Off to a Great Start

After leaving on 14 June, we had about a 30 second phone call after midnight Friday morning so D could tell me he arrived safely, but then I didn't hear from him again till Sunday afternoon.  I was driving home from my grandma's out in the boonies of eastern Oklahoma when my phone rang, so I immediately pulled over thinking he may be able to give me his address.  Texting and driving is bad enough, I didn't think I should talk, drive, and write!

"I only have three minutes," was his opening line.

Turns out that in Reception at Ft. Leonard Wood, unlike Ft. Sill last summer, their phones were confiscated ASAP and not returned.  I didn't hear from him again (minus one "not personal" call he made about our paperwork and allowances that lasted two minutes) until Thursday.

Apparently D is staying in the Bravo Hotel - a brand new building of barracks at Ft. Leonard Wood which are really, super nice.  At least compared to the bays he stayed in last summer.  He has a roommate, but I'm sure that's worth it to get a (semi-)private bathroom!  When he was assigned his room, all of his belongings were also returned.  That means he got his phone back and was able to text me (and then call me) almost all day on Thursday!  Even better, he got our Wifi Hotspot back and we were able to FaceTime!  (We live in the future, y'all!)

Since their training wasn't scheduled to start until Sunday, he was given a lot of personal time which means I talked to him a lot on Friday and Saturday, and then on Sunday when their short session of briefings was completed.  Something I'm incredibly grateful for this summer is that during the duration of his training, he will receive personal time each evening.  I'm looking forward to being able to talk with him - at least by text message - every day.  Such a blessing.

So, really - we're off to a great start!

Here We Go Again...

Hello once again, readers (if you're out there).  I know it's been a while since I updated you on our ARNG journey, but I have good reasons excuses.

Since I last updated in September, we have:

• finished up our full-time job school years 
• completed approximately 30 hours of graduate work (holy cow, that's almost a whole degree!)
• hooded a certain someone (me!) with their M.Ed. (you may now address me as Master M)
• switched MOS's (that's the Army's fancy acronym for "job") three times
• shipped D off to AIT

Wait, you must be saying - wait.  Wasn't D in OCPC?  Weren't you doing the happy dance in September because he'd been listed for Traditional OCS - the one where he wouldn't have to be away from home?

And, the answers to those questions are yes.  Officer Candidates that were taking the route D did would not usually have to go to AIT (Advanced Individual Training) - their time at OCS counts as their final job training.  So what happened?  I'll give you the condensed version, shall I?  There were 10-15 candidates in OCPC this year, which as I gather is a rather large class for our area.  Due to budget constraints in our "great" state which are causing ever more belt-tightening, especially where the ARNG is concerned, our OCPC was only given a limited number of slots for OCS of any kind.  This number of slots, I'm sure you can imagine, was less than the number of people vying for them which resulted in an Order of Merit List (OML).

An OML is exactly what it sounds like; the Army gives you a certain number of points for certain things, like PT, Leadership Ability, Prior Service, and so on.  Unfortunately, D had a column with a 0 in it, whereas many of his fellow OCPC-ers did not:  Prior Service.  Since D is not MOS qualified, his 1+ year in the Army doesn't technically count as "Prior Service" since he isn't fully trained for his job.  This resulted in D being toward the bottom of the List, and just like that, he was out of OCPC.

He was sent back to his original RSP unit, which he was so thrilled about, to await further orders.  We knew then that he would have to go to AIT, but we were a little uneasy about it.  D's original MOS (which I cannot recall at the moment... something to do with Engineering) had an AIT upwards of 15 weeks long, and the next one he could get into would interfere with his civilian job.  I do have to hand it to the ARNG (for one thing), they're good about working around D's civilian life, which requires him from August - May every year.  

This scheduling conflict caused D to inquire about changing his MOS to something whose AIT would be short and over the summer.  First, they tried to put him in one - and I don't even remember what it was - that was 4 weeks long right after school got out, but it turned out they didn't really have room in that one, so D is now of MOS 88M - Motor Transport Operator.  This AIT is 7 weeks long, plus a week for Reception, and located at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri - about 6 hours from our home.

He left yesterday.  Here we go again.

Wheel

Life is a cycle of things you've already done before, right?  That's where we're at.

Since D returned home in early August, it's been back to the grindstone for us.  Sure, we had a week or so together before school and work and drill and everything else started back up, but it seems like a distant memory now.

Two weekends after D's return, he had Battle Hand Off at his old RSP unit.  Or he was supposed to, anyway.  The person in charge of making sure this went off without a hitch (who will remain nameless) didn't have all their i's dotted and their t's crossed, if you know what I mean.  I mean they suck at planning, if you didn't catch my drift - but what matters is that D has moved on from that unit to another.

