To Make a Long Story Even Longer

The Army doesn't do anything the easy way. I have very seldom looked at the path ahead and thought, "Yeah, that makes sense." Flexibility, I have learned, is key. For a girl who likes plans and calendars, that is a challenge. The timeline for training and deployment has always been a bit sketchy, but here is the latest: Marc will finish Blackhawk AQC (flight school) on Friday and probably be home by dinner! At the behest of the military (and in order to avoid any health complications in Iraq), Marc needs to have his wisdom teeth removed before he can deploy. Strange, I know. Because of this, we were pretty sure that he would be back in Nashville before the final departure to Iraq. However, he has missed some kind of deadline to meet up with the rest of his unit, who are currently in Ft. Sill, OK. So, after his visit to the oral surgeon, he will have to wait until his unit is in Iraq and go instead to Ft. Bragg, NC, where he will receive mobilization training. It looks like the earliest this will happen is the first week in June, so his stay in N'ville will be longer than we anticipated, which is FABULOUS. After two weeks of training at Bragg, he will meet the unit in Iraq, most likely before the end of June. The important question: does this mean he will be gone longer? Nope! The deployment is for 12 months (give or take...remember, flexibility?) from the date his unit was mobilized, which was March 31st. We are still expecting that he will be back home sometime early in April 2010.