourages spouses to stay positive, and know that the “dust will settle.”
She describes the role of the spouse in a PCS as the “Chief of everything. The service member is going to have a couple of days where you can get things squared away and then they have to go back to their job. We, as the spouse, have to help with the kids, get everything organized, set up schedules, get the house in place, unpack the boxes. There’s a lot to it.”
