Care Packages

Today's Quote: ""Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other." - Abraham Lincoln

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Lesson Learned: One cannot be Wonder Woman without at least a little sleep!

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Some women express their personal neurosis by cleaning house. Or cooking. Or eating. Me, I research and make lists and become way overly prepared and planned out. That being said, I am already planning care packages, and The Unit hasn't even left the state yet!

• From the US Postal Service (http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/welcome.htm) Includes what not to send, how to package, a free mailing kit, and more. My only personal comment on packaging is - I saw what the box looked like that came to me from Iraq a few years back - the box had essentially become a large envelope, being held together strictly by the fact that it was completely covered in clear tape.
  
  
• Invest in a packing tape dispenser. And lots of clear tape.
  
  
• Operation Military Pride (http://www.operationmilitarypride.org/packages.html) I've been a supporter for years. Theirs is still the most comprehensive list I've found. DH confirms that the things on this list are things he needed/used while as a contractor in Iraq several years ago.
  
  
• From The Nestle Family of Companies (http://www.verybestbaking.com/promotions/programs/troops.aspx)Recipes for some "desert safe" desserts.
  
  
• How to ship cookies (http://www.cookieclubrecipes.com/mailingcookies.htm)
  
  
• Baking, wrapping and mailing tips (http://www.ocregister.com/life/cookies-box-shipping-1930609-hsu-service)
  

On a different topic, this week was a productive week on the "getting ready" front. Most of it wasn't directly related to dealing with The Army, but more related to "home front preparations."

• Taxes - mostly done!
  
• Oil changes and such for all the vehicles that I could possibly drive while DH is away
  
• New light bulbs where needed
  
• Fresh smoke detector batteries
  
• 401(k) roll over discussions
  
• Worked on updating the will
  
• Printed out some special power of attorneys (POAs) to get notarized
  
• Mailed in the IRS POAs in case I have to deal with back taxes
  
• Looked for puppies in the paper
  
• Ordered parts for the ATV
  
• Learned how to use the little generator - but I think I better get written instructions for this one
  
• Found the registrations and current proof of insurance paperwork for all the vehicles
  
• Turned in plates and discontinued insurance on the one we gave to one of our daughters
  
• Updated blog so friends and relatives can share in my neurosis
  
• Updated the Giant, All Encompassing List of All Lists
  
• DH got some minor fillings done at the DDS (although he was already certified as DDS Green Light for deployment)
  
• Scheduled DDS teeth cleaning for DH
  
• Found a Unit T-Shirt that I will order for DH on payday, and some decals for the matching pickup trucks (oh, my, are we all hooah, now!)
  

Ok, at least it looks like we're making progress, so I will try not to stress out too much. I did promise to make a lasagna for DH the week he leaves. He decided against it for this weekend as he is still trying to lose a few more pounds before weigh-in.

Sleep? Oh, yeah, forgot about that. It's 3:14 a.m. Guess I should go to sleep now. Have to keep remembering to put that one on the list!

Lovely Spring Day

Today's Quote:

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

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Lesson Learned: Sometimes one must just do nothing and enjoy the company of family.

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It was nice to just hang out with the family today. We got some things done towards DH's getting ready to go, but mostly we just took it easy and enjoyed each other's company.

Spent the morning puttering in the garden, watering trees, and enjoying the splendid warm spring day.The deep pink buds on the nectarine tree that we planted a few years ago are swelling - in the next day or so, the tree should burst into bloom. The little pear tree that we thought died, has survived the winter and is on the brink of unfurling bright yellow-green leaves. I could feel the weeds silently gathering their forces so that they could attack in droves in the next day or two. They will eventually win, but for the moment, I still have the upper hand.

While I watered and puttered around with the plants, DH pressure washed some of his vehicles (I think we have 15 or so all together, now) and prepped them for a long stint of sitting around and doing nothing. While he was at it, he washed and changed the oil in The Green Thing (it isn't glamorous, but it's reliable and my 4WD thing - can't wait for the weather to get better so I can start driving my pickup truck again - she's bright red and more my style!). I actually cleaned the interior of The Green Thing, and it's now rather presentable, even. I'm sure I won't recognize it at Walmart the next time I go shopping!

