Tag Archives: Navy Reserves

Off to South Korea!

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The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
~St. Augustine

Okay folks, it’s official. I’m going to head to South Korea tomorrow for my two weeks’ AT (Annual Training). My orders were approved on Thursday. My tickets were booked on Friday and the tickets were actually paid for yesterday. Yes, the government can book tickets without paying for them. And it’s not unheard of for them to not be paid for when the reservist gets to the ticket counter. I know several people who this has happened to.

Without saying too much (OPSEC), I’ll be on a ship, so I’m not sure I’ll actually be able to visit South Korea other than seeing the airport. I’m hoping for a bit of liberty to see the country for at least a few hours.

I’m excited because this is the first time I’ll be on a ship and the first time I’ll be doing “real Big Navy” work. Woot!

I’ve been told that I can take photos pretty much anywhere on the ship (except some of the command areas and the area I’ll be working in), so I hope to do that so those of you who haven’t been on a Navy ship before can see a bit of what it looks like. You’ll at least see the berthing area.

So, I apologize to all my readers and all of those who generally get blog comments from me. I’m going to be absent for a while. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a few posts (I’ve already pre-scheduled the MilSpouse Friday Fill-Ins) here and there.  When I come back, I’ll be very busy because I’ll have just four or five days before reporting to Ft. Meade, Maryland for my DINFOS training.

Catch ya on the flip side (of the world)!

A Not-So-Quick Update

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When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Looking back at my blog I’ve realized that I haven’t given a real honest-to-goodness post in a while. Snippets here and there, yes. But not real meat ‘n potatoes.

*sigh* Is this deployment over yet?

The deployment is plodding along. Well, his, anyway. But then I head out to Ft. Meade the first week of August to go to DINFOS, or the Defense Information School. This is the last of the training I have to do to be ready to learn all that the Navy wants me to learn. I won’t get out of the school until the first week of October.  Looking at the schedule, it looks like we might have a four day weekend for Labor Day, so Huzzy and I are hoping that one of us can fly to see the other. If we are lucky, we’ll get a few days to a week total between now and when I return in October to see each other. Then, we can start living together as a married couple… well, until his next deployment, which isn’t too far after October.

Seriously… can you believe that I go to the school in just over a MONTH and TWO MONTHS from then is October? You hear that ladies (and gents!) who have spouses that are deployed? October is not that far off!

And on the Navy Reserve front… my orders may not go through! No folks, no need to check the date and think this is a post from my cancelled orders to Hawaii from April. Or my canceled orders to Central/South America in May. Nope, these are my order, my two weeks’ AT to South Korea. Yes, we are working on the third set of (hopefully not) canceled orders.

Remember when I talked about being TNPQed (Temporarily Not Physically Qualified)? Well, my doctor has said I am all set to go back full duty with no restrictions. Only, my reserve center (NOSC) isn’t satisfied with the letter. They need more information. So I have to go back tomorrow and get it. Then hope that my PCM will have time to sign it. Because in order for me to go on AT this year, my orders have to be approved by 30JUN or they won’t be funded. In order for my orders to be approved, I cannot be TNPQed.

Tomorrow is 29JUN. Ya’ll know how quick the Navy (or any branch) is to get things done. They are even talking about having to go through BUMED to get approval because SOMEONE in the NOSC somehow put in that my problem was orthopedic. Never has it been orthopedic. It’s always been muscular/nerves. If BUMED has to get involved, there is NO WAY I’ll be able to get off TNPQ in time for my orders to be approved.

And that sucks. That totally sucks. I’ve been looking forward to going to South Korea for months. Every time I had problems with the cancel/no cancel on my orders, I’ve always told myself, “Well, at least you have South Korea.”  And now that is in limbo.

In other news, I’m very very excited that a friend from Michigan is coming to visit Seattle/Portland with one of her friends and they are going to stay with me for a bit. Di was one of the first people I got to know when I moved to a new school my sophomore year. I remember being invited to her 16th birthday party. She wanted a “grownup” party, so we all dressed in formals and were served tea and cookies.

Seriously. No joke. We had a tea party. HA!

Then we went into her house and Di picked up a guitar and we all started singing songs. Sitting on the floor. In our formals. Good times, good times.

Di is the ying to my yang. She is an earthy soul who is a kind of “namaste” calming spirit. Which I’ll need. Because while she’s here, the landlords from hell are going to be doing what is going to become their monthly “inspection” of the house… both inside and out. Because apparently, I’ve violated the lease.  She doesn’t know it yet, but if she’s here, she’s going to be my witness when the landwhorelords come in. If not, my friend R will.

Yup, we are horrible, rotten no-good tenants because there were two occasions where I didn’t mow the lawn for two weeks. Once because it rained for two weeks straight and the grass didn’t ever dry out enough to be cut. And the second time because… uh, it rained and then I was gone for five days to a conference in Baltimore. Then it rained some more after I got back.

Yes, we are horrible tenants. Landlords beware. And be afraid, very afraid because when it comes to our rent… we pay the day it’s  due. Oh no. Very horrible tenants. Never rent to us. Because we just may not mow the lawn for two weeks. And that is–apparently–unacceptable.