This "smooth" transition is a story in and of itself, but this was D's first weekend with his OCPC (Officer Candidate Prep Course for those of you who don't speak Army) unit.  He says that overall, OCPC is more challenging than RSP was - which isn't surprising, really.  He seemed to really enjoy it - and I know he feels like he fits in with the soldiers in OCPC more than he did at RSP or BCT.

He's also been put on the list for Traditional Officer Candidate School (OCS).  There are three options for OCS in the National Guard:  Traditional, Accelerated, and Federal.  The Traditional OCS is formatted exactly like drill - once a month and two weeks in the summer - and it takes 16 months (you read that correctly, months) to complete.  Accelerated OCS is 8 weeks long and takes place twice a year.  Federal OCS is between the two, with a length of 14 weeks and cycles every two weeks.  There are pros and cons to each, but I must say that I'm glad D has chosen Traditional OCS for one major reason:  he doesn't have to be away from home.


Because don't get me wrong - our lives are crazy busy with no end in sight, but I'll take it in a heartbeat over the summer, because as this wheel spins (and spins and spins), I at least get to sleep next to him at night. 

He's Home!

This past week has been a crazy combination of hurry-up-and-wait, anticipation, anxiety, and finally, relief.  I left on Wednesday for Lawton, and arrived in plenty of time to freshen up for my dinner date with other 1-31 FA BN Foxtrot BTRY family members.  We met at Olive Garden and I had a wonderful visit with people who had shared my summer experience and whose family members knew my own - it was amazing.

Wednesday night, D called at 9:43.  "I have seven minutes," he said, "So we can't talk long."  He continued, saying that they had recently learned that the Family Run would basically consist of the battery running in formation, and the family running in a formation behind them - meaning we wouldn't get to visit or run together, so I opted to sleep in instead - which D totally understood.  I returned to my hotel room after visiting for four hours with the family members I'd had dinner with and went to sleep.  Or tried to go to sleep, anyway.  Seems like as soon as I laid my head down, I'd think of something else I needed to look at on the map or google.

I slept fitfully, at best, and woke up at 6:30, fifteen minutes before my alarm went off.  I had a little breakfast from the lobby of the hotel and then began to get ready - after my shower I got a text message:  "Wish you would have been there this morning - wasn't like we thought."  Turns out that the soldiers got a good 20 minutes to visit during the run time and I missed it!  Nothing I could do about it at that point, though, so I continued getting ready and arrived at Ft. Sill 30 minutes early for the day's activities.

The first part was a short family orientation - basically talking about what the soldiers had been doing, and some jokes about how now they could all do their own laundry - and a citizenship ceremony, where 8 soldiers became citizens of our great nation.  This all ended about 9:15, 45 minutes ahead of schedule!  The second part of the on-base portion was a demonstration - select groups of soldiers demonstrated different skills they had fostered this summer, like physical fitness and battle buddy/taking an enemy drills - and then several soldiers were promoted.  This all ended about 9:50, and had been scheduled to end at 11:00, so as the soldiers marched back to the battery area to change from ACUs to ASUs (the camos to the dress uniforms) the family members were all abuzz with the likelihood of getting our soldiers early.  Oh, but wait - this is the Army we're talking about here.

So, we waited until 11:15 for our soldiers to march back to us, where they were released for Family Day.  That first embrace - I can't even describe my feelings.  I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.  I wanted to jump for joy and never let D go again.  Then I remembered that I had on makeup - and had been standing in the Oklahoma sun and wind for an hour - and he was wearing a white shirt... oops!  We met one of D's battle buddies and his wife and brother for lunch at Red Lobster, then headed back to the hotel to hang out.

End of Family Day, before he reported back to the Battery Area for formation.

When it was time for dinner, D had requested fast food so we had Whataburger and then I took him back to Ft. Sill and dropped him off for the night.  My mom and step-dad arrived and luckily I had them to visit with or I'd have been a mess Thursday night.  As it was, I barely slept, waking up much earlier than my 9:00 alarm.  We checked out of the hotel about 10:45 and went to have lunch with the D fan club - his parents and some close family friends.  

Graduation was scheduled to begin at 1:00, so we arrived at about 12:30 and got seats in the balcony.  The entire class was seated in the lower level, so I went down to take a picture of D, even though he couldn't look at me or react, calling "I love you," in Korean as I walked away. 

Before the ceremony.  See how they're all staring straight ahead?

Specialist D, stating his name and hometown!

The ceremony was emotionally charged and awesome, but my favorite part was obviously the end, where, after standing in the heat for a bit, I got to load my D in the car and drive him home with me!

Let's go home!

Now, we're at home, luxuriating in each others' presence.  Forgive me if I don't update again for a while!  :-)

Five More Days

The days are finally dwindling down!  I will be headed to Lawton on Wednesday, with Family Day on Thursday and then Graduation on Friday.  Finally, I can just say, "Oh yeah, it's Friday."  Not next Friday, or in ten nine ... two weeks.  I am so, so ready.

