Get to know Todd Ernst, Founder PCSgrades

By Kenneth Gay & Todd Ernst

What three letters can make a military member or military spouse smile or cringe? You got it: PCS, formally known as a Permanent Change of Station (a fancy term for a military move). Put simply, a PCS is one of the most stressful parts of military life for service members and their families.

Military families move a lot – typically every 2 or 3 years. Air Force veteran Todd Ernst founded PCSgrades to help ease some of the stress associated with military moves.

Todd has always had a passion for serving military families. During his 22 years in service, he experienced and observed the many challenges facing military families. In 2011, when the widow of a fellow airman stopped receiving survivor benefits, Todd went to work to advocate for change. For the next several years, he spearheaded meetings at the Pentagon and met with members of Congress to fix the disparity in survivor benefits. In late 2017, his hard work paid off with successful changes to legislation that ensures every family who loses a service member in the line of duty receives the same survivor benefits. PCSgrades is the product of that passion.

PCSgrades was designed to give a voice to military families and to create a platform where military and veteran families can help each other through crowdsourced information from the people we trust the most: one another A place to address our biggest must-solve relocation and real estate needs A place with information, resources, reviews, and advice from military and veteran families just like yours.

With each military relocation, families are faced with life-changing decisions: where to live, whether to rent or buy, which schools their kids will attend, and how to make the most of their new duty station.

PCSgrades exists to help make moving a little easier for military and veteran families. The website provides free access to reviews written by military and veteran families, informative articles, area guides, calculators and other key tools These unique resources provide information about the biggest must-solve questions involving on-and-off base housing, moving companies, real estate agents, mortgage lenders, schools and more.

Access the free PCSgrades BAH calculator, which provides the most up-to-date housing allowance data. This information can help determine your housing budget, decide whether to live on-base or off, and choose whether to rent or buy your next home.

Plus, PCSgrades offers profiles with reviews of real estate agents, mortgage lenders, and other professionals who work regularly with service members and offer exclusive promotions and incentives for military and veteran families

Less than 2% of all Americans have served in the armed forces. Having someone on your side who understands what you’re going through makes all the difference