He's so jealous


Little Eli will do anything to be like his mobile brothers. For heaven's sake, he's not even seven months. Someone tell him to slow down

Alright, time for a change of subject. Mike is contemplating a four month deployment. That will be awesome. I just might shoot myself. But then, he has promised me a cruise before he starts school in Ohio so maybe we'll save lots of money and then we can do even more fun things on our trip. Or, maybe I'll use the money to buy plane tickets and send my boys away for four months and spend my free days eating nachos and sipping hot chocolaty goodness. Then I'll be fat for our cruise. And then I could apply for The Biggest Loser and lose all my weight. There could be some really good things come from his voluntary deployment.

Comments

Jess and Jen said…
Nachos and hot chocolate? Can't say those are two things I'd group together. -Jess
Michelle said…
A four month deployment where?
Cali said…
Why would he go on a four month deployment? You are more than welcome to come hang out (live) with us while he is away! I don't think I could do 4 months alone! Your humor about it all is great!
Oh I wish deployments were optional here in the NAVY! That would be awesome. And, as a side note I always say I want to go on the biggest loser. Mike always laughs at me but I would go in a second. A couple of months where my only job is to lose weight? Uh, sign me up....now! And, good for you guys for planning a cruise! That's so exciting.
Lokodi said…
I don't know why anyone in their right mind would actually volunteer to be deployed, no matter how long the deployment. Ok, four months isn't too bad, but still! I wish Hans was in the airforce where deployments are 4-6 months instead of this incredibly insane 15 month deployment. Mike, don't do this. You'll still get promoted and people will still like you if you don't do this. Wait until it's mandatory.

Lindsey
Jess and Jason said…
Um...does he make a ton more money? He better!

You can come and play with us! We would love to see you and the boys.

I will feed you!! Then we can go on the biggest loser together. I love that show!
The Air Force is shifting from 4 months being the standard deployment to 6-12 months being the standard deployment. By volunteering now, I can get "credit" for being deployed while in only 4 months compared to 6-12 months in the future. Having a deployment on my records makes me a lot more competitive during selection boards (schools, special assignments, awards, promotions, etc).

Additionally, by volunteering for a deployment, I have a lot more control over where I will be going. The AF has deployments to a number of places: Iraq, Afghanistan, Kirgizstan, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Yemen, Germany, England, Diego Garcia, Guam, Washington D.C....and those are only the places that I have heard of people in my career field going. When you volunteer, you are volunteering for a specific assignment in a specific place. If you don't volunteer, and you are tasked, you go where ever they send you. In the current situation, I will probably not get tasked--but it has become a lot more commonplace for my career field to get tasked in the time I have been in the AF. If the time comes that a tasking comes down for someone from my organization, in my career field and my pay grade, and there are 2 or more of us--the guy without an earlier deployment will be selected first. So, to say it one way, I prefer choose a safer, shorter deployment that will help out my career in the future, and potentially prevent me from going on a longer, not as safe deployment that I didn't choose sometime in the future.

I probably won't be getting that much extra money, unfortunately. I should get $250/month for family separation pay, and $3.50 per day for incidentals (soap, laundry detergent, stuff like that...).

We'll see what happens. I appreciate everyone's interest.
Lokodi said…
Mike,

I understand all that. Hans has explained all that stuff to me. I know it looks better for career purposes too. I'm just a little run down right now, that's why I have a hard time understanding why anyone would volunteer to go. I get it though. I know all the reasons. I just hate deployments. They are hard on a family. Although, four months is nothing. If you can choose a four month deployment rather than be assigned to a six to twelve month, go for it. Besides, Adrianne can do it. She's tough and her boys are good. It's four months, not 15.

Lindsey

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