A few weeks ago, we went to the DMV and got matching ARNG license plates. So romantic - his and hers matching pickup trucks and matching license plates (since we did both pickup trucks at the same time, our plate numbers are sequential). (To see if your state has National Guard Plates, click here. Many do.)

We went to the local base this afternoon. Visited the commissary - not like base shopping in the Big Cities, that's for sure! DH is sure that I have more things crammed into our home than they had for sale at the PX. Still, it was a good outing - and it was something to do with the family, and the drive out was pleasant. (The drive back was pleasant, too - I got a good nap!)

Also went grocery shopping while we were in town. And ate lunch at Jack-In-The-Box. DH guilted me into eating a salad. I can't believe how much weight he has lost. His jeans literally would fall off of him if he didn't cinch them up. Mmmmm, that is one good thing about the Army! He "makes tape" for his height and age, and that is technically all he needs to do. But, of course, DH has never been about "making minimums." So now he is very, very close to "making weight," too. And from what I can figure, that means he gets brownie points for promotion since that's an indicator of being warior ready. As for me, I just like seeing that trimmed up body...and it looks like there's the start of a 6 pack in there, too. I think at 40 something, he's now in some of the best health he's been in over the last 15 years or so. Of course, that means I am also being forced to eat things like spinach and broccoli!

Pleasant surprise with the IRS - since The Boy didn't turn 18 until late in the year, we get to keep him on as a deduction for the 2008 tax year! Whoopeee! We needed that! DH is taking a 40% cut in pay to activate with the ARNG, although it will be only about 30% after he is deployed, so we won't have to worry about taxes for 2009 - we should easily drop down a tax bracket.I think his "out of country" pay is also non-taxable. ...oh, this thinking of taxes is making my head hurt! I'm barely done with this year's taxes - certainly don't want to think about filing for next year!

Got DH a PSP (PlayStation Portable) the other day. Went through the 20,000 photos on my PC and downloaded a bunch onto it for him. First I re-sized them so it wouldn't take up so much space on his memory card. The PSP doesn't display the large ones any better than the small ones. It was nice to go through some of those memories together as he chose what pictures to take. Some of our kids, the dogs and, of course, his babies: his vehicles - His "circle track" cars, his 1970s vintage pickup truck at the drag strip, cars without engines, cars with fancy, souped up engines, etc., etc. Funny what a man thinks is important.

Speaking of dogs and babies, I think it's amusing how strong the urge to "have babies before deploying" is. (I think it is probably only amusing to me because I can't have any more babies!) But DH is on the hunt for a puppy to give to me before he leaves. Maybe another Doberman. Or another Pit Bull. Yes, DH, what I need is a puppy to pee on my carpets while you are gone! Men! Gotta love 'em!

Still No Uniforms and Still FNG

Today's Quote:

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Lesson Learned: Do not expect too much.

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Do you believe that in a short while, my DH will be leaving the state and the country with the ARNG, and he still doesn't have a complete uniform? Well, at least it is "on order." I guess that is something - but - Arrrrrghhhh! I keep thinking that I have some control over any of this!!!

He says that it happens to everyone at some point in their military career: you are the FNG. (F** New Guy) Most often, you are just the NG, but at some point you are the FNG. Hopefully you are not the guy who is always the FNG when you change units. "Grin and bear it," my DH tells me, because until the stars realign and you are no longer the FNG, there isn't much else to do about it. I have never grinned and bared anything. I have to put my head down and growl about everything. He thinks it's funny watching me be all pissed off about these things. He just shrugs and reminds me that it's the Army.

