First, Congrats to you and your son on his completion of College (as you said, the end of his childhood) and his Commissioning as a brand new butter bar (i.e. adulthood and the start of his career).
Of course, the first time anyone goes through this can be confusing and a little intimidating. Feel free to keep asking those questions.
Speaking of which, let's get to a couple:
What type of housing will he be in? Will he need to move his furniture?
Well, since he's going to Randolph and eventually IFS, I'm guessing that he's either going for casual status prior to CSO training at P-Cola, or RPA training.
I'm also assuming he's single. That being assumed, he'll probably be a part of the 12 Flying Training Wing at Randolph. Here's a link to the reporting instructions:
http://www.randolph.af.mil/units/12thflyingtrainingwing/12ftw-randolphstudents.asp
Bottom Line: if he's single, he'll get a dorm room. He needs to first report to the lodging office at Randolph (in uniform). In fact, if I was him, I would call the lodging office and make a reservation for the night prior at the Randolph Inn, so he can start his day early the next day for in-processing.
As to the dorm room -- he'll get the "standard" stuff in regards to furniture (but he can call the Housing office and ask) -- bed, dressers, table, chairs, etc. He'll probably have a kitchenette he'll share with his neighbor in the room next door, with a limited supply of pots and pans. Most likely, he'll need to bring a TV (no need to bring the 54-incher, the room ain't big enough and you can't mount it on the wall), plus whatever else he thinks he'll want / need. First pice of advice: take only what fits in his car! He can arrange a shipment from his home of record (probably your house) later (he's entitled to one original shipment from his HOR).
He's young, he's single, he's busy.... Unless he has a bunch of friends that he already intends to room / rent a place with, the dorms are perfect for his situation (and within walking distance from the Auger Inn (the O'Club lounge) for those "fun" Friday nights, so he won't be tempted to do something stupid like drink and drive home. I've seen too many make that stupid mistake and ruin their very young, and very short, careers).
What happens to his stuff when he leaves Randolph for IFS?
If he's in the dorms (and hopefully, he doesn't have that much there to begin with), he just keeps his room locked up while he's gone those 40 days or so TDY to Pueblo. He still pays rent, but IFS is a TDY so he'll get TDY funds for that. His stuff is on an AF base, so his TV should be safe. He should take his laptop with him anyway to IFS. He's 22, what else valuable does a 22 year old have?
Is it obvious we are not a military family?
No big deal. There are tons who were in or will be in your situation. He'll figure it out and will be a pro at this in years to come. You? Well, he'll just hake his head and mutter "she's just doesn't understand". My advice? Don't sweat the small stuff during his career after this initial time figuring out the beginning steps. He'll take care of it. And whatever you do, don't YOU call his base! He doesn't need THAT reputation!
He is presently out of state packing up his college life and will return home next week at which time he will have to buy his first car to make the trip to TX. Lots to do in next few weeks. Welcome to adulthood DS! : ) Any helpful resources out there for him? He keeps running into deadends.
Son's in a similar situation (in fact, we're car shopping next week). He's also got the advantage that Pima and I are intimately familiar with all this. But we're also letting him take care of things on his own. Looking from a distance to see he doesn't make too many trip ups, but staying well in the background.
Feel free to keep asking. And you thought the worrying would stop when he raised his right hand, didn't you!