News, finally

 
I got a call early this morning: the orders for my upcoming assigment had finally arrived.

And the date on those orders was for yesterday.

On the active-duty side of things, the U.S. military system really is more efficient than that. Somehow, though, when it comes to transitioning Reservists onto active orders, the process can undergo such glitches. Fortunately, part of the system is configured precisely to deal with the little irregularities that creep in, so I didn’t have to do any scrambling myself; it was just a matter of letting my unit administrator sort things out.

As it happens, though I’m now drawing active-duty pay (and was doing so yesterday while browsing the shelves at the video store, though I didn’t know it at the time), I’m not due to report to Fort Benning until Saturday the 31st. I have three more days to finalize my preparations, and then it’s off for mobilization prep.

For now, that’s all I can say. I know where I’m going, but I don’t know yet if I’m allowed to say where I’m going. Probably I’m being overcautious — nobody has said I had to keep my destination or my duty secret — but there are some security issues involved, and I don’t want to go into specifics until I’ve made sure it’s permissible.

Packing won’t be a problem.

Organizing my quarters prior to departure, that’ll require some time and labor but won’t involve serious difficulties.

Getting in a change-of-address notice, arranging for my auto insurance to be covered, figuring out how to get my car to my ex-wife (and still have the transportation I’ll need) … those things will have to be worked out as I proceed.

And the remix_redux assignment? I may finalize that before leaving, or I may not; I may complete it during odd moments at Fort Benning, or I may not; I may finish up right after arriving at my new duty station … but I can’t afford for it to be much later than that, because we’re coming up on a deadline.

One way or another, I’m almost ready to depart. And out of the country (for the fourth time in four years) soon after that.