Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Deployment, Ready or Not

So, Josh had drill this past weekend. Nothing new, except the fact that I am talking to him on the phone while driving home from work. Someone from his "unit" beeped in, so he said he would call me back. About 20 minutes later, he called back. Only to tell me that it wasn't anyone from his unit, but a friend of his based out of another unit in Columbus, the Unit that will be deploying for Afghanistan in August that Josh has been trying so hard to get on. Apparently, the Chemical Battalion guy got deemed medically unable to deploy so they have to fill his spot. Of course, the first person they call is my boyfriend because thats what he does, just with a different Unit.

He would leave in August of 2011. Go to training, I forget where, for a month & then deploy to Afghanistan. He would be home in September of 2012. I am by no means mad at him for this. I knew this was coming, I signed up for this. I don't have a problem with it, actually. I mean I don't want him to leave and to especially go over there and fight in a war. But it is something he wants to do, so I am going to stand by him 100%.

My only concern is this...We both just basically picked up our lives and moved away from everyone we know. His for his job that he loves and me, to be with him & go to OSU. What will happen when he deploys? Am I supposed to pack my stuff up and move back to Akron for the year he is gone? Do I stay down here alone? While the love of my life is fighting a war on the other side of the world? And if I stay down here, how am I going to afford to pay for rent and everything?? What do I do about school then if I go back home, transfer back to Akron?? And my job too? Do I have to find another job back in Akron? Its just so much to take in...

It isn't a definite that he is going yet, but the odds are really in his favor this time. If he does get picked up for this deployment, he should get orders sometime at the end of February or March. Then he will be gone for the whole month of April for training I'm assuming and then for one week in June. So 7 months until he would deploy in August. 7 months is not a long time, as much as I want it to be. I knew he would get deployed, it was just a matter of time. But I didn't think it would be until next year sometime, meaning 2012.

Only time will tell now though.

1 comment:

Melissa said...

yeah, that's a tough situation :( Only time will tell and honestly, you NEVER know with the Army. They say one thing and then it ends up being something else or nothing happens at all. I am kind of contemplating this myself, because there is a possibility that Eddie might deploy in June - which is what he is trying to do. It kind of sucks because I'll be in a new place (I'm still hoping Texas!) and won't know ANYONE. I might not even have a job right away. I talked to Eddie again yesterday and he told me he'll probably be on a staff position for a year, but like I said, you never know with the Army. It's a constant guessing game.

Have you talked to Josh about this? Meaning your options (should you stay or move back to Akron, etc etc) - maybe he can chime in on what to do and how to figure out the finances.

Or he could hurry up and propose and then you can do what I did and get legally married and then get your military benefits lol. Married soldiers on top of their basic pay and BAS get BAH as well as separation pay and possibly other things (military pay 101 here: http://www.militarysos.com/index.php?page=military-pay)