Doing it right: Check regulations, policies before a 'DITY' move

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Eydie Sakura
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  It's simple. Keep your integrity. Learn the regulations and do research before you conduct a Do-It-Yourself, or DITY, move when moving on- or off-base. 

That's the advice from the wing's Traffic Management Flight and the people who work to ensure your household goods are shipped safely and securely from location to location courtesy of the Red, White and Blue. 

"Our biggest problem stems from the local 'DITY' moves because they are not weight restricted," said Nancy Woerdehoff, 341st Logistics Readiness Squadron household goods and passenger travel supervisor. "On this type of move, the person moving is paid based on their actual weight." 

The DITY move or what is now called the Personally Procured Move, or PPM, is a cost-saving way for the U.S. government to save money on moving families, but it is also a good way for servicemembers to inadvertently or purposefully, make money off of the system. 

Each rank has a weight allowance and it fluxuates based on the number of family members who will travel with the active-duty person. The government then computes how much it would cost to hire a moving and packing company, and takes that dollar figure and pays the servicemember 95 percent of that cost to move his or her own household goods. 

Ms. Woerdehoff said there are certain flags that go up if the TMF personnel think someone's PPM is not within the guidelines. 

"The first trigger would be when someone is over their weight entitlement on any PPM," she said. "On a PCS, separation or retirement move, the member is paid up to their maximum weight entitlement; however, on a local move when they are not weight restricted, and if they are more than 20 percent over their maximum weight entitlement, we take a closer look."

This "closer look" is an effort to protect the government dollars and to make sure the servicemember does not procure excess costs in the future.

"It's so important for people who are PCSing or who receives a housing order to come to TMF first before they start any moving processes," Ms. Woerdehoff said. "We have a checklist they can go through and we can talk to them about keeping receipts, allowable expenses, authorized advanced pay, how to use the weight tickets and scales, and so forth."

For more information about how to properly move household goods, call the TMF household goods section at 731-6281 or 731-6282. People can also check out the Web site http://afmove.hq.af.mil.