So, of course, when I am feeling out of control, I have to write a list

• Follow up with the chaplain about renewing our wedding vows
  
• Follow up on orders so that I can renew my dependent ID
  
• DONE - Check defas for pay info
  
• DONE - Keep up with blogging
  
• Find camera and take lots of pictures of home and DH and all
  
• Don't forget to do the "other" things not on the "official" list - like listening to snoring in the middle of the night and feeling blessed
  
• Sleep (yeah, right)
  
• Be nice to people, including my DH and my kids and myself
  
• Follow up on more paperwork
  
• Read the blogs of those who've done this already
  
• Don't chicken out - go to lunch with the ARNG wife who reached out to me last week
  
• Take my vitamins: Courage, Strength, and Perseverance
  

Maybe it was good that I was never the smartest one in the family - as a result, I grew a thick skull and learned to never accept the words "no" or "can't".

Good Day/Bad Day

Today's Quote: "A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets tough."- Ronald Reagan

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Lesson Learned: Sometimes you just have a cruddy day.

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It's probably just an accumulation of stress. Too much to do, too little time, not enough sleep. Or maybe the Pre-Deployment Gremlins are out and about.

The garage door is stuck. DH can't figure it out and I'm away on business. So I guess it will be stuck shut until I can get home and call the people who installed it.

DH got a speeding ticket and couldn't find the proof of insurance. It's a fixit ticket for the POI, but still, I'm pretty sure it was in the truck. I think he was just stressing out and couldn't find it. Of course, he was driving my truck. I'm sure if he was driving his, he would know exactly where the POI was.

I'm out of town on business - my company would have flown me home for the weekend, but it seemed kind of silly at the time. More time spent in airports than at home - but maybe it would have been worth it. Or maybe I am lucky to not have to be dealing with it right now?

Well, at least yesterday I had a good day. I'll take what I can get! Spent the day with a dear friend and didn't think about or talk about work or The Army once. She cooked and fed me and I updated her computers. I've been working so hard taking care of other people and other things - it was a real treat to have someone take care of me. I'm definitely on the "taking" end of my friendships right now. Hopefully I'll be able to be back on the "giving" side, soon.

"Met" the wife of a Guardsman who was also USMC in his younger day. We're going to lunch when I get back from travel. Maybe we will have something in common (besides hard-headed husbands!) and will become friends. My friends are "tried and true" and I've had most of them for decades - but none of them have ever been the wife of a Military Man or a Deployed Soldier. So it must be time to expand my horizons again. For the first time in a long time, I'm reaching out to other people. Maybe I'll even learn to ask for help when I need it!

Reality Is Settling In

Today's Quote: "Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
- William Jennings Bryan

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Lesson Learned: Time waits for no one.

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I keep thinking I have accepted all of this... and then reality will shift and settle again, and I realize that I had not really accepted anything until that moment when things settled again. So I'm hoping that by D Day, that I will have shifted and settled and shifted and settled enough that I really am settled with reality.

Of course, even while in major denial, there are many small clues that my DH has joined the military and will be heading out of the country. The Anthrax vaccination, for example. Or the fact that there is now a "last day at work" date for his civilian employer. And he's begun moving items back home from the job site. His coffee pot is still there, but other creature comforts have slowly been trickling homeward. And suddenly he has started completing the 101 things that have been hanging around the "Honey Do" list for the last 3 or 4 years. That's the one that gets me - he did that same "taking care of loose ends" when he was getting ready to go to a war zone last time. I remember it intellectually, but the part that is surprising is how much my body "feels" the trauma. I see him putting in a fresh light bulb in the closet that hasn't had a working bulb in it for at least 6 months and my stomache knots up. He talks to me of POA's (Power of Attorny) and where the combination to the safe is - things I already know - but he wants to make sure - and I can feel my neck and shoulders tighten. In some ways, my body remembers better than my head.

So I sit in denial. And eat chocolate. And keep moving.

Short Good-Bye

Today's Quote: "Enjoy yourself, drink, call the life you live today your own - but only that; the rest belongs to chance."
- Euripides

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Lesson Learned: One is always on the edge of Good-Bye.

