Military, blah, blah, blah...

If I may, I'm going to vent for a bit...and hopefully you will be able to follow my train of thought and the illogical regulations of the Air Force. Yes, it's a military rant...shocking, huh? I mean, I haven't had much experience with the military...only 1 year...yet I have A LOT to say about it.

So, first of all...we got our official orders. Woo hooo! What that means is all of our paperwork went through and we finally have it in writing which then allows me to apply for my Visa, schedule the packers to move us, schedule flights, etc. Lots of important things. Along with all those important things comes lots of headaches.

Example A:

Taylor's "Home of Record" is Knoxville, TN. Therefore, he must fly in and out of Knoxville for all military related flights. He will be flying into Knoxville on Wed. September 30 (coming home from Korea), just so we can drive to Nashville on Thursday for Kelly's Senior Night and my grandma in town...just to drive BACK to Knoxville on Friday for the UT game that weekend.

When we leave for Italy...he has to leave out of Knoxville. I will probably leave out of Nashville and meet him in Baltimore. We are supposed to be leaving Oct. 19th...when he just checked they had me leaving on the 18th and him leaving on the 19th!

Example B:

Taylor's "home" base where he is stationed is Pope AFB in NC. He is in Korea on a short tour (pretty much like a deployment)...I know...I don't think a year is "short" either...but that's beside the point. Anyway, when we move to Italy it is called a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) Therefore his new "home" base will be Aviano since we will be there for 3 years.

So...after we got married he was in town for 2 weeks and then left for Korea. We did not have the Air Force officially move me to Nashville (i.e. have them pack my stuff and move me to Nashville) to live with my parents. Obviously we didn't need them to do that, bc I was not currently living there at the time and I had no stuff there. So as far as they are concerned, I am still living in NC at Pope. But it was a big technicality that Taylor overlooked and we may be paying for big time now. Since, according to Air Force records, I am still in the Pope area, they will not pay to pick up my stuff in Nashville to ship it over to Aviano. They will come and pack it and they will ship it over there, but we will be responsible for the difference it will cost between shipping from NC and shipping from TN. What that will be...who knows? Taylor is trying to figure it all out. Maybe we will take my stuff ourselves (actually myself) to North Carolina (or even more confusing, I know, but to South Carolina where it will actually be shipped out of...thankfully where Thomas, Taylor's twin, is stationed). BLAAAH...so many minute details...as if moving overseas isn't enough to deal with!

AAAND...if you're still with me, what makes it even crazier is this. We are in this situation because of written regulations (I can't think of the word Taylor used to describe them) and that's just the way it is. Buut, if you look at it logically we have actually saved the Air Force money with the whole situation.

1) We didn't use them to "move me" to Nashville...Air Force would have paid for that.

2) We have been getting a housing allowance for me because I am a dependant that was not allowed to go to Korea, therefore they are responsible for ensuring I still have housing in the States (regardless of where I end up living). There is a set housing allowance for different cities in the US based on cost of living. The set amount we would receive in Nashville is a couple hundred more a month than the allowance for Pope AFB in NC. Well we are getting the Pope amount because technically I'm still there. So they've probably saved a couple thousand on the housing allowance.

And now we have to PAY the difference to move! But if we had just had them "officially move" me to Nashville a year ago...they would have paid for EVERYTHING...plus we would have a few extra thousand dollars from housing allowance. Taylor didn't realize that small decision a year ago was going to turn into such a huge deal...and a huge pain in the butt. And ALL of this is new to me...they could tell me I have to paint my house purple before they will pick up my stuff, and at this point...I'd believe it!!

I'm not sure if it makes sense to everyone and I've now rambled for quite awhile. As Taylor would say, "Does this train of thought have a caboose?" Yes, I'm done.