Josh returned from another three weeks of training on October 26th, and completed his November training the following weekend! It's an interesting time and hard to describe in words. On one hand, it's wonderful to have him home, but at the same time, it's another step closer to him leaving. On the other hand, the quicker we move through everything, the closer we are to having him back here. Trying to decide which is better isn't always that easy.
In regards to the "date", we are still waiting for official orders for his deployment. We were told 90 days out was when we would have them, and now maybe 60, but who knows! Frustrating? Yes, very much so. (Remember I am a planner... the ambiguity drives me insane!) We have a good indication of the date - roughly mid-late January, but the specific date is still a little fuzzy - a couple of different days have been mentioned, but all fall within a couple of days of each other. So for now, we refer to it as "the date"! We do know that he will be at Ft. Bragg (living in a tent) for a couple of months before leaving for Afghanistan for 10 months.
Unfortunately, we have also found out that the will be leaving for another 10 day training. He will be gone November 30 - December 9, again in Fort Drum. We know that the training is important, but the on again, off again routine is getting old. We try to stay upbeat about it all, but it is frustrating especially at this time of year.
We had the opportunity to go out to dinner with the other men in Josh's truck the first weekend of this month. There are four of them in the truck, three of which are married and the fourth has a girlfriend. It was a nice time. They all get along well, joke around, laugh, etc., which is comforting to see knowing that they will be each other's right hand when they are over there. Sgt. Bryon Gridley, Bryan Coe, and Bryon Hulsizer round out Josh's truck. They are trying to convince Josh to change his name to Bryan, but it is not catching on!
Through all of this, we have been given the opportunity to meet a lot of new and wonderful people. All of whom have been very supportive and have helped us to understand the information and share some insight on the deployment. We continue to learn new things... especially for me, the many meanings of the acronyms that are used (and I thought higher ed and student affairs was full of them!). It really is like learning a foreign language.
Josh has decided that his last day of teaching will be on December 21. It works out well for his classroom because the children will come back to school in January with a sub from the start and not Josh for a few days, and then a sub. This also gives him a month without the added stress of school. We are both very lucky to have such supportive work environments. Due to my busy schedule in the past few months, I was given the opportunity to hire a temp. service worker. She is a recent college graduate who is interested in event planning and has been a blessing! She will be filling in for me while I am out in January. It makes it easier for me to leave, knowing that I should return to a normal workload, and easier for the office knowing that the continuity is there within the position.
Josh celebrated his birthday last week with his entire family from Virginia coming up to NY for the occasion. We had a wonderful time and look forward to traveling down there for Thanksgiving. We, along with Jennifer, and her boyfriend, are running the Alexandria Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. A five mile run through Alexandria... should be fun! Rumor has it that there is a little "family trophy" being created.
We are making a list of all the things we want to o in the time between now and then or when we look at each other and say, "what do you want to do today?" Simple, crazy, or anything, but camping is not an option. Josh will be getting his full share of the "tent life" soon after he leaves.
Your continued thoughts and support are most appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving to all... enjoy!
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