Patience, Promotion, and PCS

At the end of August, Joe was finally promoted! He waited a really long time for this promotion because of one NCO who decided to be a jerk and kept pulling Joe from each promotion board. This went on for pretty close to a year, if not longer. Finally, the jerk left and Joe was able to go to a board which he passed with flying colors! He was so excited and I was proud. It took a lot for him to get there - patience and hard work.

The day of his promotion was a little stressful for me because of Charlotte's schedule and everything. We had to wake her up from a nap she barely went down for and I had to feed her in the car before the ceremony. Fun times, indeed. Despite the stress, I wanted to be there and Joe wanted us there as well. Even though I was a little confused as to what was happening, I got to "pin" him and everything. It was a really neat, if short-lived, experience. And, between you and me, I think we got my favorite family photo out of the deal. ;-)

Next up on the Army to-do list for Joe is/was re-enlisting. He was waiting to see if he could get promoted before re-enlisting so that he could avoid having to re-class to a different MOS. Apparently the Army is super-strong in his MOS as an E4. Re-classing might have gotten us to a different duty station sooner, but I knew Joe didn't really want to. He likes his job and I like that, for the most part, it's a pretty safe job. {I say this because during his deployment he ended up getting a CAB. Hubby never left the stinkin' FOB and got a CAB. Sigh.} Anyway, with the promotion he avoided needing to re-class. 

Joe talked to the retention officer about re-enlisting for a specific duty station - one that would get us much closer to home than we are now. {I'm not sure anything really beats being on an island in the middle of the Pacific, though.} Joe listed his #1 duty station and left hoping for the best. We were also hoping to change his DEROS to get us out of here ASAP, but knew that it may not be possible. Just a couple weeks ago, we found out that Joe was able to get our his #1 choice for duty station! And we got his DEROS moved up, but only by a month. *shrug* It's something, I guess! 

Nothing is entirely official yet (meaning he doesn't have orders), but it's looking like we'll be moving here in March 2013:

Back to good 'ole Georgia and the South!!! We are beyond excited not just to be in the South again, but to be so close to home! I mean, look at that! Look how close NC is!! Just a 3.5ish hour drive to see family and friends. Woohoo!!!  

Obviously we really can't wait to be back on the mainland again. Having the knowledge that we're moving soon is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. I'm getting antsy... I'm ready to move, ready to be on the mainland and back to "normal." I've already been looking at houses in the area online. =P I wish I were kidding! I find myself saying all the time "6 more months, 6 more months and we're outta here!" It's been a long 2.5 years (3 by the time we leave) here on a rock in the middle of the Pacific. Honestly, I don't think I'll miss it all that much. The weather and the beach, maybe. Everything else? Doubtful. Which means the next 5.5 months are probably going to drag by and force me to have patience. Sigh.

Are you getting ready to PCS? Are you excited or dreading it?