And the World Keeps Spinning

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Life is simple, it’s just not easy.
~Author Unknown

Things have been busy lately. Last Friday, I babysat the six month old and a three year old again. The six month old boy was having a hard time sleeping. I think he’s teething again. He would sleep for half an hour or an hour and then be up screaming. He actually screamed/cried/whimpered for the last hour and a half before his mom came home. The only thing that would help calm him is holding him in my arms and walking through the house. Circles and circles. Swaying didn’t work. Rocking didn’t work. Holding him in any position but in my left arm didn’t work.

When I handed him to his mom, I felt it. That stabbing, aching pinch in my shoulder. Followed by the tingling/numbness in my elbow and down my arm to my pinky and ring finger. It was back. The injury from DCO school.

So I dealt with it while I went to Baltimore for the PA/VI Symposium for my reserve duty. And I called my doctor today. She wanted me to go to Urgent Care. Um, no. This is a nagging injury and I’m pretty sure TriCare won’t pay for Urgent Care for it. She was able to get me in to her office, though, if I “came immediately.” So I did. Of course I hadn’t showered yet. And she referred me to physical therapy and to an electro-something to see if my nerves were working properly.

The electro place couldn’t get me in for two weeks unless I came “immediately.” So I drove to Tacoma for the appointment. They stuck probably 30+ tiny needles in me and ran varying levels of electrical currents through them to see how my nerves would react (not all at once… it was needle stick, electrical current, electrical current, electrical current). It was mostly just uncomfortable but some were pretty painful. Some just reminded me of grabbing the electrical fence when I was a kid.

After that was finished, the doctor said all my nerves are sending the proper currents so I don’t have any permanent damage. That’s good. He seems to think everything will be better in 2-4 weeks. Considering how long this has been going on, I hope he’s right. And I hope that the physical therapy will make it happen sooner.

I sure hope so because I’m supposed to have a PFA next Saturday. That’s not happening now. Which means I’ll be put on TNPQ (Temporarily Not Physically Qualified), which is not usually a big deal in active duty, but it is in the Reserves. On active duty, you can just go light duty and carry on. In the Reserves, you aren’t allowed to do anything but drill. That means no AT and no active duty.  For me, that means if this doesn’t get better, there will be no Japan and South Korea in July and no DINFOS in August and September. That would piss me off so freakin’ much.

I just need to get better. Really, really do.

Information about my trip to Baltimore, including the awesome people I got to meet and the first challenge coin I ever received, will be coming.

The Navy is Going to Beat the Type A Personality Out of Me Yet

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The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family.
~Lee Iacocca

We military spouses all know that the only thing you can count on is that everything will change when it comes to the military. But sometimes, it gets ridiculous.

I’m a Type A person. Always have been. I’m not the really uptight kind, but I like to plan things out. And I don’t mind if there is more than one way of how things might go (see, not up-tight Type A), but I like to know all the possibilities and plan for all contingencies (there’s the Type A again).

I haven’t been posting much about the craziness that has been happening in the Wuzzy Household (Wifey/Huzzy… I just made that up. Yes, I’m a dork). Mostly because I every time I sat down to write about it, things changed.

Let’s see, back when Huzzy was still here. I was supposed to be sent active duty to Hawaii for six months. Yeah, torture, I know. So we spent days that should have been spent enjoying one another (since Huzzy was deploying soon), preparing the household to have neither of us around. We had one friend who was going to watch the dogs until he moved in June and then we were going to fly Huzzy’s brother out here to watch the dogs until Huzzy came back. Because, of course, I wasn’t supposed to be back until October.

That was the beginning of April. We were told that I’d need to leave by 30APR, or, at earliest, on 15APR.  On 29MAR, I found out I’d have to leave in four days on 1APR (no joke!)…

Cue ensuing chaos.

Then, on 31MAR–the day before I was supposed to leave–it was all canceled due to lack of funding.

Now that Huzzy is gone, I’m sitting on possibly being sent active duty again. This time, to San Diego and then on a ship that will deploy to several countries in an international networking mission.  I’ve known about this for 2-3 weeks. Yet, I still don’t know if I’m going. And I would have to report 15 days from today.

People are telling me that they’d be frantic with not knowing what is going on. Right now, yeah, sometimes I feel that way and sometimes I’m like “eh, whatever happens.”

I also recently learned that the unit I drill with in Northwestern Washington will be dissolved and I will soon be drilling in San Diego. Eh, just another change.

I’m not there yet, but between being a Navy wife and a Reservist, the Navy is eventually going to beat the Type A personality out of me.

Going away for a while

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Stress is the trash of modern life – we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.
 ~Danzae Pace

I’m going to DCO school folks. I’m going to try to suck it up and deal with still being sick. It’s best for the family because if I don’t, we’ll lose about $1200 (my work pays my regular salary while I’m on military leave and if I go in April, I won’t be working, so I’ll lose that… plus we’ll have to pay for someone to watch the dogs whereas I have someone here who will watch them for free).

So it really is in my best interest to try and do it now. Please pray for me because I’m not sure I have the strength. I still feel ill and weak, but I’m going to give it my all.

So, while I’m at DCO school, you will not be seeing any posts (we have no access to Internet… unless we get liberty next weekend and I can get off base). You will not see any Tweets (again, the liberty thing).

However, to keep us all looking forward to something good (okay,  ME looking forward to something good), here’s some tickers: