Wow! Can anyone out there believe that as of 23 May 2011 I have been in the Air Force for 18 years! Hitting the 18 year point is very important to someone in the Air Force. Not only does it mean I only have 2 more years to retirement, but it also means that the Air Force can not get rid of me for any reason...except of course you do something illegal. This means that I will definitely be able to stay in for 20 years and retire with full benefits. So, guess what the Air Force gave me for my 18th anniversary present? A 365-DAY DEPLOYMENT TO AFGHANISTAN!
I know...really sucky, but there is nothing I can do about it...well there is one thing I can do...get out of the Air Force and give up all my retirement benefit...but there is no way that is going to happen. I leave around 6 Sept 2011 and won't return until Sept 2012. Oh...the Air Force does give me 15 days off in the middle of the tour, so I will be able to go home at that time, but besides that, I will be stuck in the country of Afghanistan. What am I expecting this living to be like? Well, I will be living with the Army, sharing a small room with another woman, sharing a bathroom with at least 20 other women, wearing only my uniform or official PT (Physical Training) gear, carrying a gun at all times, living on a base that is about the size of a Walmart parking lot, working 12 hours per day with only a few hours off on Friday and Sunday, and other not so good stuff that I plan on telling you about when I get there.
Will there be good things about this? I'm sure there will, but at this time it all just seems quite crappy. People are telling me that the year will go by fast...who wants a year of our life to go by fast?!? People are telling me that it will be an awesome experience...personally, it's one experience I can do without!
To tell you the truth, the only good thing about it in my opinion is that at least I'm going instead of a someone else that has young children at home and would miss a year of their kids life. The other "good thing" is my job. My job will be to train the Afghanistan Army how to read and write their language (literacy training). I won't be the one actually doing the training, I'll have contractors and Afghan nationals under me doing the training. So, this is a pretty good mission...teaching people how to read and write...hopefully I can just embrace this goodness.
I plan on updating this blog regularly between now and when I return from the deployment to keep you all informed of what's going on with me. I hope you all enjoy the blog. Feel free to post comments and questions which I will answer in my next post.
I know...really sucky, but there is nothing I can do about it...well there is one thing I can do...get out of the Air Force and give up all my retirement benefit...but there is no way that is going to happen. I leave around 6 Sept 2011 and won't return until Sept 2012. Oh...the Air Force does give me 15 days off in the middle of the tour, so I will be able to go home at that time, but besides that, I will be stuck in the country of Afghanistan. What am I expecting this living to be like? Well, I will be living with the Army, sharing a small room with another woman, sharing a bathroom with at least 20 other women, wearing only my uniform or official PT (Physical Training) gear, carrying a gun at all times, living on a base that is about the size of a Walmart parking lot, working 12 hours per day with only a few hours off on Friday and Sunday, and other not so good stuff that I plan on telling you about when I get there.
Will there be good things about this? I'm sure there will, but at this time it all just seems quite crappy. People are telling me that the year will go by fast...who wants a year of our life to go by fast?!? People are telling me that it will be an awesome experience...personally, it's one experience I can do without!
To tell you the truth, the only good thing about it in my opinion is that at least I'm going instead of a someone else that has young children at home and would miss a year of their kids life. The other "good thing" is my job. My job will be to train the Afghanistan Army how to read and write their language (literacy training). I won't be the one actually doing the training, I'll have contractors and Afghan nationals under me doing the training. So, this is a pretty good mission...teaching people how to read and write...hopefully I can just embrace this goodness.
I plan on updating this blog regularly between now and when I return from the deployment to keep you all informed of what's going on with me. I hope you all enjoy the blog. Feel free to post comments and questions which I will answer in my next post.
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