The Big Day

I am calling it the Big Day because I honestly think I put more time and effort into planning for Gunnar's Infantry graduation than I did for our wedding. I planned every outfit, shoes, lip gloss to match perfectly. I got my hair cut, colored, nails painted, lost 30 pounds and bought super duper cute clothes. I was positively giddy to see him again! Of course it was 89 degrees and 120% humidity and I had to walk up and down hills and through Georgia mud to get to the Turning Blue ceremony but it was all SO WORTH IT! I felt like I was going on a first date again or something. The Turning Blue ceremony is the process in which the soldiers actually become part of the Infantry. There is a lot of Infantry pride with this group and it was actually amazing to see all of them in their spiffy dress uniforms. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a soldier in uniform!

We were able to spend the day together and then Gunnar had to stay in the barracks one last night. The following morning was the formal graduation ceremony at the National Infantry Museum. It was absolutely spectacular. Anyone that didn't get teary during the speeches had to have serious issues. I was really moved by a lot of the things they talked about but mostly the amazing history of the place and how intensely proud I was of Gunnar at that moment. After the ceremony we "hauled the mail" out of Georgia and drove north all day. It was fantastic to just be together again. We've always loved road trips together and this was no different.

The weekend was full of visiting family and celebrating Gus's birthday. We needed to get housing arranged and sent in all the necessary documents as early on Monday as we could. The house we requested had a waitlist of up to 4 weeks and our position on the waitlist was #29 out of 29. This meant that Gunnar would head down to North Carolina on his own and we would move down when the house becomes available.

I got a call on Wednesday that our house is ready and can we be there by 3pm Thursday (today). Ummm no. We arranged for Gunnar to go "move in" on Monday but the poor guy only has a roll of toilet paper and a pillow with him. Why is it that things either take way too long or happen so quickly that I can't possibly be ready in time??

Gunnar made it down to Fort Bragg today in just about 8.5 hours. And most likely he stopped for some reason every hour or at least every other hour. I thought it was a lot farther for some reason but all of the sudden 8.5 hours feels really manageable and not so much like it's the other end of the universe.

We don't have a moving date just yet. I am going to wait to see when Gunnar can get leave time and when I can round up some movers. I am excited to see Gunnar's pics of our new place though!

Not cool Army...not cool

Well all fun in the sun has been canceled due to the new info that Gunnar actually only has SEVEN days of leave in between Fort Benning and Fort Bragg. Even though he is not required by his new unit to report for duty until October 23rd, his current unit only granted him seven days of leave. That actually includes graduation day (how day #1 of leave is also graduation day is beyond me) so Gunnar will be leaving for North Carolina mid next week.

I am incredibly disappointed. I had so many fun things planned for our weeks together before we had to move. We were going to go to Oktoberfest, spend our 4th wedding anniversary together, take the kids to the park, go out to a movie...the list goes on and on. Now the scenario has changed so drastically I am really having a hard time processing all of it.

We were planning to move to a house mid-October. Most of the homes have a waitlist and the month of leave would allow for us to move all together when a home becomes available. Instead, Gunnar will need to report for duty next Thursday, stay at some barracks or something similar and then we will move down when a house is ready for us. I thought this was going to be the end of our separation for a while but I was quite wrong. I really need to learn to roll with the punches better because it seems like we'll be getting punched. Often.

To add to our logistical nightmare, we only have one car. We sold Gunnar's late spring since there was really no point to store it all summer. Gunnar will need a car at Fort Bragg - the place is HUGE!!! So I may not have a car here until he can come back to get us.

We have a lot of things to jam into the few days that he will be home. I am driving down this Wednesday, spending the day with him on Thursday and leaving after the graduation ceremony on Friday morning. We are driving to Cincinnati-ish and staying somewhere there Friday night to get up early Saturday morning, drive straight through Columbus up to a big family picnic in the Cleveland area. Then we'll head back to Columbus Saturday afternoon and meet some friends for beers. Sheesh! If that's not enough activity, we are having Gus's 3rd birthday party the next day (Sunday) and having Gunnar's parents out for the day too. It's enough to make my head spin right now. Then we'll have just Monday and Tuesday and he'll be heading to Fort Bragg on Wednesday next week. This is so different from our plans to spend a day at the beach and a month hanging around Ohio.

I am so ready to head down South and pick Gunnar up.

Drumroll Please...

We finally got Gunnar's orders! Our family will be stationed at Fort Bragg North Carolina. This was definitely one of our top choices. It's where Gunnar was stationed the first time around (way back when) so he knows the area and it's a reasonable, although still long, drive back to Ohio and our families. Fort Bragg is the largest military base in the US and it's basically like it's own town. Which is a good thing because everything I hear about the nearest town, Fayeteville NC, is less than spectacular. We will be just a few hours from the ocean though, which is a very nice bonus. North Carolina is huge, as my mom and I learned last night looking at maps. It seems like everything is a few hours away. I've got a lot to learn about the new place! At some point Gunnar decided he preferred Fort Carson, Colorado because many of his Army buddies are being stationed there. I think North Carolina will be a good location for us though, and I can't wait for Gunnar to show me around his old stomping ground!