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I hate Sundays. Or Sunday evenings, anyway. You think after years of living partly apart, I'd be used to it by now. His job is 100s of miles away, and he will stay on the jobsite for days or weeks at a time. And this is his civilian job. You think I'd be used to it by now. You think that it would even help with the up coming deployment. And, maybe, in reality, it will help that we've lived this together-and-appart lifestyle for some time now. Yet, it still sucks. We run through the checklist: wallet, glasses, keys, clothes, food, boots, laptop, etc. Some things never ever even get unpacked from his truck. Some things stay at the trailer at the jobsite. Sometimes I wonder if his trailer feels more like home than this weekend place he hangs out at with me and his son.

The days move by in slow motion - check, check, check. We are drawing closer to his leaving on training and closer to his leaving for the other side of the world. It's the old "Hurry Up And Wait" that Military Personnel and Their Families have been enduring for eons. Did the Spartans and their wives have to deal with it? I am guessing, "Yes."

From general traveling experience, I know that one day soon, it will suddenly seem like there is no time for anything, and everything has to be done now. Trying to get as much done ahead of time as possible, but still, my feet are dragging. As if, if I didn't do those things that I can do, then the upcoming deployment would just go away. A duck with her head in the sand. Ok, now that won't do! Ducky is getting her head out of the sand, now!

• DONE - got the light bulb in the closet replaced
  
  
• Get brakes checked on the green car
  
  
• DONE - get our National Guard license plates from the DMV (Many states have them; check out your own state's DMV website)
  
  
• Started - Update events on calendar - like when to change the oil, people's birthdays, etc.
  
  
• Scan pictures to upload to his PSP to take with him
  
  
• Take pictures of HIM for me to hold on to when he's deployed
  
  
• Check with SGT to see if he has received all the paperwork that I scanned for him the other day
  
  
• DONE - Update the Master List
  

There's more. There's always more. And this doesn't include anything towards my job or generally running a household! Well, at least I won't have too much time to feel sorry for myself in the short term! I keep reading advise from other Military Wives to "keep busy." I am beginning to see why!

They Also Serve

Today's Quote: "“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
- Lao Tzu

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Lesson Learned: This has got to be easier at 40-something with grown children than at 20-something with a house full of youngsters!

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For some reason, the YouTube version doesn't always seem to work. If you cannot view the video above, you can try Music Videos from AOL (http://music.aol.com/video/they-also-serve/john-conlee/1416286.)

They Also Serve
By John Conlee
She kisses little Katie’s forehead as she turns out the light.
The night ahead in a lonely bed, she’s a Military Wife.
She pushes back a tear, then sinks into a chair.
Her mind says that’s the way it is, her heart says it ain’t fair.
She knows the price of sacrifice,
but she’s proud to take her place
in that unsung corps of warriors that stay behind and wait.

They also serve, those who stand and wait.
Praying by the phone to learn their loved ones fate.
But they’re still in the war, let there be no mistake.
They also serve, those who stand and wait.

Jake climbs on a school bus, marches bravely to his seat,
His dad’s not home to say so long
like his friends along the street.
He has to be the man at home, as long as daddy’s gone,
He promised him the day he left,
that he’d be brave and strong.
So he tells his little sister,
don’t you worry Daddy’s coming home.
He’s 8 years old, he’s a Soldier’s son,
and he can hold his own!

They also serve those who stand and wait.
Praying by the phone to learn their loved ones fate.
But they’re still in the war, let there be no mistake.
They also serve those who stand and wait.

Mothers and fathers
Daughters and sons
They don’t wear a uniform or carry a gun
But they’re still in the war

They also serve those who stand and wait.
Praying by the phone to learn their loved ones fate.
But they’re still in the war, let there be no mistake.
They also serve those who stand and wait.

Taking a break

Today's Quote: "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.”
- Zig Ziglar

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Lesson Learned: Sometimes it's good to hide.

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For two whole evenings this past week, I pretended the ARNG did not exist. I went about my evening duties and pleasantries in total denial. It was great! I read part a (non-military related) inspirational book and also my Flight Training Magazine. I played with the dog and hung out with the chickens. I even harassed our son somewhat (trying to get him to study for his driver's license! What teenage boy doesn't want his driver's license?!). It was great. Just the stress release I needed. At work, I deal with the Army for professional reasons, when my DH is around (with his buzz cut and "gung ho" attitude), it's hard to forget that he's Military now. But for a few evenings, I did a good job of ignoring it all. Now, I am refreshed and back in the game.

