Friday, June 25, 2010

Total Chaos

I'm still here.
LoverBoy left for a last minute training this last Sunday & it's been complete & total chaos since about the week before he left.
We found on June 10th that he would be leaving on the 19th for training...
Boo...he would miss Father's Day (the 19th), miss our sons 3rd birthday (the 21st) & his party (the 26th).
I was totally bummed for obvious reasons. He is already going to miss a whole years worth of stuff since he is deploying for 13 months.
UGH.

I just kept a good attitude. I know that he needs this course. It's an MRAP Maintenance Course, MRAP's are used a lot in Afghanistan & he basically has been playing boy since he got there. They did their classes & now they are starting to pull them completely apart & put them back together. Like I said, it really is important. Kinda useless to be MotorT if you can fix vehicles that are broken while in country!
Well...as of Thursday the 17th of June he didn't even have tickets, nor did his 3 Marines that would be going with him. Whatever...not my problem...right?!
If he goes, he goes, if not, he stays! :o)))
WRONG!
Everything was done SO last minute that he & his Marines had NO transportation to the SD airport. Thank goodness LoverBoy has a brain...he called the airlines just to be sure all 4 of them were on the same flight...
WRONG!
One of the Marines was on a different flight 2 hours earlier!
Of course!So it being Saturday at about 7pm & finding this out...I start to worry. Who is going to take him?
That's when I found out NOTHING was set up for them.
Normally...they would have been dropped off on base for them to be taken by a government van.
Ya'll know what ones I'm talking about!
WRONG!
Then I figured out that no one, except us had a vehicle big enough to fit everyone.
But of course...I have 2 children which = 2 carseats.
1 Tiffanie + 1 LoverBoy + 3 Marines + 2 Destructicons = 7 Humans.
We have 6 seats!
Thankfully one of the other Marines that was going, wives is a friend of mine, she was still in town & wasn't working. Her & her husband came over Saturday night & stayed the night so she could watch the kids for me so I could take all 4 guys to the airport at 0330.
(YES...that would be 3:30am on Father's Day morning...SUNDAY)
UNBELIEVABLE!
I was upset to say the least that NOTHING was taken care of. I should not have to find a babysitter at 8pm the night before 4 Marines need to be at the airport.
Sorry...I don't get paid enough! ;o)))
You think it's over there?!?
WRONG!
They all get into NC & funds were supposed to be deposited into our account for a rental car.
WRONG!
Of course it wasn't there. And the per diem that they were supposed to get before they left wasn't there either. So no one had enough money for a rental car or a taxi, nor do a major credit card to put it on.
(cause I'm sure getting reimbursed would have been real easy!)
Remember guys...my husband is only a SGT/E-5 & we have 2 children.
(on top of trying to save $ so I can move home while he is deployed)
The other Marines were 2 married CPL/E-4's & a PFC/E-2.
So...NO we couldn't afford a rental car, taxi or a hotel room since the $ we did have after paying our bills & grocery shopping for me & the kids was so he could eat while he was there.
No one was there to meet them at the airport to even take or lead (if they could have gotten a rental) them to where they were supposed to be.Thank the Lord we have friends in NC! One of our couple friends came to the airport to help but they had a 4 seater Honda, 4 Marines & 8 seabags? Ehhh...not gonna fit!
So Paul called his other friend. He had a truck that would fit them all so they had to wait for him to come pick them up.
He drove them onto base & after asking around they figured out where they supposed to check in at.The barracks...you know the "dorms" of the Marine Corps. They were supposed to have rooms there to be staying at...
WRONG!
They had no room for them at the barracks.
(WOW...someone is really doing their job well making sure their Marines are taken care of when traveling acrossed the country for a mandatory training class! Yes...we were all quite perturbed.)
So our friend & his family made room for them at their house.
He took them all back to his house & back to "work" the next morning.
They start checking into their course...no problem right?!
WRONG!
They were never even slotted for the course. The Ssgt in charge had no idea who they were or where they were from. He of course made arrangements for them to be at the course since they were there...but WOW.I know that we have to be flexible...I know that sometimes last minute training comes up...this isn't our first deployment! I can even understand not being slotted for a course because they come up so last minute & need to be filled ASAP.
But this is just...UNACCEPTABLE!
In 6 years of being married to my husband I've NEVER been apart of something this unorganized.
So...I called my FRO (Family Readiness Officer).
Every time LoverBoy would call his shop or anyone back here at home to try & get this all figured out he would get the run around or no phone calls even returned...not even to let him know they were working on it still.
Of course that backfired though...his command was very upset that I called my FRO because she goes straight to her boss which is quite a ways up the Chain of Command. So I'm sure they felt some heat for this all being such a mess.
I wasn't out to get anyone in trouble...I just wanted LoverBoy & his 3 Marines with him to be treated the way they should be.
LoverBoy SHOULD have been issued a government travel credit card...ALL of this would have been avoided is that would have been done!
Anyways...after I contacted my FRO. LoverBoy got question & "yelled" at for it.
He was also told by one of his "higher ups" that another "Higher up isn't done with you!"
PERFECT! Now he is being threatened...because I called my FRO!
Isn't that what she is there for!????!?!!!?
In 6 YEARS...6 YEARS...2 deployments
I've NEVER once contacted my FRO...NEVER...NOT ONCE!
And now the moment I do to figure out what is going on with my husband & 3 of his Marines (because the married 2 wives were asking me questions that I didn't have answers to)
he get told Higher up isn't done with him?!?!?!
WRONG!
I was LIVID!
My husband has served 9 & a half years & he has never been in trouble...NEVER!
There isn't one negative thing on his record!
He has 3 good conduct metals & I've personally seen the things other higher ups have written about him.So I let a little steam off on my fb without naming names because I'm not out to get anyone in trouble...I just want stuff taken care of. My FRO that had just approved me as a friend saw what I had written & asked me to call her. I emailed her & told her I was afraid to get LoverBoy in anymore trouble than what he has already seemed to be in. Shortly after, my phone rang. It was her. We talked about everything. Then she asked me to be apart of the Family Readiness Team for 1st Marine Regiment...which is over 4 other battalions.
So even though I'm moving home...
I am now apart of the team!
This shouldn't happen to any Marines or any families. No wife should be left to feel like she needs to find a babysitter the night before so she can have her husband & 3 of his Marines at the airport in time for a flight. It should be taken care of well before!
Hopefully by me speaking up about this ENTIRE mess it can now be avoided in the future.
So...now you know where I've been & why life has been
TOTAL CHAOS
since LoverBoy left for training.
I'm officially a BeachBody Coach! If you have any questions feel free to ask.
I'm still doing P90X & I've started using Shakeology.
Which I love with my whole life!
I've been drinking it for 3 days now (along with working out) & I'm down 2.5 lbs. I'm not so concerned with the number on the scale even though it does make me smile a little. I really feel wonderful & energized! It is definitely something that I will use for the rest of my life & LoverBoy is VERY excited about getting it while he is in Afghanistan! :o)))

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness! That is all so insane and ridiculous! Hopefully it is avoided in the future. Congrats on more weight loss!!

Goodnight moon said...

So basically what your saying is you want me to keep your hubs entertained while he is here in town? WHAT?!?!? I'm a married women!!!!!! Gesh!

Okay...and might I just tell you, your FB pic is freaking HOT!!!!!!! Love it!