I'm All Alone :(

Jul 16, 2017 9:24:08 GMT -5 goose said:

What branch of the military is your husband in?

LOL, hubby has quite the resume. He started his military service in the USMC, as John stated, but they broke him and kicked him out. So, he went to college on his severence pay which is where I met him. He was out about a year which gave his back time to heal and Desert Storm came up. He tried to get back in the Corps but they wouldn't take him back, but the Army Reserve would. Hubby left the Marines as a corporal but the Army recruiter put him in as a private. He reported to his unit the first time, the CO was looking through his file as he came into his office and asks hubby, "What are you doing here as a supply clerk?" to which hubby didn't have much reply, so the guy asks him if he'd like to be a drill sergeant. Hubby says sure, so he started drill school. He, of course, had to be a sergeant to be a drill, so almost every month he reported for school he was promoted, lol. Hubby was a drill sergeant for about 8 years in the Reserves, and a darn good one.  He is an excellent teacher and trainer.  About 2000 he was fed up with the politics in the military and didn't renew his contract.  We moved back to WV. In 2005 a friend told him he wanted to move to WV and asked him to find out what kinds of opportunities there were in the WV National Guard. So hubby called a recruiter. During the course of the conversation the recruiter learned hubby had been a drill sergeant, and they needed a drill sergeant to head up a new program The National Guard Bureau was requiring them to start -- The Recruit Sustainment Program (something to keep kids who sign up in the delayed-entry program happy and motivated until they ship.)  Hubby wasn't interested, but the guy kept calling him. Finally he told the guy that if he could get it in his contract that he couldn't be deployed then he would sign. Never did he dream the guy could get that, so he figured he'd finally got rid of him. Nope. Two days later he called saying he got it.  Hubby enlisted August 30, 2005 in the WV National Guard and he's been there ever since.  He did RSP for 6 years, then moved to a carpentry unit to teach. Was there  3 years and now is in a Combat Engineer unit as construction supervisor. Needless to say, he no longer has the non-deployable status because he left RSP.

As you probably well know, Once a Marine, Always a Marine. As a drill sergeant he always greeted his platoon by telling them that he was a Marine, and even though they were in the Army they will be Marines too.  He trains to Marine standards even though he has to use Army methods, lol.

There isn't much of a training schedule this year, due to budgeting issues only about 1/4 of the brigade has even gone on annual training. I just hope he doesn't come home extremely frustrated by what goes on in the next two weeks. 

Jul 16, 2017 9:58:58 GMT -5 @johnr said:

Well at least you know where he is. And he will be taken care of. Just think of the peace and quite you will have while he is gone.
Now you can get to sit with you crochet for hours and get lost.
Single, single,single, double x5 single, single, single, double x5, single, single, single, triple x30. Reverse.
😊

LOL! Yes, indeed. I am a bit more conerned than usual because on Friday he spent all day packing his gear, and I guess he was going through training plans, scenarios, etc. all the while. We went to bed Friday night and at about 2am I woke up to find him not in bed. He wasn't in the house and the back door was unlocked (not a good idea in our neighborhood) so I went outside and he wasn't anywhere around. After checking everything twice he comes in the house. I ask him what he was doing and he looks at me, confused, and says he doesn't know. He said he was dreaming that he was on patrol and that they had just set up a listening post when he woke up sitting under a tree and didn't know where he was. An ATV driving by woke him up. He was in his pajamas and was wearing shoes but no socks. He has never walked in his sleep before. When we went out to the armory on Saturday for the loading of the trucks, etc., I pulled his Chief aside and let him know about what happened and he assured me he'd keep an eye on him and would tie him to his cot if necessary.  We've known the Chief since 2005 and he has high regard for hubby -- whenever he has something important that needs to be done he tasks hubby with it because he knows it will get done and get done over and above. Also, knows he doesn't want to come back and face me if anything happens to hubby, lol. However, last night he slept soundly in bed beside me all night, so hopefully it was an isolated incident related to being preoccupied with the packing, etc.

Jul 16, 2017 12:16:03 GMT -5 Matthew said:

I've been alone for a week now,but the Mrs is due back Tuesday.
I've been smoking up a real Thunder Head and watching my
Sherlock Holmes DVDs.Wendy told me her and her mother and sisters
are planning a trip next year,asked me if I was ok with that.
I started packing her bags for her,,,only 18 months early.

LOL!  Sherlock Holmes is good viewing. I have the Jeremy Brett series. I've recently discovered David Suchet as Poirot, and am working on collecting those DVDs.

Jul 16, 2017 19:03:48 GMT -5 Penzaholic said:

I cherish time alone. I can listen to the stereo without having to be concerned if the others don't like my music. Eat on my schedule, etc.

Me too. I need more time away from hubby than he does from me, but two weeks is a bit more than necessary.

Jul 16, 2017 21:32:34 GMT -5 goose said:

I thank your husband for serving. I am a retired veteran of the Army and in the National Guard. I know there is always teasing back and fourth but here are my feelings on the subject. There was a time that the guard and reserves was more of a big drinking party than a serious force. But I would say since 9/11 that has changed. With all training and the deployments the guard and reserve forces take a big role in the total force. I'm not that great at wording things and I certainly took no offence from this thread but we are all brothers and sisters in arms. Thanks

Thank you, too, for your service! Yes, the Reserves and National Guard have stepped up and shouldered quite a bit of the load. Our Air Guard flies C130s and are the best in the nation. They are the first to be sent anytime things heat up.

Jul 16, 2017 22:11:28 GMT -5 goose said:

And thank you for serving as well Maggie. The spouses of our service members are just as important and also sacrifice a lot

I appreciate that.

Jul 17, 2017 2:52:28 GMT -5 antb said:

Chin up, Maggie! it's not too long.

I know. It will go by fairly quickly if I don't dwell on it.  From multiple comments I've received on FB, though, seems like I will spend most of my time on the lawn with a shotgun to keep the party-ers at bay, lol.