Some more military wife blogs:
There are hundreds of thousands of people serving in the military, so it would be reasonable that there are more than a few blogs by wives and other family members floating around the www. From time to time I will post some of those that I run across that I either enjoyed or found useful or interesting.

• A Chaplain's Wife (http://militarychaplainswife.blogspot.com/)
  
  
• Fifteen Months A blog written during her husband's deployment (http://fifteenmonths.blogspot.com/)
  
  
• Some Soldier's Mom A Navy Family (http://somesoldiersmom.blogspot.com/
  

Stressed!

Today's Quote: "Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness”
- Richard Carlson

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Lesson Learned: Taking care of myself will help me be able to cope with the ARNG, and Life in general.

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Some Things That (Mostly) Seem to be Working for Me

• Make a big, huge, all encompassing LIST. I know they say, "Live by the List, Die by the List," but a list to me is like comfort food. It lets me pretend I have a handle on things. Some people are scared of lists - especially ones that are several pages long and span a considerable space of time. Me, I clutch that list, expand the list, cross things off the list - it's my lifeline to sanity. I know that The Things On The List will not be the things that blind-side me. So, the more variables that I can control, the safer and more in control I feel. (OK, yes, I know I'm not in control, but remember, the list is the Rose Colored Glasses that I use to protect me from reality)
  
  
• A bath, a book and a coca-cola. Ties in with my idea of balance - bath to calm me, coca-cola to energize me. The book to help me escape from everything and everyone for a few moments in time. Of course, if the book is about Military Wives or something named The Baghdad Express, it probably won't be helping with the whole escapism theme. I am allergic to nearly anything "perfumy," so most bubble bath products are ta-bu - but I have recently found a way to enhance my bathing experience - peppermint green tea bags. I originally encountered the tea in a mixed set of herbal teas that I brought on a trip with me. I didn't like it for drinking, but the aroma was wonderful. Dropped a bag under the hot running water and it filled the bathroom with a fresh mint flavor and turned the water a pale jade color. The slightly astringent water seems to go well with my slightly oily skin. Maybe I'll get adventuresome and try some other teas.
  
  
• Surround myself with some of my Favorite Things. I think Julie Andrews sings this in the Sound of Music? So I drink my coca-cola from a tall stein bought for me by a dear friend in a little historic tourist town in the Wild, Wild, West. As I'm sipping, I feel the heft of the glass, see the sparkle of the soda and am reminded of the strength of her friendship and the brightness of her smile. I do the same, looking at dishes that have the same pattern as dishes that my Grandma had. I think she had "real" ones, and mine are "dishwasher and microwave safe," but no matter - they remind me of my Grandma, just the same. I'm gonna get a new quilt for the bed, but I need to do it fairly soon - I don't want it to be all new before my DH goes off to training and deployment - I want it to be "ours" so it can become one of my favorite things.
  
  
• Sleep. I am of the mind that Sleep is highly overrated. On the other hand, I know I (and all the poor folks around me) suffer when I don't get enough. Exactly how to fall asleep when your DH is hundreds or thousands of miles away, I still haven't figured out. I better, though, or it will be a very long, very sleepless deployment!
  
  
• Surround myself with the wisdom of the ages: Positive quotes at: ThinkExist (http://www.thinkexist.com/)
  
  
• For further research: About's section on Stress (http://stress.about.com/)
  

More Resources

Today's Quote: "No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy today, mix good cheer with friends today, enjoy it and bless God for it."
- Henry Ward Beecher

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Lesson Learned: It's out there if you look for it.

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There is a wealth of info out there if you have access to the internet. Of course, that doesn't take the place of connecting with real human beings, but it helps!

More Internet Resources

• My Army Life, Too! (http://www.MyArmyLifeToo.com/) The "Hearts Appart" PDF booklet on this site is well worth reading.
  
