It's All Apart of the Military Life

Many of my real life friends know we have been contemplating getting out of the United States Air Force when Jesse's enlistment is up in Sept. 2012. Jesse and I have been going back and forth, weighing our pros and cons, and trying to figure out the best route to take for our family... do we stay or do we get out... do we stay or do we get out. It's been the biggest topic of conversation in our household, especially over the past two weeks. See, Jesse has been giving an opportunity to leave our Air Force base in Ohio 1.5 years early to become an instructor at an Air Force base in Texas. We just found out about his waiver yesterday. In order to do this, Jesse will have to re-enlist, and we have decided it's in the best interesest of our family to have Jesse retire out of the military (did those words come out of my mouth?). It's been a rough road for me trying to get used to all the nooks and crannies of the Air Force, in fact I've been the one pushing for Jesse to get out. I wasn't a fan of not knowing our future (I'm not a fan of change or instability), the constant changes in Jesse's schedule (deployments, and TDY's, being apart, etc), and being so far away from my parents and sister. After talking to a few of my close friends, they were able to open up my eyes to all the positive/benefits the military life has to offer. Not only are we surrounded by the continuous support of families going through similar situations, but the financial benefits are something you won't find in a normal everyday job. Yes, there will be more time apart for Jess, myself, and the kids, but the health care for life, access to AAFES, and a retirement check definitely outweighs those small bumps in the road.

Trying to predict your future in the military is like trying to gamble on a $200 million dollar lottery ticket...things are never set in stone, especially not until you have orders in hands, but even those can change at the last minute. Making the decision to stay in Ohio or head down to Texas is pretty much a gamble for us. We just want as much stability as we can get being in the military. Making our decision to PCS (permanent change of station) to Texas wasn't as difficult as we thought. With Jess being an instructor at Tech School (training in their specific career field after basic training), he won't deploy, and he will be teaching what he'll be tested on to make a higher rank... pretty much a win/win situation for us. The only downfall is being another 12 hours from my home state of Nebraska and being 23 hours from Jesse's home state of Virginia.

Jesse will be submitting his package to teach by the end of the week, and we should hear something soon. We're pretty positive we're heading down to the Lonestar state, but again it's up to Jesse's commanders at his current job to sign those papers... nothing is set in stone (another drawback of the military life). It has been fun dreaming over the past few days, especially looking at different houses and schools for W. I'm really excited about the possibility of this new chapter in our lives. It's so much fun exploring a new community and seeing another part of the United States, meeting new people, gaining new friends, and still continuing to have the wonderful support of our United States Air Force and the families involved.

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