Military folks come to expect the unexpected at moving time. Is it really too much to expect the packers not to pack your kitchen garbage, or cram your husband’s bowling ball in the same box with your wedding China — on top of your China?   

Servicemembers and their families move every two to three years on average. Each year it’s moving time for about a third of the force, according to the Department of Defense. Compliments of their peripatetic lifestyles, most military families have a memorable moving story or two, ranging from the hilarious to the disastrous.
When it comes to service moves, the sage adage, “If it can happen, it will,” applies.
Here are some of my favorite permanent change of station (PCS) tales:

A Good Sofa Story. When my parents moved into quarters at Fort Knox, Ky., my father instructed the moving men to leave the space against the wall in the family room for the sofa. The men responded: “What sofa?”

An Even Better Sofa Story.  When Mindy Fortiers’ friends moved overseas for a two-year assignment, they put much of their belongings in storage. Upon their return to the states and the delivery of their household goods, they found photographs (stuffed between sofa cushions) of strangers having a party on their sofa.

“They guess that while they were out of the states, their couch lived with someone else — and looked like it enjoyed its stay!” Mindy said.
 
Beware of What’s Lurking in the Den. Army wife Vivian Giddens unloaded belongings at their new house when her then 8-year-old son informed her of a snake in the den. “I looked at him and said, ‘SNAKE?!’ ” Vivian found a 5-foot rattler wrapped around the fireplace. She used a broom to get the snake to curl up, then placed a bucket on top of the snake.  “From that time on, I never spent any time in the den,” she said.

Hey, We Need that Leg! When Navy wife Bonnie Drapp and her family moved from Norfolk, Va., to Monterey, Calif., they placed their belongings in storage. Bonnie’s husband’s precious piano was among the stored items. “The storage company left one of the legs of our piano on the truck and away it went,” Bonnie recalled. It took the company about a month to locate the piano leg and redeliver.

The Suspicious Pink Backpack. As the Guarino family departed London Gatwick Airport at the end of a European assignment, their then 6-year-old daughter left her little pink backpack behind in the middle of the airport concourse. When the back pack was spotted, authorities declared a security threat and shut down the airport for half an hour while authorities sorted the situation out.  “I guess we were lucky no one was jailed,” Noel Guarino said.  

Honey, Where are the Keys? Army couple Chris and Anne Bentley had the habit of tossing their car keys into a basket for easy retrieval. Their good habit went awry on moving day when the packers packed up the basket with their keys still in it. “When we realized this, it was of course after the entire kitchen was in boxes,” Anne said. “So, needless to say, we had to find them.”