{"id":78588,"date":"2025-07-30T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/07\/30\/lessons-learned-from-a-military-do-it-yourself-move-gone-wrong\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:05:09","slug":"lessons-learned-from-a-military-do-it-yourself-move-gone-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/mil-money\/2025\/07\/30\/lessons-learned-from-a-military-do-it-yourself-move-gone-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons learned from a military do-it-yourself move gone wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A military officer who lost more than $225,000 worth of household goods when his rental truck was stolen wants to warn other troops about how to protect their personal property as they move their belongings themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Booth moved in July 2024, his rented U-Haul truck was stolen. While the truck contained $225,000 worth of Booth\u2019s belongings, his insurance covered just $32,000 because of a mistake he made in reducing his coverage. Local law enforcement authorities in the Seattle area weren\u2019t able to help him retrieve his property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping to raise awareness about the possibility of rental truck thefts and help other service members avoid similar losses during PPMs [Personally Procured Moves],\u201d Booth told Military Times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the percentage of personally procured moves is down, said Rebecca Riley, a traffic management specialist at the Defense Department\u2019s PCS Joint Task Force. Service members decide to move all or part of their belongings themselves for a variety of reasons, including timing and flexibility \u2014 and because of the shortage of capacity in the DOD household goods shipment program over the last few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As troops weigh whether to move themselves, Booth wants them to know about the importance of adequate insurance and steps they can take to secure their rental equipment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I was shocked\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Booth, a former Air Force fighter pilot who became a military orthopedic surgeon, was moving to New York City for a yearlong fellowship in 2024. He chose to do PPMs for both himself and his wife because it was just simpler, timing-wise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWaiting on a military mover at that time was tough,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his wife were both moving from their orthopedic surgery residency programs in St. Louis to fellowship programs. She was moving to Seattle. They divided their household goods to move to the two locations; driving his pickup truck from St. Louis to New York for his partial PPM move, then flying back to St. Louis to load her U-Haul and Jeep to head to Seattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they reached the Seattle area, they stayed at a hotel in a small town outside the city and parked the U-Haul in an overflow parking lot. The next morning, the truck was gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am 4th generation military, and I have done U- Hauls my entire life. I have moved all across the US and the world. I\u2019ve taken U-Hauls everywhere, driven them as a kid, you name it. This is the first time I\u2019ve ever seen this,\u201d Booth said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was shocked. This is coming from somebody who takes a lot of care to hide things and lock things and move things around. It blew my mind that they would just break in and drive it away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While renting the truck in St. Louis, Booth became \u201creal nervous,\u201d he said, when the U-Haul employees told him they\u2019d had nine trucks stolen that very day in mid-July. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Booth took precautions. He parked the empty U-Haul at Scott Air Force Base while waiting to load. After loading, he parked it at the base again before leaving for Seattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Booth lost $225,000 worth of belongings when his rental truck was stolen outside Seattle during a do-it-yourself move in 2024. (Stephenie Wade\/DOD)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI bought a big padlock for the back of the truck, one of the indestructible round ones, real challenging to get into, pick or to cut,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we would always park it in a well-lit area, right up front of the hotels we stopped in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before parking in the overflow lot outside the hotel near Seattle, hotel staff required Booth to put his phone number on the dash of the truck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, a construction worker found that number and called to tell Booth his U-Haul was in the middle of a field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat really stunk,\u201d Booth said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dead-end investigation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Booth, an avid competitive shooter, had been collecting guns for about 20 years. The truck contained about $85,000 worth of guns, ammo and equipment, among other belongings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was really sad, because they\u2019re some of the highest accuracy weapons for competitive shooting, and now they\u2019re in the hands of some drug addicts and criminals out there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the theft, Booth called the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to give them the serial numbers of the guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booth is also a photographer and lost about $65,000 in camera equipment, as well as bikes, scuba gear, computer equipment and numerous kitchen electronics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cab of the U-Haul was littered with crack pipes and beer bottles. If they didn\u2019t take stuff, they destroyed stuff,\u201d by burning, breaking and urinating on items, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\t