Slightly proud

I'm going to take a moment and brag on my husband.  

Today he hit his eight year mark in the Army, and today, halfway around the world he raised his right hand to re-enlist.  Although he has done this in the past, this was the critical one for him and for our family.  We had decided a long time ago (when we were both in still) that if either of us got to the ten year mark, we were staying in to retire.  This contract renewal puts him over that ten year mark and solidifies at least another 12 years for him as a soldier and for us as an Army family.

I didn't know my husband when he joined the Army, I didn't meet him until about two years later when we were both almost a year into our first deployment.  He had just been selected to move from the maintenance company to a flight company to start flying as a crew chief.  

My first impression was that he was an arrogant, full of himself, know-it-all that was just one giant pain in my rear.  This impression, come to find out, was much at the fault of one of his NCOs because he had been 'volun-told' he was going to featured for a short informational video on the MOS 15T.  It would take a few months before I would get to know him to be any different than that.  From that point on, it didn't take long for me to learn the hard-working person he was.  

In the last six years that we have known each other, I've seen him promoted to Corporal, through pictures promoted to Sergeant and then promoted to Staff Sergeant.  I've watched as he took junior soldiers and taught them the ins and outs of the aircraft as a senior crew chief.  I've seen him take an aviation equipment shop that was handed over to him in shambles and get it completely prepared for a deployment, actually deploy it and bringing it back.  He's successfully started up multiple remote sites in a deployed environment and been selected as a flight instructor. He finished as 'top dawg' in the ACSI (Standardization Instructor Course) and then completed the Advanced Leaders Course (ALC) as the distinguished honor grad.  He's been the SI of his unit for over two years now and trained more soldiers than I can count.  He's worked towards completing his degree.  He studied for his flight aptitude test and completed his flight school packet and just found out he was selected to attend flight school.  All of this in the midst of deployments and multiple TDYs.  Not to mention that he spends every spare moment he has being an amazing father and a wonderful husband.  

I know it's easy to be partial to our service members, because we are all proud of what they do.  I've had an interesting insight in to my husband's work though since I have worked with him before.  So I've actually had the chance to witness first hand, to learn first hand from him.  

I find it even more amazing that as everyone is stressed out over the looming government shutdown, the possibility of our service members not getting paid, that he still raised his right hand.  To know that to him, it's more than a paycheck, it's more than a job - it truly is something in his heart that he loves.  Our boys and I couldn't be more proud of our soldier!!  

If there had been Facebook during Vietnam

Over the last week, the rather uneducated Facebook post of a girl has gone viral.  Although her comments were less than tactful and showed a great lack of maturity, they still irritated me.  It was a perfect example of the opinion of some of those that we may interact with on any given day. 

That being said, the number of individuals that have this type of opinion is minimal.  Considering that we are living in a time where social media makes it very easy for individuals to voice their opinion.  Also, considering that we live in a time that our military makes up the smallest percent of the total population that is has in over a century.  One other fact to keep in mind - our military is all volunteer, no one received a notice in the mail saying they were to report to a certain location to be part of the draft.

Imagine if Facebook had been existent during the Vietnam war.  These veterans were already coming home to being called baby killers and being spit on.  They were treated like less than dirt on the bottom of somebody's shoe.  So many of them perished after they were forced into the ranks.  They dealt with horrible things that someone should never have to endure, let along enduring it after the horrible things they had been through, things they had seen. 

Many of those who protested and treated these veterans this way were those who had never worn a uniform or loved someone that wore that uniform.  The same is true today.  Many who have a certain opinion are those who have never walked a day in a service member's shoes.  They have no idea what it is like to see that uniform walk away and they have no idea how it feels to give that final salute to a flag draped coffin. 

The fact of the matter is - there is a huge general population out there.  A huge population that will never understand why service members deploy, heck, there's a lot that are around the military that don't always understand either.  But there's also a general population out there that are teachers, nurses, firefighters, blue collar workers, and so on, that we may never understand.  

We could learn a huge lesson from the Vietnam veterans.  We can focus on the individuals who have an opinion that's not worth our time or we could make darn sure that our service members know they are supported.  I'm going to do my best to walk in the path those veterans have set forth - that is so simply stated in two words... NEVER AGAIN!

A 'normal' birthday

Two different locations, two different timezones, heck, during part of my son's birthday celebration our family was in two different days.  For most, this is an extreme abnormal thing, but for military families - this has become the norm.  The normal birthday, anniversary, first day of school, Christmas.  This list could go on and on.  But that normal birthday has become normal because of those families ability to adapt.