This past week, the soldiers executed their 16 km march, but the bivouacking that was planned had to be canceled because of the heat.  D said in a letter that five soldiers had fallen out within two hours due to heat injuries, so they "simulated" their training in the Battery Area.  NIC-at-Night was re-cancelled and so was Night Navigation.  Their march was rescheduled from 2200 to 0300 - D said it took until 0830 or so to finish.  I can't even imagine, especially in this heat.  The soldiers also began returning their equipment - like their M16s.

We had rain at our residence yesterday, which kept the temperature down in the 90s, but no such luck for Lawton.  When I talked to D yesterday, he said it was 108F.  He also mentioned that for the last 8 days, it had been between 108 and 111F every day.  So glad he's coming home to rest in the AC!

This coming week is all about preparing for graduation.  More equipment must be turned in and then the battery must meet for inspection.  D is supposed to retrieve his ACUs and Dress Uniform from the cleaners today.  Wednesday is graduation practice. And then our reunion!

Last night was definitely the most difficult phone call to date.  We've spent all the time away from each other, and here it is, the resulting simultaneous stress and relief culminating in a single phone call.  We didn't want to hang up - only being able to hear your significant others' voice once a week is not easy and not something I would wish on anyone - but we also wanted it to end simply because the end of that day brings our reunion another one closer.  So close.

And here we are.  BCT is drawing to a close, and then we only have drill to look forward to once a month for the next several months to come.  It will be relief beyond words to have my D at home with me again.  I've been resisting the urge to pack, but you better believe that my packing list is at the ready!

Pffffft, PFT

If you've been keeping up with us on Becoming an ARNG Wife, you know that this past weekend was the dreaded Physical Fitness Test.  Up to this point, D has only participated in PFAs (Physical Fitness Assessments) - and I definitely won't use this venue to talk about how test and assessment mean the same thing and that the Army should really be calling one a formative assessment and the other a summative assessment because I doubt that anyone reading this wants to hear about educational assessment theories (if you do, you know how to get in touch with me!).  Anyway, a PFA is basically a practice test used to gauge your improvement and show you where you stand for the REAL thing.

The REAL thing took place on 30 July.  D had taken a practice test during each drill weekend previous to BCT and then a couple of times during BCT.  Each time, he had shown improvement, but his biggest challenge was always the run.  For civilian folks (like me), here's a breakdown.  The PFT consists of 3 parts:  situps, pushups, and the run.  You get two minutes for each of the first two - the idea is to do as many situps or pushups as you can in those two minutes.  The run is for two miles.  To pass, you need at least 150 points with a minimum of 50 in each category.  I know that seems like a useless qualifier, but without it a soldier could potentially pass if they ran really slow but could max out pushups; so really, it's to make sure everyone can perform reasonably well in each category.

To get 50 points for pushups, males in D's age category (22-26) have to do at least 31 pushups (women have different standards).  Fifty points in the situp portion requires 43 situps.  The two mile run has to be completed in 17:30 or less.  Since his arrival at BCT, D had pretty consistently gotten enough points in the pushup and situp categories - which was a feat in its own right, since during drill he hadn't been able to do that.  His progress has been astounding to watch.  His first run time at BCT was just under 20 minutes - 19:57.  A ten minute mile is pretty impressive to me since the last time I ran a mile (in the air-conditioned gym on a treadmill) it took me close to twelve and a half minutes.  In his second PFA, he ran an 18:17.  So, coming into the PFT - the one that matters and could make or break graduation - he needed to shave 47 seconds from his run time.

I had been thinking about it all week.  And worrying about it all week.  I avoided writing anything about it in my letters, though, because I didn't want D to think I didn't think he could do it.  Or put any more pressure on him about it.  I did think he could do it and I knew I'd be upset if he didn't pass, since that had the potential for delaying his return home.  On Saturday morning, I woke up about 5:30 am and said a little prayer for him; for the rest of the day - especially after his Battery Commander posted a God-awful note on Facebook about how most of the battery had done well, but there were a "few families and soldiers" that were going to be "disappointed in the next couple of weeks" - I worried and fretted and was anxious.  I texted him late in the afternoon just to say that I couldn't wait to talk to him and imagine my surprise when my phone dinged a few minutes later with a reply!

I texted back almost immediately - "How did it go this morning?"  Then, my lovely husband almost gave me a heart attack when he didn't respond for a few minutes.  "Do you have time to talk?" he finally answered.  I was keeping our nephew, T,  this weekend (he's 11) and so D didn't know if we were busy.  Of course, T was busy playing video games on the computer so I replied affirmatively and within a few seconds, my phone rang.

