William commissioned into the Army in December 2009. He had an 8 year National Guard/ Reserve contract ( I think) and served 4 of them while he was in school under a simultaneous membership program. He completed the basic officer training while he was in college and was required to attend Advanced Training in the area that he branched. He branched military intelligence. We always knew he would be going to MIBOLC which is the Advanced Training for MI officers. We were told we would get a months notice.
That's the back story... after this almost a year passed. We had started to wonder if they were ever going to send him. Also, he was virtually useless to his National Guard unit considering he was non-deployable and hadn't completed his training. So with some pushing from his unit, he called some one at "Big Army" (as he calls it) to find out what the deal was. Turns out they had basically lost his name in the system. With his kind reminder that he still existed, they put him on a bunch of wait lists for classes starting anywhere between November 29 and March. He was 4th in line for the November 29th class. As of November 16th we hadn't heard otherwise. And I was starting to get nervous. Even though the person in charge said there was almost no way for him to get into the November 29th class, I'm full of what ifs. So I was worried.
November 17th William called to "check" where his name was on the lists. The guy was like "Oh, it looks like your name just got moved into the class. Looks like you'll need to report on the 29th. You'll have your orders in 24 hours."
That's pretty much when the whirlwind began. We got things settled in Dallas and in order with Halliburton so that he could take a military leave of absence. Then we went to Houston for Thanksgiving. We drove home on Thursday night and left on Friday morning. Hmm... it was kind like that I guess. Except for that William's car didn't start on Thursday night. So we jumped it. And then it wouldn't start on Friday morning so we got a new battery. Then we left. 3 hours late. Whoops.
Then we drove to El Paso and stayed the night. Something else eventful happend on the way though. He realized like 30 miles from El Paso that he left his military personnel file in Dallas. Whoops. Kind of neccessary. Lucky for us we have a great cousin in Dallas who dropped everything, ran to our house, and shipped William the folder (it's full of pictures of his
We got to Tucson on Saturday afternoon (our 1st anniversary). We went to the mall and saw a movie (Harry Potter) and grabbed some dinner. The next morning William did lots of paperwork to get ready for this week. Then we drove down to Fort Huachuca. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes from Tucson. It was exciting. Not. We grabbed lunch in Sierra Vista (the town that surrounds Fort Huachuca). Then we went to see another movie. Love and Other Drugs. It was good. William says it was mushy... but oh well.
I'll spare you the rest of the details from Sunday night and the wee hours of Monday morning. All the nervousness and tears (mostly mine... William's swears he just had something in his eye) and worry and good bye kisses.
You are probably thinking "Yall are apart all the time right... no big deal". Except this is really different. Why? I don't know. William is just farther away. I guess the gravity of what he could be training for is weighing down on me. Up until this point I feel like the Army stuff has kind of been a game. But now it's real. He's deployable. And with the impending Korean issues there is no telling how fast his "Early 2012" deployment schedule could turn into April of 2011. I mean really that's what's on my mind. I had just learned to deal with the uncertainty of Halliburton. The long hours, stress on William, crazy schedule. He takes this much more seriously than he did his job. Sad to say... but true. He loves being able to serve his country.
So here we are again walking into the unknown. Just a different kind. We've put our house buying plans and job changing plans on hold. We've taken a big cut in income. We will break into our savings for 3-day weekends with each other (in a heartbeat). And basically I guess we just hang on for the wild ride that God has in store for us. This weekend as I was crying William said "I guess there's just a bigger plan in store for us". I of course shot back "Oh yea, what is it?" He is a wise husband and said "Hell if I know!"
So hear we go...