For our little family, separations are nothing new.  My husband and I have been apart more than we have been together in the almost six years we have been married.  In that time, he's been home for one of my birthdays, oh and that one happened to fall on a night there was an Army function.  Such is the life though.

Today hit a little closer to the heart though.  My husband and I are fully capable of still communicating and somewhere celebrating our special occasions when he is gone.  My son, who just turned two, is a little more difficult.  He loves getting to see daddy and we were blessed that he was able to Skype during the early part of his birthday party today.  But as it was time to tell daddy goodbye, I tried to hold back my tears as my little guy told him night, night and blew him kisses.

This was the first of many 'big' events that daddy will be missing over the next months on this go around.  I think it goes back to the old thought process that separations, TDYs, deployments never get any easier - you just learn a different way to live, you take advantage of the moments you have without him because you know he is sacrificing for those moments and each day you are thankful for the blessings you have been given.

Thankful for those that lend a helping hand, those who say a prayer for our troops, those who are your sounding boards when you've had a rough day.  Thankful to those who help you make the most of that 'one day closer'.

Two different types of soldiers

One thing I learned very quickly during my time in uniform is that there is two different types of leaders you will work with.  One there will be an over abundance of and the other will be hard to come by.

The first is those you learn what not to be.  Most often than not, they don't actually know their job and so they try to overcompensate in other ways.  When something goes wrong in their section, they are the first one to try to pass the blame on to someone junior to them in their shop.  These are also the same individuals who consistently ask of their soldiers what they are not willing to do themselves.  They become the most frustrating individuals you will deal with, often times setting a decision in stone among younger soldiers on their decision to separate from the Army.  Even years down the road when looking back on those individuals, a sour taste instantly comes to your mouth.

The other side is those that are your true leaders.  They push you to become a better person, even when you don't always realize when you are working with them.  Sometimes they will give you a bad taste at the time, but when you look back at the big picture, it's easy to see they were simply trying to make you a better soldier.  The lead by example and instead of writing soldiers off, they actually find out what's going on with a soldier.  When there is something to do, they are there next to you helping you do it.

As I look back now, there are individuals whose names still make me cringe.  They were horrible leaders.  On the other side, there is a handful that I can look back on and hope that I made them proud in some way, shape or form during my time in.

On this anniversary

Twelve years ago, so many lives changed.  Those that immediately changed when their loved ones perished at the hands of a horrible individual, those that responded to that tragedy, those that would very soon find themselves on deployment orders and the rest of us that didn't have a direct connection to this situation but ached in our hearts for those that were.  For years, we have looked at that date and can tell you exactly where we were on that day.

I remember where I was on that fateful day.  I worked at a local bank and we didn't have access to TV or radio while at work.  I called another department and the rep on the other end told me I needed to get to a TV.  As soon as I got off the phone, I went on break and walked over to the snack shop.  Right as I walked in and saw the television, the second plane hit.  I had no comprehension of what had just happened.

To be honest, I felt for those involved, but I didn't really know what I could do.  I had my job at the bank, I continued on living like I had been living.  It wasn't until July 2004 that everything become extremely real.  I had become a supervisor in my area and a guy I had gone to school with was now working up in the same area and happened to be on my team.  When I noticed that he was at his desk outside of break time and he had been gone for awhile, I went to double check on him.  I heard him extremely upset out on the emergency stairs.  When I opened the door to check on him, he looked at me with so much pain in his eyes and whispered 'Joe's gone....'  It took me a minute to realize what had happened.  His best friend, the individual who was supposed to be his best man in his wedding in a couple months, a soldier we had both gone to school with, had been Killed in Action.

In that split second, something that had been so distant became very real.

Shortly after that is when I signed on the dotted line.

I served over six anniversaries of that day, two of those were in Iraq.  The most recent anniversary, I proudly stood next to my husband as he raised his right hand and re-enlisted.  Each year, our life has changed a little bit more, this year - my husband is deployed.  Each anniversary, we remember and although neither of our boys will remember that day, they will still know the reason daddy has gone to war, the date that an attack took place on our own soil and the day that America got mad.

