What do I need to know? What do you wish you had known?

Lots of questions re: cars, phones, housing, and jobs for spouses...

Link up with your sponsor now, if you don't have one, call your unit and ask for one, they can give you the latest and greatest on the ground right now.

Make sure you get an efmp screening for your spouse, make sure you apply for passports to make traveling easier, pets will probably be quarantined, most people dont bring cars over and get beaters there, plenty of cell service options best to ask people already there. Theres probably more but i cant think of anything now.

Get a German SIM, like Vodafone Callya, for your phone. Note: it's GSM in Germany, if you have a CDMA phone in the US it won't work here.  Check the corresponding USAG website for information (housing, welcome package etc.). As others suggested, get in touch with your sponsor.

If you have any questions let me know. I live in Germany.

Pet quarantine in Germany?  Since when?  The issue with pets is going to be the month/season of travel as many (most?) airlines won't take pets in warmer months.  They might have to be sent as cargo and not in hold as your luggage.  This is significantly more expensive.

If you have a nice car, I'd definitely bring it.  Uncle Sam pays to ship one car after all.

OP, where are you headed?

Define short notice

No quarantine for pets from the US. Pets need to be microchipped/tattooed, current vacciantions (some up to 3 month prior to travel, watch out for that), and a health certificate from your vet.

+1 on the vehicle. Bring a nice American car and sell it here (Challenger, Charger, Truck), Germans go cray cray over them and you get alot more money than back in the US. Don't bring a new Mustang or RAM, they are sold over here through the Ford and RAM dealer network.

Order a nice US-spec BMW or Benz here (MAS, military auto source), and take it home when you PCS. Usually u get nice .mil discounts and get to break it in on the Autobahn.

I was given less than 36 hours notice back in 1988 LOL.

I was supposed to go to Ft. Bragg out of Airborne School. On the Friday of graduation, when we were finally released at 1700 hours, I was handed a set of orders to Germany. Because I didn’t put in for leave, the orders were to fly out of Virginia at 0700 Sunday morning. My payroll was all screwed up so hadn’t been paid for two months, and ATT (the old Army travel service) was already closed for the weekend. I had no way to get to Virginia, so they had to scramble to put me in for Emergency Leave so I could get my pay straightened out.

Nobody notified USAREUR so I was listed as AWOL, and received a Counseling statement personally signed by the 3rd Armor Division commander when I showed up a week late. The counseling statement actually stated I was “an embarrassment to my Squadron, my Brigade, the 3rd Armor Division, and the United States Army”

The Army at its finest...