Well this will be my first move and need a little advice on a couple of things.

First is... What does TMO do? Should I pack up or do they cover everything. What should I do?

Second is... It looks like we aren't going to get a house on base, is there an area around there that is nice/ safer?

Thanks in advance :) 

TMO will do everything, all you have to do is take everything off the walls and disconnect electronics. They will pack everything, mark everything, load everything, disassemble beds, disassemble tables (if needed), unload (at new place), unpack (if you request it), reassemble beds, reassemble tables (if taken apart), remove all packing material (if you have them unpack).

Sorry but I can't help with the second part. 

Wow that's a load off. I have a new baby and I was stressing out over not having enough time to get all our stuff packed up. 

When we lived there we bought a townhouse in Fredericksburg. My husband was an E4 when we bought though and it was more affordable than Stafford. The areas south of Quantico are probably overall better than the ones north (before you get closer to DC) but there are good areas there too. 

Do you know where he will work on base? We were there 4 years...I'll help as I can. Stafford can be affordable, Fredericksburg IS cheaper but it is a commute. Traffic from Fredricksburg north to Lorton can be almost a snails crawl...lol Plus gate traffic in the morning is terrible.
How much room do you need? There are loads of apartments off Garrisonville Rd in Stafford. 

Sadly we don't know what part of base he'll working. We'll need a two bedroom at least. It's just my husband, son and myself, but we have a lot of stuff. Not looking for anything fancy, but I don't wanna feel like i'm going to be murdered taking out the trash. :) 

We left 7.5 years ago so things might have changed. Back then (2001-2004) we couldn't afford any closer than Fredericksburg. Base housing was terrible (tubs falling through ceilings, nasty sludge growing everywhere, frequent gas leaks due to bad pipes, asbestos tiles). We did live for a while in the military apartments in Woodbridge. I assume those are still there? I loved our little townhome btw! 

We just made the move to Quantico. We were lucky enough to get a place on base. The housing is nice now. Almost all of base housing is new now. They tore down the old places and rebuilt. If we wouldn't have been able to find a place we were going to live in Stafford. The traffic can get pretty bad, especially north of base. It's way worse than CA. Based on my experience here so far, I would still pick Stafford to live in if we weren't on base. 

I did a little hunting last night online and found a few nice ones with great prices and space to spare, but then i checked thenm out on apartmentrater and discovered that my top two (both in stafford) were rated as STAY AWAY. the oddest review had this to say " white children are not welcome at the playground. Teenagers will beat up younger children with parents backing them up." WTH!?? 

Woodbridge is beautiful & convenient commute. 

Not sure what places you are looking at but here is a nice apartment complex off Onville Road...Sky Terrace, there used to be bad reviews, but in recent years it has been fine. I'll ask a FB friend who lived there the past three years...she was single with kids. She might have some suggestions...she would not stay somewhere that was not safe.

Woodbridge has nice areas but depending on the hours he reports, may not be convenient. Traffic is tricky there. Also, consider schools, if needed, and commissary. Those trips add up.

there is a gate of Onville Road (Off Garrisonville at the CVS in Stafford) that gate gets you on TBS, then you can cut through to mainside if traffic is crazy. Garrisonville can be a mess at times...like 1630-1830. 

I just moved here and TMO told us not to take anything off the walls. We did anyways having used TMO movers before and the when the movers got there they said they don't like us taking it off the walls either.

It's beautiful out there. Base housing is in a good location no matter where he will be working. It's not a ridiculously huge base. We only visited but I have a lot of friends that live/lived there. If my husband didn't get the job he wanted here we would have gone there. 

I just moved here and TMO told us not to take anything off the walls. We did anyways having used TMO movers before and the when the movers got there they said they don't like us taking it off the walls either.


we were told to take everything off the walls, my husband was gone when they came and I didn't get a chance to get everything off the wall, and some things I couldn't and they said, "we'll do it, but if anyone asks you we didn't do it" 

It must be like a local movers preference type thing? 

Sky Terrace was a no. She said it was fine for younger kids, but said the older kids were "punks" lol.

I'll keep asking around.
Did you post on Quantico Underground? 

We have alway s been told to leave everything hanging too. Leave all beds etc together. They are not responsible for lost parts if you take it apart...We just learned a huge lesson though. We have a ton of items purchased from travels and no space to display them. Just realized an expensive vase, purchased in Italy, is missing and we are beyond the deadline to claim the loss. Unpack everything even if it means repacking it.