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Well... it was a very long car ride with the parents. Plus, I discovered that large SUV or not, sitting in the back still makes me car sick. We stopped at a MikkiD's/Gas Station and I found some Dramamine. Took the full recommended dose (cause I'm a big girl, right?) and promptly passed out. Two hours later I came out of the stupor just in time to stop at the next Rest Stop and be sick.
Seven hours of this.
We get to the hotel where Mom had reserved a suite with a King sized bed for her and dad and a pull-out sofa bed for me. Except no.
Also, the pull-out sofa? Had blood all over the mattress. One "OMG! No way am I sleeping on that" and a short (read forty minute) discussion with the night person at the front desk, her manager, the night security guard (just because we were bored while we waited for the manager to get on the phone, not because anyone was in trouble - he was a very nice guy, spent about an hour every morning standing outside talking to Mom while she smoked) and several random people who wanted to check in later and we had a NEW ROOM. This one had a King size bed.
I think it was a DNR (Do Not Rent in hotel language, I spent a lot of time hanging out at the local Holiday Inn with the night crew security and desk lady that one year during college but that's another story) because the bathroom door didn't latch properly, but there was no blood so we were happy.
Wednesday - I woke up very early and spent a very long time trying to tame the hair. No luck. Even put on make-up because I didn't want DH's Army buddies to be all "Umm... is that your wife? Cause she's scary looking."
We weren't sure how to get to on to the base because the Gate our crudely drawn map indicated had a huge CLOSED sign on it when we drove past on the way to the hotel. Luckily, while we were talking to the hotel peeps (not the evil cow woman from the night before who tried to make me sleep on a roll-away or *shudder* wanted to know if I would be okay on the bloody mattress with just some extra bedding) this random guy walked up and wanted to know if we needed to get to Ft. Sill. It turns out that Key Gate is only closed to West bound traffic and that if we approached from the direction of the hotel we would be fine.
We left an hour and a half early, just to make sure we had time to get there. So we arrived an hour and twenty minutes early. At least we weren't the first ones there. Did I mention it was 98 degrees?
Eventually the four platoons filed out and Mom picked DH out of the bunch. In my defense, he doesn't look a thing like he used to. The long hair and beard are gone. He's lost a lot of weight. And, really, you try picking one bald camo-wearing guy out of a group of a hundred bald camo-wearing guys.
They did some demos - the gun crawls "Buddy, cover me, Buddy" "Buddy, got you covered, Buddy", the marching around as a unit thing, the hand to hand and something else that I can't really remember at the moment.
Several Privates found out that they were being promoted due to recommendations from the Drill Sgts. So there was a small ceremony for about six guys going from E-1 to E-2. DH is an E-3, a Private First Class.
All the soldiers went back to the Battery Area to do something and we wandered over to watch. They broke up and it was a chaos while soldiers tried to find family members. We looked around for a few minutes until Mom and I spotted one guy who looked vaguely familiar.
It was one of those slo-mo moments in a Lifetime Made For TV movie. I called out DH's name in this horribly-unsure-half-crying voice and he turned and I knew it was him. I ran up to him, already bawling like a three-year-old and I'm sure I was making a scene. He tried to shake Mom and Dad's hands while I was holding on to him like someone was going to take him away.
He showed us his barracks and then it was time to eat at the cafeteria. The food was really good. DH and I had lasagna. That's also when I discovered the sunburn. Mine, not his.
Then it was formation time again. The Drill Sgt. picked over everyone's uniform (DH said it was only the second time they had worn the Class Bs) and then let them go if they had family.
We went back to the hotel and just sat on the sofa bed all night, holding each other.
The next day I was in so much pain, and so bright red, from the sunburn I didn't really care what I looked like. I pulled my hair back out of my face and called it good.
They made us stand outside for nearly an hour before we got to go into the theatre for the Graduation Ceremony. I was sick the entire time. I did get to see him receive his diploma thing. There were several speakers discussing how the men were soldiers now, warriors. It made me sad because it reminded me that we are at war and that soon my husband is going to go into that war and fight for his country - not for some horribly patriotic desire to defend the American way, but because this was the only honest way he could think of to protect and provide for his family.
There are many things about the Army that I do not agree with, but while my husband is a part of the U.S. Military I will stand by him and if that means doing things the military way, that is what I will do. No matter how irritating I find it.
Case in point. Graduation Day DH was supposed to receive a 1600 to 2200 off base pass (6 to 10). However, out of nowhere, they announced at the end of the ceremony that family members should be at the Battery area at 1300 hours. They didn't tell us why. The soldiers didn't know why. None of the other families knew why. We just showed up.
And they let the soldiers go, five hours early.
Of, course, they canceled DH's Leave on Friday, so that kind of canceled out the extra five hours, but that's the Army for you.
We went to the Outback Steakhouse and DH kept calling the waitress "Ma-am". Then we took him to Volde-Mart so he could buy an electric razor, since he wasn't allowed to have one during Basic. They also baned nail files because you could stab people with them.
Um... Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't they training these guys to kill people with their hands and to shot guns and throw grenades? And they were worried about nail files and electric razors?
I'm glad I said goodbye that night because we thought there might be a chance something would happen to his Friday leave (we didn't know it was canceled at that point).
