{"id":48458,"date":"2021-11-10T18:42:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T18:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/10\/will-reception-companies-help-the-armys-pcs-woes-sma-thinks-so\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:09:44","slug":"will-reception-companies-help-the-armys-pcs-woes-sma-thinks-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/11\/10\/will-reception-companies-help-the-armys-pcs-woes-sma-thinks-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Will \u2018reception companies\u2019 help the Army\u2019s PCS woes? SMA thinks so"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been a rough few years for Army troops executing permanent change of station moves<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waitlists for housing, moving company shortages, and more have bedeviled soldiers \u2014 as has the uneven quality of the Army\u2019s \u201csponsorship\u201d program, which is intended to pair moving soldiers with mentors in their new units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those issues drove the service to create new \u201creception companies,\u201d which will be small units at major installations dedicated to helping new soldiers navigate their arrival and in-processing, explained Army senior leaders in a media roundtable last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army will create 13 of the units, which will vary in size based on the installation\u2019s size, by fiscal 2025, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston<\/a> said. The Army\u2019s top NCO emphasized the importance of helping soldiers at transition points in their career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe transitions are hard,\u201d Grinston said. \u201c[Nearly] every one of the quality of life initiatives deal with, mostly, a transition…I think reception companies help us receive people in our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interim efforts<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

While the first officially-authorized units won\u2019t arrive until October 2022, some units across the Army have decided to implement an interim version of the program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, inaugurated its reception company on Nov. 3 in a ceremony where the company\u2019s first new soldiers were handed off to their units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the division\u2019s senior-most operations NCOs told Army Times in a phone interview that the new in-processing experience at \u201cPegasus Troop\u201d is radically different from what he experienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe in-processing that I went through, it wasn\u2019t [very] helpful,\u201d said Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Dyer, who helped plan the interim unit. \u201c\u2019Here\u2019s a sheet. Here\u2019s some things that you need to do.\u2019 And that [was] it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now there\u2019s a structured program of instruction meant to show new soldiers what\u2019s going on, where important things are happening and how their lives will work at Fort Hood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt allows troopers time to get themselves and their family situated,\u201d Dyer added. \u201cIt takes time to find a home and to find childcare in each PCS [move]. … This program, it provides guidance and time, which allows our new team members [to] navigate those situations before they have to report to their unit and get into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t