Though permanent change-of-station moves can be stressful, the Army has resources to ease moving challenges, said Sgt. Maj. Rubén Murillo, senior enlisted adviser in the Army’s Prevention, Resilience and Readiness Directorate.

“PCSing is stressful, period. … It causes disruption in your normal day-to-day operation in every single thing that you do,” Murillo said Oct. 13 during a Warfighter and Family Forum focused on PCS readiness at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. Preparing effectively to PCS “is part of not only being a soldier,” it is “also preparing us for life,” he said.

Resources and services are available to assist soldiers and their families as they navigate moves, including Army Community Service, the digital front door for Army families, a quality-of-life website, and the My Army Post app, which has housing information, Murillo added.

As the Army takes a hard look at in-processing and out-processing, leadership check-ins can reduce soldiers’ stress, said Brig. Gen. Landis Maddox, director of operations readiness, plans, integration and strategy in the office of the deputy Army chief of staff for logistics, G-4.

“As a leader, ask those questions: Are you prepared? You know that there's a PCS checklist. How are you doing the checklist?” he said. If the Army adopts this practice more broadly, “I think we can improve and kind of reduce some of the stress” through “caring and asking those second- and third-order questions.”

As military families seek mentors, they should look for fellow soldiers in similar life situations, said John Raines, senior enlisted adviser to the chief of the National Guard Bureau.

“Search out a mentor that looks like you and that is older than you in their military service,” he said. “Search somebody out that's got a family that looks like your family, somebody that if you're married, they're married. You’ve got two kids, they’ve got two kids.”

— Karli Nelson