All in all, it was well worth the trip. I'm so glad I got to see him. He has another graduation in two months. I don't know if I'll have a job at that point or the money, but I would very much like to see him again.
Seven hours of this.
We get to the hotel where Mom had reserved a suite with a King sized bed for her and dad and a pull-out sofa bed for me. Except no.
Also, the pull-out sofa? Had blood all over the mattress. One "OMG! No way am I sleeping on that" and a short (read forty minute) discussion with the night person at the front desk, her manager, the night security guard (just because we were bored while we waited for the manager to get on the phone, not because anyone was in trouble - he was a very nice guy, spent about an hour every morning standing outside talking to Mom while she smoked) and several random people who wanted to check in later and we had a NEW ROOM. This one had a King size bed.
I think it was a DNR (Do Not Rent in hotel language, I spent a lot of time hanging out at the local Holiday Inn with the night crew security and desk lady that one year during college but that's another story) because the bathroom door didn't latch properly, but there was no blood so we were happy.
Wednesday - I woke up very early and spent a very long time trying to tame the hair. No luck. Even put on make-up because I didn't want DH's Army buddies to be all "Umm... is that your wife? Cause she's scary looking."
We weren't sure how to get to on to the base because the Gate our crudely drawn map indicated had a huge CLOSED sign on it when we drove past on the way to the hotel. Luckily, while we were talking to the hotel peeps (not the evil cow woman from the night before who tried to make me sleep on a roll-away or *shudder* wanted to know if I would be okay on the bloody mattress with just some extra bedding) this random guy walked up and wanted to know if we needed to get to Ft. Sill. It turns out that Key Gate is only closed to West bound traffic and that if we approached from the direction of the hotel we would be fine.
We left an hour and a half early, just to make sure we had time to get there. So we arrived an hour and twenty minutes early. At least we weren't the first ones there. Did I mention it was 98 degrees?
Eventually the four platoons filed out and Mom picked DH out of the bunch. In my defense, he doesn't look a thing like he used to. The long hair and beard are gone. He's lost a lot of weight. And, really, you try picking one bald camo-wearing guy out of a group of a hundred bald camo-wearing guys.
They did some demos - the gun crawls "Buddy, cover me, Buddy" "Buddy, got you covered, Buddy", the marching around as a unit thing, the hand to hand and something else that I can't really remember at the moment.
Several Privates found out that they were being promoted due to recommendations from the Drill Sgts. So there was a small ceremony for about six guys going from E-1 to E-2. DH is an E-3, a Private First Class.
All the soldiers went back to the Battery Area to do something and we wandered over to watch. They broke up and it was a chaos while soldiers tried to find family members. We looked around for a few minutes until Mom and I spotted one guy who looked vaguely familiar.
It was one of those slo-mo moments in a Lifetime Made For TV movie. I called out DH's name in this horribly-unsure-half-crying voice and he turned and I knew it was him. I ran up to him, already bawling like a three-year-old and I'm sure I was making a scene. He tried to shake Mom and Dad's hands while I was holding on to him like someone was going to take him away.
He showed us his barracks and then it was time to eat at the cafeteria. The food was really good. DH and I had lasagna. That's also when I discovered the sunburn. Mine, not his.
Then it was formation time again. The Drill Sgt. picked over everyone's uniform (DH said it was only the second time they had worn the Class Bs) and then let them go if they had family.
We went back to the hotel and just sat on the sofa bed all night, holding each other.
The next day I was in so much pain, and so bright red, from the sunburn I didn't really care what I looked like. I pulled my hair back out of my face and called it good.
They made us stand outside for nearly an hour before we got to go into the theatre for the Graduation Ceremony. I was sick the entire time. I did get to see him receive his diploma thing. There were several speakers discussing how the men were soldiers now, warriors. It made me sad because it reminded me that we are at war and that soon my husband is going to go into that war and fight for his country - not for some horribly patriotic desire to defend the American way, but because this was the only honest way he could think of to protect and provide for his family.
There are many things about the Army that I do not agree with, but while my husband is a part of the U.S. Military I will stand by him and if that means doing things the military way, that is what I will do. No matter how irritating I find it.
Case in point. Graduation Day DH was supposed to receive a 1600 to 2200 off base pass (6 to 10). However, out of nowhere, they announced at the end of the ceremony that family members should be at the Battery area at 1300 hours. They didn't tell us why. The soldiers didn't know why. None of the other families knew why. We just showed up.
And they let the soldiers go, five hours early.
Of, course, they canceled DH's Leave on Friday, so that kind of canceled out the extra five hours, but that's the Army for you.
We went to the Outback Steakhouse and DH kept calling the waitress "Ma-am". Then we took him to Volde-Mart so he could buy an electric razor, since he wasn't allowed to have one during Basic. They also baned nail files because you could stab people with them.
Um... Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't they training these guys to kill people with their hands and to shot guns and throw grenades? And they were worried about nail files and electric razors?
I'm glad I said goodbye that night because we thought there might be a chance something would happen to his Friday leave (we didn't know it was canceled at that point).
All in all, it was well worth the trip. I'm so glad I got to see him. He has another graduation in two months. I don't know if I'll have a job at that point or the money, but I would very much like to see him again.
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