I started yesterday trying to learn about on post housing etc. To say I am confused would be an understatement. There are waiting lists for much of the housing on post. Some are reasonable though and quite doable since Gunnar reports for duty Oct. 23rd. We were hoping for 10 or 12 days of leave but his orders say he'll have over a month! I am still waiting to find out if that is actually true - seems too good. So I learned that there are 10 different neighborhoods at Fort Bragg. We are eligible for certain neighborhoods based on Gunnar's rank. It seems like a fairly complex set of rules and regulations. I did request a welcome packet, so hopefully that will give us a clue where to start. I looked about about a dozen different websites, neighborhoods, floorplans etc to try to figure out where we should apply to live. Then my attempt to fill out the housing application didn't go too well because it was full of tons of abbreviations that still make no sense to me. I wish Gunnar was here to help me figure this stuff out.

We have just slightly more than 3 weeks till his big graduation and then our mini beach vacation! It seems like 3 weeks shouldn't be a big deal, after 4 months of being apart but in fact just the opposite is true. It seems like time has never moved so slowly. Every day is dragging by. I know it's much worse for Gunnar though. He has this week of training and because his least favorite drill sergeant is back with his platoon, it's been miserable the last week or so. He is so close to being done and so fed up with this lifestyle. No freedom or free time, even when they don't have training (Sundays for example) he still has to stay in the barracks the entire day. Occasionally he get a 3 hour pass, maybe once a week and can head to the PX for some Starbucks and people watching. I can't wait to get him away from there so he can properly relax and enjoy himself. 23 more days!!!

The Waiting Game

We still have no word on where we'll be moving to. I have been checking Gunnar's Army email several times a day (ok - dozens of times a day) to see if there's any news. It's a strange thing for me to know that we are moving soon and can't plan for any of the details. I am hoping we are able to live on base, but if we cannot we are going to need to find off-base housing pronto. I am completely in the dark about what the whole process entails and how and when we actually know what to do. What a strange life!

I am very much a mid-west type of girl. I like cities with lots to do but no so big that it takes an hour to get downtown. I like that the countryside is never too far away. I love the drastic difference between summer and winter and how wonderful fall and spring are in between. I love watching seasons change and everything that goes along with that. Most of all my family is here. I've never lived away from my family at all. I went to college 15 minutes from my parents house. I've never lived more than 10 minutes from them. My sisters and brother are all within minutes of me. The thought of being hundreds of miles away from makes me sad beyond belief. Somehow though, I still feel like we are doing the right thing for our family.

Gunnar is doing well. He has one week of training left and then "Hell Week", which for those of you that don't know, is the culmination of months of Infantry training all rolled into one hellish week. It's meant to push the soldiers as far as they can go, on very little sleep, not enough food, and intense physical challenges. Gunnar doesn't sound too excited but knowing that after that it's just biding time till graduation. He will have a few weeks after Hell Week to finish up silly tasks and then be done!

We have decided to leave immediately after graduation and hit the road. We're heading to Myrtle Beach for two nights before "hauling the mail" (as my father-in-law says) back to Columbus to hopefully make it back in time for the weekly family Sunday dinner at my parents house. Ideally he will have 10 or maybe even 12 days of leave before reporting to his next duty assignment.

Well, I better go check Gunnar's email (again!) and see if there's any news. It will be really nice to start googling my new place to call home!

Big Improvements...sort of

So in my last post I was tell you all about Gunnar's placement in week #4 of his 15 week training program. Well, he was only there for about 1 week when he was re-assigned and was moved ahead to Week #10 out of the program. It was absolutely great news! This means he has a 3rd (and hopefully final) graduation date of Sept 18th. Because of the advancement, he no longer has a family weekend in August so I won't be able to see him till his actual graduation date. He has been writing tons of letters, which make me laugh and cry every time. It's a great way to really keep in touch. And undoubtedly somewhere in every letter, Gunnar mentions his burning desire for a night of going out for ice cold draft beer and chicken wings when he comes back to Columbus. I laugh every time! He said all his other army buddies are talking about going out for lobster or steak dinners, and there's my hubby just wanting some buffalo wings!

Plans for graduation traveling are underway. Since graduation is on a Friday, I will be leaving Columbus solo on Thursday and heading south. My best pal Rachel lives in Chattanooga, which is right along the way, so I'll have a place to stay for a night before heading to Ft. Benning, Georgia in the morning (depending what time actual graduation takes place). Then Gunnar came up with the best idea I've ever heard - he wants to drive east and spend a night at the beach before heading up to Ohio. Sort of a teeny mini vacation which I think he totally deserves at this point! The downside is that we will miss a big huge family picnic up in northern Ohio that Saturday :( I think a night or two at the beach will be a great way to spend a few days after being apart for so darn long though! In the 11 years we've been together Gunnar and I have always absolutely loved riding in the car together. I can't wait to have a roadtrip with him. I am wondering if it's too early to start packing...

In other really great news, Gunnar has use of his cell phone once again. Apparently morale has been a bit low in his group and one of the other prior-service fellows requested that all PS guys get their personal phones back. So each night after training, we are able to talk or text again. It's really amazing being able to communicate again on a regular basis. We have been talking for nearly an hour each night and it really makes a big difference for both of us I think.