• Virtual Army FRG (Family Readiness Group) (http://www.armyfrg.org) Kind of bummer that my DH's Unit isn't virtual, but maybe we'll get them online in the near future.
  
• Operation Military Kids (http://www.operationmilitarykids.org) A site for our children and teenagers. There is a section for children, tweens and teens. These sections are for the kids, themselves, although us parents could benefit from them, too.
  

Ok, I have to learn to let the Army just Be, some times. I know I want to keep controling what is beyond my control (ocupational hazzard of being a control freak). I have a plan, a time line, and a list of things to do. It's more time than I thought I had, but less time than I want. Well, I guess the ARNG didn't really consult me, so I will just go with the flow... as much as I can, anyway. For those of you who know me in the non-virtual world - watch out - it's going to be like one giant PMS time zone around here for a while! ... stress management, ah, maybe I should try some of that!

Memories

Today's Quote: "What you can't get out of, get into wholeheartedly."
- Mignon McLaughlin

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Lesson Learned: Do not get in the way of a Man with a Mission

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I got home from 8 days of business travel in a different time zone yesterday - so sweet to see DH when I walked in the door. For one reason or another, both of us have not really been home in 3 weeks, and this is the first time we've been alone together in more than 21 days. Practice for deployment? Not! We had cell phones and email and webbing into each others computers. And I knew exactly when I would see him next. And there were no mortars or sounds of firearms in the background. Still, it was good to be woken in the middle of the night to his loud snoring. I rolled him over and said, "You're snoring." His sleepy voice replied, "I don't snore." Then he fell back asleep and back into snoring. Prior to 2004, it would have kept me awake and been annoying. Now, it is like music lulling me to sleep.

This morning we were up before the sun filling out and printing out the last bits of paperwork for his unit. DD form This and DD form That. I am getting quite good at this. And, since neither one of us likes to write, I have been getting good at finding the online version that can simply be filled out online and printed for signatures. Much better than hand writing. I have been a computer geek for so long, I don't know if I know how to use a pen.

Reminder: I was gently chided this morning - the government only uses Black Ink when writing in pen. I knew this at one time. I'm relearning.

After he left the house this morning, I dug deep in my closet for a box that is not often opened. I've been carrying it around since the Spring of 2004 when my DH went on a 4 month trip to the Sand Box as a mechanic with a DOD contractor. It is hidden under a stack of clothes, size 8, that I will some day fit back into. In this box is an empty Godiva Chocolate box containing letters and printouts of emails. There is also a small collection of blank postcards and stationary, patiently waiting to be written on and sent to an APO address. People will understand why I kept the letters and emails, but only someone who knows my DH would know why I would keep the blank stuff... because there was a point when he was Over There as a contractor, that I came to understand that his trip was just a recon mission, a fact finding mission - before enlisting with the military and deploying "for real." So now, it looks like, we are really in the game. The time for intelligence gathering and processing has past. It's now time for action.

Some Prep Work for me - mostly already under way

• Start collecting postcards from my travels (I travel a fair amount with my job)
  
• Self-Address envelopes and put "free mail" where the stamps go
  
• Gather more encouraging quotes from both ancient wisdom and more modern folk
  
• Make a list of things that can be sent in care packages
  
• Learn as much as I can about the ARNG and his unit
  
• Make him a "Little Black Book" with everyone's address/ph # so he can more easily send/call people
  
• Make him a business card of mine with additional stuff typed on it and laminate it
  
• Make him a photo for his kevlar and laminate it
  

There's more, but for now, this is all I want to think about. Going to take a break from the Army and hide out in a bubble bath with a good book.

Show Your True Colors

Today's Quote:

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

- Elizabeth Kubler Ross

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Lesson Learned: I am, indeed, a blessed woman.

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Like most people, I periodically go through bouts of feeling sorry for myself. Usually it happens when I am stressed, overtired, and worn out from taking care "of someone else." I am not often filled with "grace under fire." I haven't figured out how to aquire that "grace" - I don't even know how to fake it. But I am working on it, and perhaps the ARNG will be the one to teach me. There appears to be a reason for everything, even if I don't always see or agree with it.

