Temporary Duty assignments are a constant in Air Force life. A training pipeline at one base, a conference at another, a six-week rotation at a forward location, a deployment working group at the Pentagon — TDY takes Airmen away from their home station for days, weeks, or months at a time.
For short TDY assignments, personal belongings usually take care of themselves. But for longer ones — anything running more than a few weeks — questions start to emerge: Do I keep my off-base apartment while I’m gone? What do I do with my stuff if I don’t? And if my TDY turns into a PCS, what then?
Ship2Storage is a clean answer to all three questions. Store your personal items per box, pay for what you use, and get delivery wherever you end up — at your home station or your next one.
What TDY Really Means for Your Belongings
A 30-day TDY is manageable. You leave, your apartment sits, you come back. A 90-day TDY is a different calculation, especially if you’re paying rent on an off-base apartment while also receiving per diem at your TDY location.
Some Airmen choose to sublet or vacate their off-base housing during long TDY assignments to avoid the double cost. That’s financially rational, but it creates a logistics problem: where do your belongings go?
Ship2Storage solves the belongings piece cleanly. Pack your boxes, ship before you leave, store during TDY, get delivery when you return or when you arrive at your next assignment.
Temporary Lodging Plus Your Stuff: The Problem
TDY lodging — whether it’s on-base billeting, a contracted hotel, or a TLA (Temporary Living Allowance) situation — is not designed to hold boxes. You have a room, maybe a small closet, and that’s it.
Showing up to a six-week TDY assignment with five boxes of personal gear you don’t need at that location creates problems. Leaving those boxes in your home-station apartment while you pay rent you can’t fully justify creates a different problem.
The cleaner approach: store what you don’t need during TDY, travel light, retrieve everything when you’re back. Ship2Storage is built for exactly this.
Why a Storage Unit Doesn’t Work for TDY
Self-storage near your home installation seems like the obvious answer, but it has practical problems for TDY situations:
- You need transportation to get your boxes there before you leave and back when you return.
- If your TDY extends, you’re locked into a unit at a location you’re not at.
- If TDY leads to PCS orders, your storage unit is now in the wrong city.
- Someone at your home station has to manage access if anything comes up.
Ship2Storage removes the geography problem. Your boxes are stored centrally, not at a specific installation, and delivered to any address nationwide when you’re ready.
Ship2Storage for TDY: How It Works
When your TDY ends, enter your return address — home station, new PCS location, or anywhere else — and we deliver directly.
Before your TDY departure, pack personal items into standard moving boxes.
Generate prepaid labels from your Ship2Storage account and ship from any carrier location near base.
Your boxes are barcoded and stored in climate-controlled space at our facility.
What Airmen Typically Need to Store During TDY
For most TDY assignments, Airmen store the items they don’t need at the TDY location and don’t want to leave unsecured or in an empty apartment:
- Off-season clothes and extra uniforms
- Personal electronics and hobby gear
- Kitchen equipment from off-base apartments
- Books, personal items, and anything valuable
- Sports equipment and recreational gear
You’re not storing a household. You’re storing a few boxes of personal property while you’re away. Ship2Storage is priced accordingly.
TDY That Becomes Permanent: Adjusting Your Storage Plan
It happens. What starts as a 60-day TDY turns into a follow-on assignment, and suddenly you’re not going back to your home station at all. This is one of the situations where self-storage at your original installation creates real headaches.
With Ship2Storage, your boxes aren’t tied to a location. You update your delivery address in your account, and your boxes go to your new assignment — whether that’s another Air Force base, a joint installation, or a civilian address after separation.
Coming Back: Getting Your Boxes Delivered to Your New Location
Log into your Ship2Storage account when your TDY is winding down, enter your return address, and schedule delivery. If you’re heading back to your home-station apartment, your boxes are there waiting. If you have new orders, your boxes follow you. The turnaround is typically a few days from when you request delivery.
FAQ
What if my TDY extends longer than expected?
Your storage continues month to month with no penalty for extensions. You pay for what you store, for as long as you need. No action required on your end — your boxes stay safe until you’re ready.
Can I ship boxes from my TDY location if I need something?
Yes. If you need something from storage during your TDY, you can request delivery to your TDY address. Just log in and update the delivery destination.
Is this useful for back-to-back TDY assignments?
Very much so. If you’re going from one TDY directly to another with no return to your home station in between, Ship2Storage holds your belongings through the whole period and delivers when you’re finally back at a stable address.
How do I update my delivery address mid-storage?
Log into your Ship2Storage account and update your delivery address any time before requesting shipment. Changes take effect immediately.
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