Life Changing Updates (part I)

For someone who likes structure, control and plans, I’m holding up pretty well under all the chaos that is our life right now!

Hubby is leaving (again… the story of our lives!) for the National Training Center next week. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a month already since he came home from Fort Polk, LA.

We’ve had a great time this month while he’s been home, doing things like a culinary-focused trip to Topeka, KS for my birthday a few weeks ago, where we enjoyed Indian and Mediterranean cuisine, Auntie Annie’s Pretzels and home-made ice cream, among other tasty things. (The Little Apple doesn’t offer much in the way of cuisine…). This weekend we have tickets to the country music festival, Country Stampede, to see favorites like Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Tracey Lawrence and Little Big Town.

It’s been wonderful having hubby home, and as it turns out, he may be home for a while…

Changes in deployment plans have us unsure if his unit will deploy later than expected, somewhere besides the expected destination, as part of another Brigade, or perhaps, not at all.

Deployment changes have brought command changes. His (now former) Commander got pulled into another brigade, and hubby was chosen as his replacement. No Captain’s Career Course or increase in rank, just the promotion. Still super proud of him though!

For my non-military readers, here’s the translation (Because this stuff is as confusing as heck, I know):

Hubby’s boss got transferred and hubby was promoted. He was not given a raise or a new rank, and normally, he would attend "Captain's Career Course" before taking this postion but I’m confident, as are those who picked him, that he’ll do a great job! He’s now the Troop Commander, or Commanding Officer (CO), which is something like a regional or district manager, if this were “real life”. He’s now in charge of multiple Platoons. Platoons are the smallest units, made up of 20-30 soldiers and one officer who is the Platoon Leader (or PL. Basically, the supervisor); imagine these as branches or offices. As you can see, he’s not making any major war-deciding decisions, but he’s got a lot of responsibility. On top of the soldier’s well being, he’s also responsible for all of their equipment, everything from binoculars to Bradleys (A slightly smaller version of a tank).

As if the new job and new deployment plans weren’t enough change for now, hubby is submitting a Civil Affairs packet (This means he’s trying to “transfer to another department”). There’s no way in H3LL he won’t get chosen when the board reviews applicants next April, so we’re expecting a move next spring. We don’t know where he’ll go for Captain’s Career Course if he gets chosen for CA, but we do know that we’ll end up in North Carolina for the rest of his Army career if he stays CA. Using the word “know” loosely here...

I’ve learned 2 things in my 25 years (Side Note: I had to check off one of those “age range” boxes the other day, and I was in the “25-34” box… YIKES. Hubby is still in the “18-24” but not for much longer!)

1. Things Change. Don’t ever put all of your eggs in one basket. Have a backup plan. Be flexible.

2. Amplify the rules about change if you’re in the Army. Things will change more often, and even things that shouldn’t change inevitably will, usually at the worst time possible.

My response to all of this uncertainty in our lives has been to take control where I can. Create my own stability and structure. Check back tomorrow for what I’m doing and how it’s going because this post has gone on long enough! :-)