Just need to vent a little...starting over in rocketry post-military move

First of all, there's some real loss and pain out there associated with C-19, and my vent here is not intended to diminish that at all. My best wishes go with any of you affected in any way, to include job & income losses. That said, life's throwing me a curveball, and I just need to vent a little.

I recently retired from the military and moved back home to AZ. It took a few months to find a home, get delivery of our household goods from northern VA (DC) and sort through it all. It became immediately clear that an almost random 15% swath of our household goods was missing. Just missing, without explanation. And, of the things not missing, there was lots of broken/damaged items. For example, not a single bookcase survived (and we have a lot of books). Every garage shelf unit I had was either missing or broken. All of my tools were missing...all of them, to include the rolling Craftsman tool box they were in. My rocketry drill press is gone. And so much more.

We contacted the movers and they went through their warehouse twice, finding about 800lbs of the missing items. They delivered what they found. Then I started to inventory in full what was missing. I just did the rocketry claim portion. Heartbreakingly to me, the first tally is coming to nearly $4500 without including shipping or taxes.

I don't have a single electronics capable rocket in a usable/flyable state--every single av-bay is missing. Every single rocket my daughter made, to include her L1 cert rocket (Wildman Vindicator), is missing. My Madcow V-2 5.5" rocket that was 90% done is missing, and now no longer sold by Madcow. My L3 cert rocket (Wildman DSE) is missing it's av-bay, along with my only 98mm MMT rocket, a Rocketry Warehouse Maddog 6 (I am dearly hoping Madcow couplers fit it). A Q-Modeling XP-Raptor was crushed flat, and no longer made. My rare Eecee Thunder kit was broken in many places. A LOC Starfighter my daughter made that we painted to look like a USAF Thunderbird (and took pictures on the Nellis flightline with the real ones just for fun) is gone. My favorite RW Lil'Dog rocket that flew faultlessly on anything I could stuff in it is gone. The whole top part of my rocketry workbench (that I made) is missing. I am just so mad that I couldn't sleep last night.

Moved around the world for over 28 years, and this last move was ironically the worst one. I am sure someone justified abysmal service by saving $0.10/pound on the total move cost, or some similar thing. The military often wonders why retention suffers and servicemember morale isn't as high as they think it should be. To those who wonder, it's the never ending life impacts like this that cannot be erased or forgotten, nor adequately explained to those that haven't lived it. This doesn't even cover the other 14 moves we made over those 28 years, and all that was lost/broken along the way, never replaced at real value.

So many things that cannot be replaced like all of my Dad's tools (he passed away 2002) and military going away gifts that are irreplaceable/no longer made. I'll never get all the $$$'s back that the movers lost or damaged. I am betting they will fight me in the claim process. This whole process is insult to injury.

Yes, I do enjoy the building process, as many of you do. If only I could get right to repairing/building! So much to do until rocketry is moving forward again. So much work until my garage is no longer a disaster.

So, SARA and other Arizona rocketry brothers and sisters, it will be awhile until I am at a launch. My first attendance to an LDRS may be off--this will take a long time to overcome, rocketry wise. Vent over. Thank you for listening if you got this far. Complaining over, I am getting back to work.

Sorry to hear this, and thank you for your career of service. You have every right to be frustrated and vent.

Dude,
That sucks. Sorry to hear about this. Thanks for your service in the military. I wish it would have ended on a more positive note, however. I hate to suggest this, but perhaps check the Craigslist in the area where you moved away from, and even possibly the area where you arrived. See if anything familiar shows up.
A crappy way to start your retirement, that's for sure. Good luck and stay healthy.

Gosh that sucks. What is the company doing to replace your lost contents / compensate? Of course things like dad's tools that got stolen are sentimental and irreplaceable, as well as functional. Hopefully you have pictures of the stuff?

Mark that sucks.