So things are definintely moving along now. It's crazy to be able to say that I am going to see Gunnar next month! We have about 5 more weeks to go and then he'll be home for an undetermined amount of time. I am hoping we get at least 2 weeks before moving but it's anybody's guess really.

Speaking of moving. Gunnar told me last night that we should know in the next couple of weeks where we will be moving to. I am not holding my breath though because we thought we would have known something by now. It's a really strange thing to know I am moving my whole family somewhere next month and have no idea where. I can't even begin to work out the logistics since I have no idea where we will be. A lot is still up in the air, obviously.

What the....

I had to wait a few days to process the change in plans before sharing it with all of you. Gunnar relocated to Georgia and after a week of in-processing (aka doing not much of anything at all), it was announced Friday morning that he would be joining week #4 of Basic training. All along it was understood that he was exempt from Basic training since he is prior service. And because the WTC course in Oklahoma is a sort of refresher-course-in-place-of-Basic for prior service. Well the week #4 info came as one heck of a blow. Gunnar was assuming he would be put into week #8 or #7, worst case scenario. That was the word on the street anyway. Also, Gunnar's contract clearly states 14 weeks of Army training and this little set back makes it closer to 19 weeks. We were planning for an early-mid September graduation and now he is scheduled to graduate October 2nd.

Basic training is brutal. The drill sergeants are ruthless and he is really miserable. I understand this is how it is intentionally set up but Gunnar has been there, done that before and really doesn't belong there. All of his prior service buddies are in the same boat and all pretty upset about this. I'm pretty sure if they had known ahead of time that this was the plan, they all still would have re-enlisted, and would be better prepared, knowing what they're getting themselves into.

Gunnar's cousin (a fellow I've never met and lives somewhere in the southwest) is an Army recruiter. Gunnar gave me all his contact info in case I had any questions or needed anything while he's gone for the summer. I felt this little situation warranted an email to the guy. I asked Joel what in the world Gunnar is doing in Basic training at this stage in the game. Joel said he couldn't believe Gunnar was surprised to be in Basic again. Army policy states that any soldier out of the service for more than 48 months needs to complete Basic training again. Some good information that would have been nice to know a few months ago!

So it's going to be a long time till I see my Gunnar again. His phone was confiscated so we no longer can text or talk like we had been able to. He has called a few times from a pay phone but the lack of communication has been really hard. I can't believe it's going to be like this for another 10 weeks. He is sending me a letter every day, which is pretty awesome. But I am only sending him a letter once or twice each week. He has to do 25 pushups for each letter he receives. I feel terribly guilty knowing how hard he has to work to read what I write but I know he is thrilled to get the letters too. Damn drill sergeants.

Happy Graduation!

A few days ago (Wednesday) Gunnar graduated from WTC (Warrior Training Course) in Oklahoma. The WTC course was designed as a replacement for Basic Training for prior service recruits to the Army and also gentleman that were prior service in other branches of the military and re-enlisting in the Army. After graduation Gunnar traveled to Georgia on Thursday to go to Fort Benning where he will complete his Infantry Training. Infantry training at Fort Benning is unique in that it is a combination of basic training and MOS training. Because of this, it was understood that Gunnar and some of his fellow WTC grads would be jumping into and existing training class mid-stride. However that might not actually be the case. There are rumors going around that they may make all of the prior service fellas go through basic training again. I was mostly infuriated when Gunnar told me this. I was figuring it up and he should in theory be gone for another 9 weeks (based on his contract he signed with the recruiters) but this basic training set back could mean he is gone for another 12-15 weeks! Talk about not being able to plan for anything ever!

I was really stressing these details till my pal Rachel put things in perspective for me. She pointed out that the longer he is in training, the longer he is stateside and not actually fighting on the front lines somewhere. Good point Rachel! That completely made my day. I would rather Gunnar be 4 states away marching around GA than fighting bad guys in Afghanistan.

Gunnar won't actually find out what their plans are for him until next Friday. This may actually be the biggest waste of a person's time to be in limbo for more than a week. This seems really quite disorganized and I am learning to not have very high expectations for the people in charge of planning these training courses. So in the meantime he is doing silly busy work, cleaning barracks, formation a few times each day, texting me non-stop. He sent me a message today saying he was done for the day at about 6:54am. Why oh why couldn't they send him home for a week if he isn't even doing anything?!

There have been other puzzles to figure out this week like figuring out how our new health insurance benefits paperwork mysteriously never was submitted, how to get insurance after the fact, which doctors to see, how to get prescriptions filled, etc. I had more than one crying meltdown with very friendly customer service representative at Tricare. After all was said and done and sorted out, it did all get straightened out. I took a deep breath and had a glass of Chardonnay with my parents and all was right with the world again.

I knew none of this was going to be easy, and I am becoming more accustomed to being flexible as dates and times and training schedules change constantly. I am really ready to have my family back together but have an undetermined amount of time to wait. But I'm ok with waiting because like Rachel said, Gunnar is safe where he is, even if we are all homesick.