If it’s the USAA policy designed for SA cadets and mids, the idea is all their personal property is covered, whether at home, on cruise, in Bancroft, in a sponsor’s basement, in a shared storage locker. Mids think they don’t have much “stuff,” but laptop and peripherals, gaming devices, uniform items, sports gear, class ring, etc., add up, and after graduation, more accumulation occurs. This also establishes their membership date with USAA, and counts for multi-product discount when they add auto insurance. The SA policy easily morphs into the policy that again covers their stuff in the car as they drive between duty stations, in a storage unit, at the apartment while they are on cruise, in your garage, etc., after graduation. They learn about property insurance, deductibles, premiums. This means, too, they can make their own claims with a low deductible, rather than try parents’ homeowner’s with a larger deductible, and driving up the claim record for relatively small stuff on the family policy. It launches them toward adult financial literacy.
No rush, though. I always thought start of 2/c year was a good time to acquire that.
The classic anecdote. We suggest to all our sponsor mids they consider a personal property policy, during conversations about “Officer money things.” We had a sponsor mid who loaded everything he owned into his car - laptop, every uniform, brand new sword and officer cover, xBox, Trek bike on the back - during commissioning week. Parked it at a buddy’s house, too tired to move valuables inside. The next morning, all gone. His auto policy covered the car, his personal property policy the “stuff,” with low deductible. When we were between houses, the PPP covered my dress uniforms when the idiot in the BOQ room above me at a school started a fire in his microwave, and the water damage ruined my uniforms, ribbons, cover, shoes. I called USAA, sent them a photo of the damaged items and the police report, plus the Uniform Store price list and estimated replacement cost. The money was in my checking account in 24 hours, less deductible.
To sum up, I recommend it, but no mad rush to get it as a plebe, unless they are joining the Tri Club and get permission to bring a really expensive bike, or have other high value items.
The key is the military member is the policy owner, so that mid or cadet must call or go online. It will be hard for plebes to go into the Annapolis office, given available town liberty hours the first year. They only get busier after that, so getting it does tend to slide down the To Do list. It does no harm to get it done sooner rather than later.