Drawing near departure time

[aadler]

 
Quite a bit of today’s post is devoted to matters in the military side of my life, so I’m putting it in a cut.

Open Cut – Coming Events

This morning I got a call from a man with whom I was deployed in Afghanistan; we’ll be working together on my upcoming assignment, and he was relaying some information regarding preparation and necessary supplies/ equipment. The duty will be slightly different from (or perhaps in addition to) what I had thought, but I still expect to enjoy it. Less than two weeks now before I report.

Meanwhile, my unit continues training and preparing for our eventual redeployment to Iraq. We’ve been the lead in the last two rotations (that is to say, traveling under our own banner, with personnel from other units added in to fill out the roster), but the next one out, it may be that we’re the ones serving as complementary troops. Or possibly not; we were supposed to be fillers in the Afghanistan tour, but so may of us signed waivers, allowing the Army to activate us ahead of the official two-year margin between deployments, that there were more of us — including the First Sergeant, company commander, and most of the platoon sergeants — than there were of the ‘host’ unit, so that we again took the lead.

It could happen again; my company has been recognized as the most decorated small-unit force in the entire Army, active-duty or reserve, and a lot of that morale transfers to the new people coming in even as some of the veterans move on. I personally have no plans to move on. I don’t know as yet if I’ll be officially called for the second Iraq tour, but I’ll probably volunteer (again) if I’m not. How could I do otherwise? I joined to serve, and that’s where the service is these days.

Close Cut

The preceding does have an effect on other things in my life. Susan and I have finished the pre-marriage counseling sessions we were having with a church-sponsored counselor; in fact, we stretched it out into half a dozen visits, instead of the one required. There are other requirements, however, and there may be some small problem in meeting them. Catholic practice is to require a minimum of five months between the church being notified and a wedding taking place, with certain preparations mandated to ensure a proprely functioning marriage. I leave in two weeks, I won’t return until October, and my unit is expected to be back on orders in January. We’ll need to meet some of the requirements by e-mail, and manage others in the three-month interim, and I don’t yet know what can be done or how we’ll need to do it.

I don’t want to go back into a combat theater without Susan as my wife of record. We were apart for ten years, and now that we no longer are, I want it properly settled before I proceed. No foreboding, no presentiments of dire events to come; I just want things to be right.

I’ll be going back tomorrow to stay with her for a few days, then I’ll have to return to my current ‘home’ to finish preparations for the coming duty. Not long now.

Comments

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

That's quite a record. I hope the new guys are appropriately proud to be part of the unit.

I'm delighted to hear that you and Susan will indeed be getting remarried. Sounds like you've taken all the right steps getting there. I wish you many happy years together. I'm sure the church will be accomodating for your deployment situation.

[aadler]

I just sent them my opening inquiry, so we’ll find out fairly soon.

Thanks for your good wishes.