It seems like we've been waiting for this week to come forever! We finally got the slate of which bases we have to choose from for our next move. It's hard to believe we already have to pick where we want to go - considering we just moved a month and a half ago.
Ryan will do his interview next week and then 7 days later we will get our assignment.
For weeks, I've been thinking about which bases would be available, what part of the country (or world) we would want to live in, how I would accept if we got stationed somewhere where Ryan would get deployed again...
But the thing is, you can only plan out so much without seeing the slate. Well, a lot of places we had talked about weren't even offered. It's not a terrible slate, but it's not awesome either. We DO NOT want to stay on the west coast. The only state we would consider out here would be Colorado. Ideally, we just wanted to be closer to our homes and families...which are spread along the east coast. I found myself complaining or not thrilled with most of our choices, but then I thought back to how I felt about this whole thing a few months ago.
I told myself that my top priority would be to get to a base where Ryan had a great job that he loved and a base where he wouldn't be getting deployed. Ft. Campbell was rough in the fact that they were always ramping up....sometimes he would be out training 4-5 days and it happened a lot over weekends. He was always exhausted, and if we hadn't moved, he would be going back to Afghanistan later this year. Now don't get me wrong - if Ryan had never deployed by this point, he would definitely be looking for an opportunity to do so. I know in his heart, he felt it was his duty as an Officer in the Army to serve his time, at least once, supporting the US in their efforts in Afghanistan. But he HAS deployed...and he had a really rough deployment, so I know that we would both feel really blessed if he could stay stationed on US soil for at least the near future.
That being said, I've started to realize that I will be grateful with a lot of slots on that slate. Yeah, maybe it won't be in the most glamorous city and it may not be in driving distance to our families, but at the end of the day I'd rather Ryan be doing what is best for his career and I'd also like him coming home to me every night.
I know wherever we end up we will find and make our own adventures...and I know that if we pray and trust God, we will end up exactly where we are supposed to! And so begins the 14 day countdown until we get our assignment!
I remember that my dad never felt like he completed his duty until he was deployed and he was deployed back in 2006-2007. He retired once he came back because I have a younger sister but he is definitely glad that he had the opportunity and that he was able to return safely. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been going back and reading all of your "Army Life" posts out of curiosity. We get our slate in April (then have to wait a few months to get our assignment sadly), and reading this is just so relatable. The guessing game is no fun. My husband is an officer on subs, but his shore tour is next. We're hoping for a NROTC job, but most of the school we wanted have been on recent slates and won't be on ours. I'm glad yours worked out well enough! It's so exciting and stressful all at once!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see another Army wife in the blogging world. We're currently at Ft Campbell and it has been killing me. When you said you never wanted to end up on the west coast, I felt the same way about the east coast[we're from Cali]. So now I'm taking it in stride. Will be following! :)
ReplyDelete