JANUARY 26, 2026 – The War Department’s Personal Property Activity will stand up this summer as a permanent fix of the myriad woes service members and their families have experienced during permanent change of station moves.
In a video released last week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who made PCS moves while serving as a soldier, explained how, in the past, the department’s solution to move household goods has failed service members.
“A cabinet with its mirrors smashed, a dresser missing a leg, how about a treasured German-made clock shattered into pieces, a sofa that appeared as if it was dragged down the street, or a used toilet brush tucked in with the family’s clothes,” Hegseth listed as examples of how cherished family belongings were damaged or just ended up in disgusting situations as a result of PCS moves.
Last year, the department did two things to improve the movement of household goods for service members. In May, it established a PCS task force to investigate the problems service members experienced during moves. And then in June, the department canceled the existing mechanism for conducting PCS moves.
“We established a task force to assess the problems of the permanent change of station, or PCS moves,” Hegseth said. “We listened to the concerns of our warriors. I fired the head of the failing program. All through the peak moving season and even through the government shutdown, our task force was, thankfully, a success.”
Now, the PCS task force will transition into a War Department special activity called the Personal Property Activity.
“It will be a permanent solution for all service members who move,” Hegseth said. “Its mission is to guarantee high-quality, reliable and efficient household goods and vehicle shipment services to the more than 300,000 warfighters worldwide who move somewhere every new year. Baggage and other household effects need to arrive on time, and they will.”
The PCS task force stood up in May 2025, with Army Maj. Gen. Lance G. Curtis at the helm. Curtis will now take over as head of the new Personal Property Activity.
The success of the PCS task force will continue into the Personal Property Activity, Curtis said, and that success was based on listening to service members and their families.
“This has been a problem for decades. We listened to the force and are taking action. If you have a problem, you can call us and we will fix it,” Curtis said. “Our nation’s greatest asset is our warfighters, civilians and their family members. We remain committed to building a personal property program that accounts for their input, and we will proactively attack their concerns to improve the overall experience.”
Household goods movement, Curtis said, isn’t just a quality-of-life issue; it’s also a mission issue. Household goods movement affects family stability, and family stability directly impacts mission readiness.
“When our warfighters are worried about their household goods, they aren’t focused on their mission,” Curtis said. “We are ending that distraction. Mission readiness is nonnegotiable. Every minute a service member spends fighting a household goods issue is a minute they aren’t focused on the mission. Our job is to give them that time back.”
With the ongoing work of the PCS task force and its transition to the Personal Property Activity in May, Hegseth said service members and their families will get the predictability and quality service they deserve.
“With this order, we’re streamlining the moving process end-to-end — establishing a standard of accountability all across the entirety of the Department of War,” he said, adding, “Our warriors deserve the best, and that’s what this reform will deliver.”
By C. Todd Lopez, Pentagon News