Mark....thank you for your service.....better things to come

As a 20 year legacy fighter maintainer and 10 PCS’s so far, I really hate hearing this happened to you. I hope you are pressing with a claim and stick it to them, even though it’s maddening. Also makes me think twice about my upcoming PCS (And last assignment) to Wright Patt. I really don’t like letting them move my stuff but this time I don’t have a choice as I had major shoulder surgery two months ago and have no way to lift anything heavy still. Hopefully they find your stuff or pony up and compensate you. Thanks for your service and you def deserved a better translation to the next life then this.

josh

Any suggestions on a new Drill Press? Some of the WEN options on Amazon look good price wise, but are they 'cheap' as compared to other brands?

Any chance the moving company advertises that they are insured? If so, a claim should be made against their liability insurance.

Just a thought...

Viperfixr said:

Any suggestions on a new Drill Press? Some of the WEN options on Amazon look good price wise, but are they 'cheap' as compared to other brands?

Click to expand...

I can't speak to durability as my WEN only gets light use, but it feels solid, it's been a joy to use, and it's never given me any problems over the past four years.

A man serves his country, then gets treated this poorly.
As a veteran, you should have been given the VIP treatment.

By all that's holy, what is wrong with people? I am disgusted. Too many people just don't give a flying hoot about others anymore.

Thanks for your service. I think I'd be looking for a lawyer, that company owes you punitive damages in addition to compensatory in my view.

Hopefully you can file a claim.

When I left the military I had the movers ship all my boxes to my parents house, while I went straight to college (literally sleeping In the barracks Thursday, and in co-ed dorms on Sunday. Didn't see my boxes until summer break, with similar results. Tried to file a claim and they laughed at me over the phone, and pointed out my mother had ’signed’ for them. Was a good lesson for me early in life.

Viperfixr said:

Any suggestions on a new Drill Press? Some of the WEN options on Amazon look good price wise, but are they 'cheap' as compared to other brands?

Click to expand...

Spend the little extra and buy a similar sized Delta/Porter Cable/Grizzly, I have been using a bench top Delta for many many years and recently made it into a floor model by extending the pedestal. Buy something thats easy to get parts for as they will eventually require a few replacements here and there, mine recently had a broken spindle return spring, both easy and cheap to replace. Sorry to hear about the losses of important items, it happened to my family a few times over the years as we moved locations, once as a kid I lost a box of rockets. Your loss was much greater hopefully things work out for the better.

I had this happen on my deployment to Afg. The movers lost everything I owned and the shipping container with my goods to Afg was lost. I got in country with the crap I carried and owning nothing more. I got military repayment with devaluing of goods lost leaving me out thousands. Turns out moving companies like these loose stuff then sell what they misplace at auction later. I personally believe there should be a law against a moving or storage company selling any items that where taken in from military families. But unfortunately they'll sell your stuff a few years from now at auction and there's nothing you can do about it even if you can identify it as yours at the auction.

Definitely sucks. I would file a claim either on their Insurance (which they should have) as they have your goods in their care and custody(bailiff bailee policy) not always the general liability policy, or maybe they presented a "moving cross-country insurance policy" and hopefully that was in place or, on your homeowner's or renters insurance if there was/is one. Usually 10% of your personal property coverage amount is insured while moving/abroad/storage, while some carriers will insure up to the full Coverage C amount. Usually requires a police report of theft for this type of situation and proof or photos that most of the stuff existed or was reasonable to have existed. Odd that the avbays are missing, along with built kits. Motor cases too? I would be checking craigslist/offerup in the areas where you got packed up, the areas of the warehouses that were used along the way and in your current area. Also could be a situation where someone got your missing items with their load. Most of these shipping companies use broker warehouses with hired labor to load and unload multiple times or contract with different dispatch lines to ship your stuff. Lots of hands and idle time. The perception of these carriers make it seem that your items are packed with care and concern then driven non stop to the destination on the same truck that left your house with the same crew that packed it. Not always the case.

Mark,
Thank you for your long service. Yes it sucks. DoD PCS's are the worst. They're covered so long as you can prove each item and the devaluation is terrible. Usually the movers mark the infamous inventory list with some generic term that's supposed to cover all the items in the box. Hopefully your items made the list with better identification and you have pictures.