Our Ladies and Gentlemen are rearing to get going, so there is much paperwork and rattling and accounting of battle rattle(1) and such. My particular ARNG soldier has had his hair buzzed, his face shaved smooth, and is getting some nice definition around the abs. Can only mean one thing - drill time approaches and pretty soon I'll get to see him in uniform. Yes, OK, I admit it - I'm a sucker for a man in uniform!

Here is a
list of tips from a wise woman on how to survive deployment:http://fifteenmonths.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-top-8-tips-for-surviving-deployment.html. Lots of other good stuff on her blog, too.

I've been on the road all week with work, upgrading the computers and such for some of our offices down in The South. Blessings 25-125 : gracious and kind people, food drenched in cream and butter and topped off with sweet tea, and great coworkers, to boot. My oh my, am I blessed... and I'm sure my blessed jeans won't fit quite right for weeks after this eating escapade and extravaganza - OMG cheddar grits and shrimp to sell one's soul for! Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but once my DH and his unit are over in the Sand Box for a while and have been complaining about the food, I'm going to send them some Sticky Fingers BBQ Sauce. I can't afford to send him/them the full ribs and such, but if I provide the sauce, perhaps they will be able to come up with something to BBQ.

OK, I better stop talking about the delightful Food In The South or this blog will stop being about the ARNG, my husband, or my life as an ARNG Wife - it will just be about food, Food, FOOD! Which will, of course, make me crave biscuits and grits and BBQ and, oh, well, you get the picture!

(1)Battle Rattle = all the equipment that a soldier needs.

Army Wife

Today's Quote: Energy and persistence conquer all things.
- Benjamin Franklin

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Lesson Learned: Yes, you can.

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Soldier's Creed
I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the
United States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.

I am an American Soldier.

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A Soldier's Spouse's Creed
(This is for my own amusement, not anything official.)
I am an American Soldier’s Spouse.
I am a Family Member and a member of a team.

I will support my spouse and through him or her, the people of the United States.

I, too live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first : I will be competent and cheerful in the face of deployments and mountains of paperwork and the day to day emergencies of life so that my Spouse can concentrate on the mission.

I will never give up hope : Though there be wars and strife, I will never give up hope, either for my Soldier or for Myself.

I will never quit.

I will never break my marital vows.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my tasks and drills : though my tasks do not include battlefield skills, I will take care of the business of maintaining hearth, heart and home with the same discipline, focus and proficiency as any soldier.

I always maintain my family, my home and myself.

I am an expert and I am a professional : even though I may only be learning about the Army and the Army Ways, I will conduct myself in a professional fashion and endeavor to become an expert.

I stand ready to support my Spouse as he or she deploys, engages, and destroys the enemies of the United States of America.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life. I will be thankful and enjoy the blessings and freedoms given to me by the service of our Military and their Families and be an excellent example of an American Citizen.

I am an American Soldier’s Spouse.
And proud of it.

Help Is Online

Today's Quote: "“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”- Friedrich Nietzsche

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Lesson Learned: Seek and you will find.

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I'm not so sure this is an adventure, yet. It feels more like a research paper! But, I guess that is what I do when I am faced with just about anything challenging in life - read books about it, talk about it, do online research, mull it around in my head, immerse myself in the issue, the project, until I know all I can know about it and it is part of me. So now I will become an expert on the Army National Guard and on being an Army Guardsman's wife.

Some first stops on the web

• Find your state's National Guard site at http://www.ngb.army.mil/resources/states.aspx
  
  
  
  • Some states list just the main site
    
  • Some states also list their units
    
  
  
• Military One Source https://www.militaryonesource.com
  
  
  
  • For 7 day a week, 24 hour a day assistance, call them at 1-800-342-9647
    
  • Read and listen to articles
    
  • Subscribe to newsletters
    
  
  
• Especially for Guard Family Members and others who support our National Guard: http://www.guardfamily.org/
  
  
  
  • Use the drop down box to find your state
    
  • Sign up for a free account
    
  • For some areas, you will need someone from your command to "approve" you.