‘People-First Policy’: Pentagon Orders Relief For Military Families Constantly On The Move

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon charged the armed services to draw up plans to reduce the frequency of service-related moving for military families, according to a memo released Wednesday.

Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jay Hurst III ordered all military services to provide an implementation plan within 120 days to reduce permanent changes of station (PCS) budgets by at least 10% by fiscal year 2027 all the way up to 50% by fiscal year 2030, relative to fiscal year 2026 levels. The Department of Defense (DoD) currently spends an average of $5 billion each year moving military members and their families, acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Tim Dill told reporters Wednesday.

“I describe this as people-first policy,” Dill told reporters Wednesday. “It also has a second objective, which is that if what we hear from service members and their families is that it’s difficult to move, or that PCS moves are disruptive, and we hear that when those are necessary for the mission they need to happen, but if there are some of those that are not necessary for the mission, we can accomplish the mission a different way.” (RELATED: Hegseth Has Good News For Military Families Trapped In Gov’t Schools)

US troops take part in a ceremony to redesignate Fort Bragg as Fort Liberty, near Fayetteville, North Carolina, on June 2, 2023. (Photo by ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)

The memo also tasks the services to propose modifications around commissioned and noncommissioned officer career guidelines to enable them to stay close to their current base while still preserving opportunities to advance their career. Military families move every two to three year on average, according to the Pentagon.

“While these permanent change of station (PCS) moves support mission requirements, the frequency can reduce quality of life for Service members and their families, harm spousal employment, and disrupt functional communities, unit cohesion, and long-term talent management,” Hurst wrote in the memo.

Dill also emphasized that the specific cost cutting goals would take into account what the services tell the Pentagon is feasible. While the policy specifically emphasizes families, the initiative is not solely concerned with families and will take into account single service members.

“We estimate that about 80% of departments’ PCS moves are in a discretionary category, and 20% are mandatory,” Dill told reporters Wednesday. “So, what we’re directing the departments to do is purely to examine potential reductions in things that will be defined as discretionary. So if they see that as mandatory, permission need, we’re not even asking them to come back with a plan to reduce it.”

Dill also denied that the initiative is a product of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying explicitly that “this is an initiative from personnel and readiness.”

Yesterday, Hegseth directed Hurst to conduct a department-wide review of homeschooling policy for military families and assess the “feasibility” of enacting new policies to support homeschooling. Hegseth also recently ordered the Pentagon to raise hazard pay for actively-jumping U.S. Army paratroopers during a May 22 speech at Fort Bragg.

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