Farewell

As our time here at Fort Wainwright is coming to an end my least favorite part of Army life is upon us; farewells. This post has had many ups and downs but for me it had a major first; a out of the home job as a Family Readiness Support Assistant for the Air Cav unit. I won't say that this job was a piece of cake because there were times when I wanted to pull my hair out but the families and Soldiers made it all worth it. And they brought me into their families and made me one of their own. This is the first full time job I have held outside the home since the birth of my oldest over 14 years ago and it felt amazing to have an identity beyond that of mother and wife. I was appreciated by the work I did not because of associations. So back to the farewells; I was farewelled on two separate occasions. The first being done by the Soldiers where I was presented with a Cavalry Saber(not to be confused with a sword as I quickly learned), and I was given a little lesson on the proper technique to run a man through(with could come in handy later on with the manchild)

 It was done on a beautiful mount with an inscription on the bottom

I was blown away, the CAV has traditions that they adhere to and to be allowed to be apart of them really meant the world to me.

The second farewell was organized by two ladies who have been special to me Ms. Monika Anderson and Ms. Laura Black. They went through the trouble of organizing a ladies night out for me and it was a great time! During the dinner there were a couple presentations; the first was an award the Patriotic Civilian Service Award, it was such an honor to be recognized in such a way!

It even came with its own medal!!!!

After this award I was given presented with my very own Stetson. I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

Traditionally the Stetsons have cords that represent your rank(officer vs enlisted) but since I don't fall into either category they created a cord just for me of red and white( the tradition CAV colors), along with that they also provided pins that represented our unit, and me in particular. I absolutely loved it and even survived the Breaking in ceremony that comes along with being presented one of these. Essentially a grog is created in the center of your new Stetson and you are then expected to drink from it.

My grog included things like Alaskan beer, brown sugar to represent sand for our deployments, gummies for my children, vodka for the tears cried, baileys for the mornings I wished I could have added it to my coffee(you get the picture).

The ladies were nice to and didn't add anything that would have made it taste terrible. Once the alcohol is added you then begin drinking.

Until someone gives you a little help

It's a another crazy CAV tradition that I was privileged to be allowed to be part of. I will miss all the families that I have gotten to know in the CAV and hope we all cross paths again in the near future!!

PS Thank you Monika and Laura for making the evening so much fun, love both of you girls!!

Pcs: a staple in a military life

If you are a military spouse/family one thing you can always count on; there is a PCS(permanent change of station) in your future. For most this happens anywhere from a year to a couple years at a time and can range from a hop from state to state or a hop across an ocean to an overseas location. Either way it is a time of a lot of stress and anxiety but it can so be a time of amazing opportunity.

First the stress, can I just say planning ahead makes a huge difference for me! I utilize every planning website I can but I have to say my favorite one is www.ahrn.com, it not only helps with finding a house in your new location but there is a little button to push called Plan My Move that will give a by date to do list along with important numbers for both the outgoing base and the incoming base. This has been a great resource for me as it reminds me of things I don't always think ahead about. I still stress about the move but I feel a bit more confident that I won't miss anything major. I also find what I stress about isn't always what my service member stresses over. My big worry is clearing housing and getting my kiddos school situation set up, where he is more worried about clearing CIF(central issue facility), and clearing post. The important thing to remember is that each of your priorities is to get through this PCS, talk about what your concerns with one another; communication will save you a lot of headaches during this time. Don't be afraid to go to the levy briefs, like I said before your thought processes may be different and you both could have different questions(there has been many a time when my manchild has come home with information and I will ask a question that seems obvious to me and it never crossed his mind). Hopefully if you can both attend there will be less confusion and missed information

Now for the opportunity, for our family the transition from post to post is always a fun vacation from all things military and stressful. This has become a major tradition for us. When we moved from Washington state to Louisiana we took Hwy 101 down the Oregon coast, when we moved back to Washington we stopped at Tombstone, and Disneyland, when we moved to Alaska we took the Ferry up and now as we head back to the Lower 48 we are driving the ALCAN (Alaska Canadian Highway).
The point is that no matter where you move there are going to be sights to see and what a perfect opportunity to explore the nation that your family has sacrificed so much for and not to mention the memories you will be making!! Once again I am a planner so once I find out our next duty staton, I get out a map, draw a route and then start looking for tourist destinations, Google is one of my favorite tools just type in the city's name you are driving through and attractions or activities and all kinds of things pop up. Or you can order tourism information for each state you are driving through, whatever works better for you.

No matter what remember that a PCS is stressful but like any crazy situation we find ourselves in as military spouses there is a positive side. You just have to look for it a little harder at some times than others. Use your PCS time as an opportunity to grow as a family or a couple.