In late February we finally got the word that would forever change our lives. With all of the downsizing of the military we are one of the un-lucky (or lucky) ones to be told thank you for your active duty service but we no longer need you. As of June 30 2013, Adam will no longer be active duty in the Marine corps. We knew that this was a possibility and were proactive about the situation. We were activity job searching and looking into head hunters to help us look for jobs, months before we found out.
Let me be frank for a minute because some people don't know military terms or understand how the officer side works and I feel like I need to explain it. Adam chose to enlist AFTER getting his degree in 2007. He did 2 years of service and applied for the officer program (OCS- officer candidate school). He was accepted in 2009 where he commissioned and was sent all over for artillery school and advance courses. He had a stellar record and in late early 2011 he was selected to promote to Captain. The enlisted side and officer side is different in the aspect of promotions. Enlisted you have different courses and officer side you have to be selected on a bored. Which means people look at your record and choose you without knowing you directly. In my opinion this is a flawed way of doing things. I think your commanding officer should select those who he/she observes and then put on a list to be up for promotion. Instead it's all about how you look on paper. well when Adam turned in his package he hadn't deployed (he was in the process of getting ready to deploy). SO on paper it looks as though he has been in X years and hadn't been to a combat zone. Which for advancement looks better having that experience, BUT he hadn't had any opportunity with the USMC telling him to go to this school, and that school because his knowledge was to important to send him off. I believe with his stellar record, great PFT (physical fitness test, done every 6 months), he was overlooked because he hadn't deployed or held a higher CO/XO billet.
After much debating, Adam decided that he would like to stay in the military on the reserve side. It is just the matter of finding a reserve unit that has a spot open for captain in the USMC. He is also debating the national guard so he can continue to do what he loves, shooting artillery. After 6.5 years, we both knew it would be hard to give something like military life up. He can get his military shooting/drill fix once a month and return to a job that he may like better. Plus the Tricare insurance is a lot cheaper then getting insurance through his new job.
My feelings on the whole thing-
If you have been reading my blog you know Adam and I met in college and he enlisted right after he graduated. This is basically the only life we have known, so it is scary to think it will all be changing. I literally just got the swing of moving, making new friends, volunteering and deployments. It is our normal and to have to change it all of a sudden is both refreshing and upsetting.
What I will miss-
moving every X years,
seeing new places,
meeting new people from all over,
base living,
people relating to your situations,
seeing my husband in uniform EVERYDAY,
the balls/special events,
mandatory fun days,
Medical, dental and vision basically paid for,
The many sounds of freedom at all hours of the night
What I look forward to-
Separation bonus:)
Settling into our NEW house,
establishing our kids in school that they can grow up in,
having a SET schedule for my family,
not having to worry about him and the ever changing deployments/duty/field ops,
not having to say goodbye to close friends every X years,
promotion yearly (or when he can),
many, many more things
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