PCS Tech Checklist for Marines: 12 Things to Handle Before You Move
If you've gotten orders, you already know the chaos that's about to hit. The pack-out date sneaks up. The household goods shipment happens. The hotel stretches into weeks. Somewhere in the middle of all that, your tech needs to survive — your data, your devices, your accounts, your kids' photos, the spouse's work-from-home setup, all of it.
I've moved with the Marine Corps. I've helped a lot of Marines and spouses move since. Here's the list I run myself before any PCS, in the order it needs to happen.
Six Weeks Out
Every iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Windows laptop, and Android phone in the family gets backed up. Cloud is fine for phones (iCloud Photos, Google Drive). Laptops need a local backup AND a cloud one. Time Machine for Macs, File History for Windows. Get a 4TB external drive — they're $80 and worth their weight in gold.
Banks, brokerage, USAA, Navy Federal, VA.gov, MyPay, Tricare, the kids' school portals, Amazon, streaming. Write down every account, save the passwords to a real password manager (1Password, Bitwarden, or even Apple Passwords). PCS is when you discover you forgot a login — make it impossible to forget.
Four Weeks Out
Bank, USAA, Tricare, VA, employer of the spouse, kids' schools, IRS (Form 8822). Trickle into the rest later. Tip: change USPS forwarding 14-30 days before you leave.
Going to Okinawa, Iwakuni, MCAS Iwakuni, Camp Schwab, or anywhere overseas? Check every device's voltage range. Most modern laptops (Apple, Dell, HP business class) accept 100-240V — fine on Japan's 100V. But check power bricks for older laptops, kids' game consoles, small kitchen electronics. Anything 120V-only gets a transformer or stays stateside.
Old laptops, retired iPads, the kids' broken iPhones in the drawer. Either secure-wipe and sell, or secure-wipe and recycle. Don't ship dead hardware across the country — pack-out weight matters, and electronics that aren't wiped properly are a security risk.
Two Weeks Out
DD-214, orders, advance pay paperwork, kids' school records, birth certificates, marriage license, VA award letter, Tricare cards. Print color copies for the carry-on AND scan them all to a secure cloud folder. If a HHG shipment goes missing (it happens), you don't want to be rebuilding records from the receiving end.
If you're heading into base housing, find out from sponsor or housing office whether Wi-Fi is included, BYO, or a contracted ISP. If BYO, order your router/modem two weeks before arrival so it's waiting. If contracted, call the ISP to schedule activation.
If the spouse works remotely, the new house's Wi-Fi and home office setup matters as much as anything else. Test before you go — new ISP speeds, VPN compatibility with the duty station's internet, camera/mic quality for video calls. Get this dialed before they restart work.
One Week Out
If you're going overseas: international roaming via your existing carrier vs. switching to a local SIM at the new duty station. Verizon and AT&T have military plans worth checking. If you have multiple phones, decide who needs international service and who's fine on Wi-Fi only.
Laptops, gaming PCs, monitors, audio equipment — don't trust the movers' "fragile" sticker. Pack electronics in original boxes if you have them, otherwise wrap them yourself. Take photos of serial numbers and condition BEFORE the movers see them. Insurance claim disputes happen — your photos are evidence.
Move Week
The work laptop. The kids' iPads (sanity savers on travel days). The external drive with your full backup. Anything irreplaceable doesn't go in the HHG truck. Treat it like a deployment — carry-on, not checked.
Day one at the new house: turn on Wi-Fi, restore phones, get the kids' iPads online, set up the work laptop, get the printer talking to everyone. If you can knock all that out on day one, the next week of unpacking is way less stressful.
What I Can Help With
If you're PCSing OUT of Camp Lejeune or Cherry Point, I can do the pre-move work in person — full data backup, secure wipe of devices you're not taking, OCONUS voltage check, account inventory, password manager setup. Most jobs are 1-2 hours on-site.
If you're PCSing IN to Onslow or Carteret, I can do the arrival setup — Wi-Fi config, network setup, device migration to the new house. Saves you the headache of figuring it out solo while you're still unpacking boxes.
PCS coming up?
Text me your move date and I'll put you on the schedule. Marine to Marine, civilian to civilian — I get the timeline.
CALL OR TEXT 910-478-6747Related: Veteran-Owned IT Services · Camp Lejeune IT · Computer Tune-Up