Monday, July 23, 2007

He's gone, oh-wha, oh-wha...

CPT Dick took off today for training. He should be back sometime before September. Don't really have a clue when because there is a big ol' rumor afoot that their planned fall deployment may be pushed back until early next year. If it is, they won't have to train quite as long.

Now, some of you may be thinking, "A postponed deployment! That's great! What wonderful news! He won't have to leave so soon!" And you'd be right on that front. It is a good thing. A few more months with him around is something I would appreciate.

But I have to be honest, the thought just depresses me. The rumors just totally depress me. One, because as of now, they are only rumors and so only serve to get the hopes up of the soldiers and families in our unit. If they don't come to pass, well, that's a whole lotta shit to clean up.

(I won't mention how that at hearing the rumor, my mother-in-law sent me a long-winded email about how she's so grateful because she hopes the war will be over by the spring and CPT Dick will never have to return. And I know that she will now send me newsclippings and links with anything that might suggest the war is ending. She did this through his entire first deployment and I have to tell you, it's the most annoying thing ever).

Two, I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to fixate on ripping off the band-aid. I don't want to spend too long thinking about it and agonizing over any potential pain. I want to just get it over with. And with a deployment of 15-18 months in our future, I want it to start so that we'll be that much closer to it ending. Does that make any sense?

I want him to go so he'll be back that much sooner.

And finally, I'm just tired of the Army jerking us around. I know it's not being done to me personally. I don't even register on the DoD's radar. But after our unit deactivation and all of the nonsense surrounding that, I just want the facts. No conjecture. No maybes. No rumors. The facts. I want a date. I want to put it on my calendar. And I want to be able to expect that my husband will leave on or at least somewhere right around that date so I can make my own plans.

Ridiculous, no?




3 comments:

Bette said...

Wanting to get it over with makes all the sense in the world! The anticipation is so emotionally wearing.

As for getting firm, unchanging dates out of the Army...where is this magical planet and what color are the skies there? As a slowly reforming overplanner/control freak, I still haven't adjusted to this facet of military life.

Lee Anne said...

I sooo understand this! Last time, we said goodbye three times before he finally left! Jets break -- long story. And, we dealt with rumors of deployment/later deployment.

It's really hard playing interference with family members who don't really understand what a "push back" really means. Setting a date and planning things for the time he's gone help me a great deal. We're already planning for the next go-round.

Sending good thoughts your way!

Sarah said...

When my husband was deployed, my mother-in-law called me crying when John Kerry was not elected because "I just want my son to come home from war!" Nevermind the fact that even if Kerry had won, he wouldn't have taken office until Jan and my husband was scheduled to come home in Feb anyway. Mothers-in-law are rarely logical...