Preparing for Your Military OCONUS Move: Unaccompanied Baggage Edition

Hopefully by now you have your personal luggage all sorted out and ready to be packed. If not, check out my OCONUS Packing: Personal Luggage to get started! The next thing to focus on is your Unaccompanied Baggage, AKA UAB. This is a smaller section of things that you will get sooner because it comes over on an airplane, typically 4-8 weeks. Think of this as the things you need to make your home livable in the short term (BEFORE your household goods arrive). We chose to send our UAB about 1 month before our flight, in hopes of getting it pretty soon after arrival. 

How Much Can You Take? 

The first thing to know is that UAB counts toward your total moving allowance; it’s not separate. Your weight allowance is based on your rank and family status. For us, as a family of four our total allowance was 14,500 pounds and we were allowed to allocate 2,000 pounds of this to UAB. The servicemember can confirm specific weight details during their PCS/Levy Brief. 

What Can You Take? 

UAB has a few restrictions – for example, you’re not allowed to pack food in UAB or any furniture. You should always check with your specific moving company on what they will allow. Personally, we were allowed to have our son’s crib packed and we also vacuum sealed our nugget couch and had it packed. We had friends PCSing OCONUS at the same time, but their company was much stricter and wouldn’t allow any furniture-type items, not even lawn chairs – so be sure to check with them and ask those questions. 

Unaccompanied Baggage Packing List 

Everyone’s PCS experience will be different. Maybe you’re going plane to pillow (this is when you move into your new housing immediately upon arrival). Or maybe you’ll be in the on-post hotel for a while waiting for housing. For us – we knew we would be in a hotel for at least a few weeks and we weren’t sure if we would be living on-post or off-post…a lot of variables to consider! I decided to pack our UAB with the thought that we would get a home and need to sustain ourselves for 1-2 months until our Household Goods (HHG) arrived. 

I mentioned in my personal luggage packing list to utilize the Notes App on iPhone to create a shared packing note with your spouse. This was super helpful for us so that we could both add/remove/check things off as we went. 

What to pack as for the adults:

• Clothes and shoes
  • We only packed enough clothes in our luggage for about 2 weeks because we knew we would be able to do laundry at the hotel. So I packed extra clothes in UAB.
  • I also made sure to pack clothes for the next season because we flew to Germany late in the summer and didn’t expect our HHG until late Fall/early winter. 

What to pack for the kids:

• Clothes 
• Extra diapers and wipes for the baby (this isn’t a must unless you have a specific brand you prefer to use – it may not be available OCONUS)
• Nugget couch (I bought twin mattress vacuum seal bags to protect it and also make it smaller for packing)
• Toys (we packed an entire home depot plastic tote with extra toys for the kids – 10/10 recommend)
• Baby crib and mattress (also vacuum sealed)
• Play mat 
• Baby bath seat
• Non-slip bath mat
• Scooter/toddler bike  – this may seem silly but we packed my 4 year olds scooter and it was one of the best decisions. She used it every day on the playground and even up and down the hotel hallway. 
• Consider adding a high chair if you didn’t pack a portable one in your luggage

What to pack for the house:

• Dishes and silverware – just enough to get our family by for meals (don’t forget a knife so you can cut up meat, veggies, etc.)
• One pot and one pan/skillet – preferably oven safe
• One cutting board
• Basic cooking utensils (spatula, whisk, tongs, oven mitt)
• Set of mixing bowls that doubled as storage/leftover containers
• Set of measuring cups/spoons
• Air fryer – honestly one of the best things we packed because it gave us so many more options for making meals in the hotel room
• Small TV
• Mattress linens
• Blankets/comforters 
• Pillows (we are obsessed with our specific pillows and wanted them to arrive as soon as possible)
• Bath towels
• Kitchen towels
• Shower curtain, liner and hooks
• Toilet paper and paper towels (not necessary by any means but we had a bunch from our Costco haul so decided to send it)
• Collapsible laundry basket 
• Basic tools (My husband packed a small toolbox with: screwdrivers, pliers, adjustable wrench, hammer, nails/screws, socket set, hot wire & socket tester, tape and zip ties)

Everyone’s Journey Is Different 

This is the packing list that worked for us, but what you need will vary depending on your family, where you’re going, when you’re going and where you will be living in those first few months. I chose to focus my efforts on personal luggage first and then UAB. After both of these were packed and organized – that left the rest to go into HHG. To me, this was the easiest and most stress-free way to pack. It also helped us to take a second look at what our HHG would include, and we donated/sold several things before we moved. It feels crazy to try to plan to live out of luggage and a crate full of necessities for several months… because it IS crazy. But it’s also the adventure of a lifetime. 

Read Part 1: OCONUS Packing: Personal Luggage

Part 3: HHG (Household Goods Edition)

Meet Niki

Niki is an Army wife of 15 years and a mom of two. She understands the chaos and the beauty of being a WAF, having moved multiple times, faced several deployments and now with a recent OCONUS move to Germany. With each new duty station, she focuses on finding her community and exploring new cities/states. 

Niki works full-time as a nurse practitioner with a passion for functional medicine and aesthetics. She enjoys spending her free time with her two kiddos, baking (with her sourdough starter named ‘Toast Malone’), and gardening. In this next chapter of life, Niki is excited to be a part of the WAF community and share her Army knowledge and experiences abroad.