After our exchange of hellos and how-are-yous, I asked again.  "How'd it go today, honey?"  Here's about how our conversation went (my inner dialog is italicized):
M:  "Did it go okay?"
D:  "What do you want to hear about first?"
M:  "I don't care - I want to know about all of it!"  (You're killing me, D - just tell me!)
D:  "Well...  let's start with pushups.  I did 45.  And I quit doing situps before time was called."
M:  "But you did enough, right?"  (Why would you stop before doing enough?)
D:  "Oh yeah, I did 45 situps, too.  I only needed 43.  I wanted to save my abs for the run."
M:  "How was the run?" (Spontaneously combusting, here, D!)
D:  "You want to guess my time?"
M:  "No!  Just tell me!"  (Guessing too fast would be mean and so would guessing too slow.  Better to not guess!)
D:  "Well, you know I needed 17:30, right?"  
M:  "Yes."  (Seriously, D.  Me == dying)
D:  "Well my time was in the 17s."
M:  "Okay..."  (the upper 17s or lower 17s?)
D:  "It was 17......... thirty-............."  (Meanwhile, I'm dying on the inside) "exactly.  17:30 on the nose"
M:  *passes out from waiting*
D:  "I did it."
M:  "I knew you could!  I'm so proud of you!!"

So, other than my husband trying to kill me with anticipation, everything turned out great!  He got the score he needed - actually, let's see:  45 pushups gives 66 points, 45 situps gives 53 points, and his time of 17:30 gives exactly 50, so he scored:  169!  *much celebratory dancing and squealing and screaming*

On Sunday, he got his phone practically all day, which was so nice.  He had time to call his parents, too, which I'm sure they appreciated.  I tell D all the time I feel bad for monopolizing all of his talk-time, but I only sort of feel bad for it.  I really like that he calls me!  We had a great conversation about Family Day and Graduation (which I have still not gotten any information about!), but it was cut short because he had to help load the truck for their 16 k march.

The soldiers are spending half of this week bivouacking, during which - at some point - they will complete their last requirement for graduation.  They will also get to participate in a watered-down version of NIC-at-Night, which I've mentioned in previous posts.  D was glad for it, since they had thought they wouldn't get to do it at all.  Then, it will be time to turn in gear and wait for Family Day to roll around.  In EIGHT MORE DAYS!

Is it too early to pack?

Three Weeks Left!

This week was full of milestones.  The soldiers were issued their dress-blues for graduation so they will have ample time to have them altered and get them into prime wearing condition (their berets have to be brushed, since they're wool).  D found out that he'll get two special badges - one for his Sharpshooting status, and the other for grenades, which will be Expert! 

On Saturday, Foxtrot Battery of the 1-31st Field Artillery Battalion at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma officially switched from White to Blue Phase.  This signifies quite a lot to the soldiers:  they get more privileges (I got to talk to D for FOUR hours on Sunday!), their schedules are less hectic, and it's almost time to come home.

The 8 km march began yesterday and there are two remaining requirements for graduation.  The first is the final PT test, and the second is the dreaded 16 km march, which will happen the week before graduation.  The PT test is really what D is dreading, not the march.  I know he'll do great, but there's a lot of pressure on him to be successful as I'm sure you can imagine.  Keep him (and me) in your thoughts this week, and most importantly, think strong and speedy thoughts toward him in the wee hours of Saturday morning.  I know he'll appreciate it! 

The 16 km march is only dreaded because it's hotter than Hades in Oklahoma right now.  As in, there have been 55 consecutive days over 90F, and 33 consecutive days over 100F in the Lawton area.  Also, there's been a whopping 0.10" of rain in the last 30 days.  I can't even begin to imagine the torture that will be marching 16 km in full battle gear.  I'm complaining about the heat and I get to sit in AC all day!

Supposedly, there is information coming about Family Day and Graduation at the end of the week.  I know that the cadre is extra busy with keeping our soldiers safe and (somewhat) cool, so I'm not going to complain (much) about the timeliness, but it will certainly be nice to have a layout of events.  D has informed me that early in the morning of Family Day, there will be a Family Run.  I tried not to laugh too hard when I asked if there was a Family Walk available in an indoor, air-conditioned facility.  He tried to play it off, but I know he'll want to see me in all my 0500 running-gear glory; I'll try to rough it out just for him.

My main complaint, of course, was that I wanted to be pretty when I see him for the first time in 10 weeks, but he assured me that there would be time between the "run" and the rest of the day's events to go back to the hotel for primping.  I guess we'll see when I get the schedule.

I had a rough moment this Sunday when I was talking to him because he reminded me that we'll be doing this whole mess again next summer when he's in OCS (Officer Candidate School).  Imagining a time away from him again when we're usually footloose-and-fancy-free (we're both in education, remember?) is tough; but by next summer it'll be old hat, right?  Right?