The Army Life for Me

*sung to the tune of "a pirate's life for me"*

I think this will most likely be new-news because I don't think we've told anyone about the possibility of Austin's job-change. I get frustrated when I tell people about changes in Austin's job because, well, they always seem to fall through or change again so there's always this phase of re-explaining or retracting what we said before...just easier to leave it all unsaid until things are more certain. And when I say Austin's "job change" - really it means just Austin getting a job. Because Buckley is so unorganized, Austin hasn't had a job since he got back from BNCOC in Arizona...back at the end of MAY. It isn't a matter of there not being work to be done - though I will admit that I was concerned that his lack of a job would get us moved somewhere - it is just a matter of the people at Buckley being too unorganized to figure out what to do. If only women ran the Army...

Ok I'm getting off track here. Austin has spent the last 2.5 months either sitting at home in uniform, waiting to see if he'll get called, or going in to try and help out with odds and ends for a few hours. Then he went to California for 5 days for what I thought to be the biggest waste of money ever. There is a piece of equipment that is being tested, anything beyond that is classified information so I can't really explain what it does, and there is a "section" of soldiers/airmen at Buckley who work on this equipment. They had gone to California at the end of June to begin testing, and they were wrapping it up the last week of July. So, rather than logically having the team that is in California be responsible for bringing the equipment back, someone, way smarter than I, decided a better plan would be to have someone back here in Denver rent a cargo van, drive 15 hours to California, spend 2 days, load the van with the equipment, and drive 15 hours back while the team in California flew back. That "someone" was Austin. I decided, during his 5 day waste of time trip to California, that I prefer the short TDY's much more than the 3 month TDY's...they're over before you know it. When comparing one week to 3 months, or the 9 months last year, it really isn't too bad.

Then Austin got home and informed me that he was told he is being "considered" to join that section at Buckley. There are supposed to be 4 Army guys in the section, and 3 of them are leaving for whatever reason (deployment, PCS, etc) So because Austin is the right rank, and because he doesn't have a "job" yet, they are going to put him in this section. After months of my complaining about their lack of organization, they finally found him a job - and I hate it.

Austin's friend Perry is in this section, so I've known a little about it since I met Perry. He is gone periodically, anywhere from one week to 2 months at a time, testing this equipment. Once it is all cleared he is hoping that his team can take it to Afghanistan to train people over there on how to use it. That would be about a 2-3 month deployment, or so he told me back in January. There are no definite plans for Afghanistan - the equipment would have to be approved, all testing completed, and the Army would have to determine that it is useful and necessary for this team to take it over there in order to put it into place. So there are small hoops to jump through, so to speak, before that could even happen. But it is a possibility, and it is Perry's hope.

I told Austin that it's ironic, because I had been thinking in the past few weeks that maybe we should reconsider reenlistment in 2011. Austin's pretty against it, and I knew he was, but I had just been thinking that maybe it would be a good idea. He's pretty sick of the politics in the Army, sick of his MOS, and wants to go to college so that we can have a more stable life for our family. But I started to think...Its guaranteed, inexpensive health care, a guaranteed income, moving around couldbe kind of fun, its really not SO bad...etc. I thought about it while he was in California and decided I'd tell him when he got home that we should put the idea back on the table. Then he tells me this. I guess the Army doesn't really want us to stay, cause they had already lost his interest and just when they had mine they let it go.

I asked him when the next TDY is going to be and he said it isn't scheduled, but it is in the works. Perry and his team are trying to get it approved to take the equipment to Hawaii to test it. They are trying to keep the testing time frame less than a month, as they felt the month-long testing was unnecessary, but my guess is that to make Hawaii economically reasonable it'd have to be for 2 weeks or so right? That's just my guess (not that the Army is ever economically reasonable, as demonstrated by Austin's jaunt through the Rocky Mountains) If they do go to Hawaii, it will be in September or October. Then what's after Hawaii, one might ask? One who likes to make plans for life...and, I don't know, an upcoming BABY...well there are not future plans. As there never are.

So, if they won't plan, how do we plan? What if someone decides that the last week in November would be the best time for the next phase of testing? Guess we wouldn't be going to Houston then? Or what if someone decides a month of testing in February is smart...guess I'll be hiring a labor "coach"? I think there is some discretion in there - Austin was able to say that he is unavailable in the beginning of September because of Alexis's wedding - but ultimately if someone else trumped him, that would be that. I'm guessing that the people in charge of scheduling wouldn't schedule it right around the birth of his child, but I could be way off on that.


Therefore, as I'm sure you could guess - I have recently taken the reenlistment topic back off the table. The Army Life for Me? I don't think so. After all, if Austin's against it, who am I to argue? I'm such a good, subservient wife you know.

*DISCLAIMER*This is all subject to change, so writing all of this may have been for nothing. And I'm sure this post was less entertaining than my hysterical breakfast fit, so I apologize. I will keep you posted, though, on the "plans" for Austin's job. Apparently the Army thinks that when people get married, they really would prefer to spend as little time together as possible. Keeps the love alive.