I hate needles - Part 2

Part 2 :

In the first few days of reception at Fort Jackson, I found myself in a seemingly never ending line of soldiers moving from table to table with our sleeves pulled up.  Each table was a different shot.  As I was stepping up to receive the first shot, another female soldier who had gone through the first two tables collapsed and had a seizure.  Thankfully, she was okay - but that's not exactly a warm fuzzy especially since the drill sergeants were still pushing us forward through the line.

My next issue with this at basic was shortly after arriving back from Exodus (side note - loved being home for Christmas, but taking a break and letting soldiers go home for the holidays is less than logical).  All the female soldiers had to have blood drawn for a pregnancy test shortly after coming back.  A day prior to this test, I had blood drawn because I was having issues with extremely low iron and they had conducted a pregnancy test at that point in time.  Even though I had told the drill sergeants I had blood drawn less than 24 hours prior and had already 'passed' my pregnancy screening, I was still pushed through the line.

I sat down in the chair and shortly after the medic had started drawing blood, I passed out.  In the process, I almost fell out of the chair and managed to rip the whole setup out of my arm.  So now, not only were they trying to get me to come to, they had a mess that was continuing to grow.  From what I was told, I was out for a few minutes.  Smelling salts, water, none of your common triggers to 'wake' you up were working.  So the medic took extreme measures and slapped me across the face.  I woke up to a stinging sensation across my face and a rather messy arm.  When the medic asked me what happened, I told her about having blood being taken and already having had a pregnancy test.  I then proceeded to get yelled out for not telling her before she stuck me and was stuck in a chair for 'observation' for about an hour.

I hate needles - Part 1

When I first told my mom that I was joining the Army, she gave me that look of complete shock.  Later, in a conversation she mentioned my hate of needles.  Knowing the significant number of shots, etc that are involved with the military, that were what let her know this was something I really wanted to do.

It didn't take long for that hate of needles to come into play.  I didn't even make it through MEPS.  When we first arrived the morning of our in processing, they briefed us on a number of rules - one of which was not falling asleep during the lengthy day.  One of the first stops was to have blood drawn.  I made it through getting my blood drawn (barely), then stopped at the water fountain on the way to my next station.  When I went to pick up my paperwork from the chair, I realized that I had a steady stream of blood running down my arm.

As I walked back to the area for the blood draw, I was leaving a nice trail behind me.  They asked me what I needed and I told them more bandages.  I then showed them my arm.  I was fine standing there until I saw the other individuals getting their blood drawn.  They couldn't catch me before I hit the floor.  This wasn't exactly my ideal start to this day.

When I came to, I heard laughing.  Once I was fully awake, I realized they were laughing at me.  My first thought was 'great, I'm that person'.  Then someone filled me in.  Before I had completely come to, I had asked if I was going to be kicked out. When asked why, I told them because I had fallen asleep.  Shortly after that is when I had fully woken up.  Given it was a Friday morning and they all had a busy week, they were thankful for a lighter moment.

To be continued (this is one of many stories based on my issues with needles)...

Some days it's easy...

Recently, I sat down after having one of the rougher days during this deployment so far.  It was more of a way of just venting at the moment, but it was shared and shared - as of right I've shown, it was shared 29 times on Facebook.  I thought since it had touched a spot with so many that I would share on here as well.  I don't always have the best words to describe how I'm feeling, but this is one night that I guess the words fit. 

Some days it’s easy…
It’s easy to take for granted the other half of your bed being warm when you don’t know how it feels for it be cold for so many nights on end.
It’s easy to take for granted your spouse being at your child’s birthday party when they are there for every one of them.
It’s easy to take for granted that shoulder being there just at the right time when there are so many times tears fall while you are all alone because he’s gone.
It’s easy to take for granted making plans for next weekend when you are so used to him being sent away for weeks at a time with only a day or two notice.
It’s easy to stay connected to your children when you aren’t attempting to do it through a computer screen from half a world away.
It’s easy to forget there are still troops overseas when it isn’t someone you know or love.
It’s easy to go about your day and complain about the simplest things when so many are struggling to just get through to that ‘one day closer’.
It’s easy to explain a parent being gone for a normal day at work when you aren’t explaining to a toddler that when he says goodbye to hug tight because he isn’t going to see daddy for a long while.
It’s easy to get irritated when you call your spouse and they don’t answer when you don’t know what it’s like to not be able to just pick up the phone and hear their voice.
It’s easy to say we chose this life when you have never walked a day in our shoes. Or understand that our soldiers sacrifice a warm bed, everyday life, and milestones in our children’s life so that the general population can have those every day moments with their families.