Hooah

Well now. This is certainly an interesting turn of events, yes? Thought we were done with the Army? And maybe moving for a minute? Yeah. Us too. We moved to Minnesota with every intention of building a life here and buying a nice house on a piece of land and getting a few chickens and kittens and puppies and maybe planting roots slightly deeper than a dandelion's. And up until a month or two ago, that was all set to happen. We had our sights set on the cutest little blue house situated on 14 acres and were making plans to purchase in the spring. We knew this tiny house we're in now wouldn't be a forever home by any stretch of the imagination. But it was available and cheap and perfect for moving into given our situation and timeline at the end of last year. We have enjoyed being with our friends from Korea and meeting new (amazing!) friends and neighbors. We haven't locked our doors once since moving in. We still don't have our house key on our key ring. The safety and simplicity and small town living is perfect.

But.

We came to a crossroads. Steve was not finding fulfilling civilian employment. The AGR (Active Guard Reserve) jobs in Minnesota require ADOS (Active Duty Operational Support- which is just the fancy Army acronym for temporary active duty orders) before being considered for an actual AGR job. ADOS orders can vary in length between one day or multiple years. You do not receive all of the active duty benefits while serving ADOS orders. (Basically they are giving you temporary orders for an unspecified amount of time to see if they like you enough to offer you an AGR job.) There are also no officer openings for ADOS/AGR jobs in this area. This would require Steve to resign his commission (something he was more than willing to do). But with the lack of additional benefits and the commute and the uncertainty of not knowing whether a permanent AGR job would come out of these temporary orders, we had to make a big decision.

So the one road was - Steve would resign his commission, apply for ADOS orders, and hope/wish/pray that an AGR job would come out of it quickly. We could make ends meet, but it would be tight (extremely tight), and require that we stay put in our tiny (temporary?) home for quite a bit longer- until/if an AGR job came through. (And as an aside, the only AGR jobs in this area right now (and the foreseeable future) are recruiter jobs. Sparsely populated area, no common ground with anyone graduating high school from this area, lots of traveling, big commute- it all kinda equates to stress in our eyes. Seems you have to do a minimum of 3-6 years as a recruiter before you will even be considered for another AGR job. It just doesn't sound appealing in the least. Especially when you factor in commute and pay and tiny house and four kids. Anyways, that is a little more backstory to that road.)

The other road was - try to get back on active duty as an enlisted soldier. Since he is 29, Steve's time to do active duty is now or never. Pretty soon he will need an age waiver to get back in. No matter what, Steve knew he would resign his commission. The pay cut would actually be a pay increase for our family right now (which omg, I know, I will do a separate post concerning all of that) and the additional benefits of being on active duty would include on-post housing (aka a house with more than one bedroom aka Will can CIO aka we might actually get to sleep through the night for a week or so before Baby #4 arrives and causes an even greater sleep deficit), a shorter commute (versus a potential AGR job commute here), access to the commissary, etc. Not to mention the desire Steve has to serve and do a job he enjoys. He enlisted with the mindset of doing something in the Army post 9/11, and despite how hard he worked as an officer, he doesn't feel like he "did" anything. (I would obviously disagree with him on that because I think he made a difference in many great ways, but I also did not go through the actual experience of serving, so I can't discount his feelings on this.)

We obviously discussed this at great length before coming to the decision that he would pursue the active duty route. Stability-wise, active duty offered our family more, and trust me, I am well aware of how completely insane that sounds. Our biggest hold up, and source of never-ending guilt, is moving the kids again. I know they are still at an age where every move is an adventure and they enjoy seeing new things and exploring new places and meeting new people. But they absolutely love Minnesota. We all do. We have friends, wide open spaces, a (seemingly eternal) winter wonderland all around us, and the promise of the most brilliant summer we've never experienced. I don't want to uproot the kids to a new school/new home/new friends/new playground just months after arriving here to Minnesota. But because of the timing of all of this, it seems to be our only choice.

The process itself has been brutal. Steve is an odd duck. Resigning a commission to go enlisted? As an E4? Can't be done, said some recruiters. Can be done, but shouldn't, said others. A few just laughed. Ultimately, IT CAN BE DONE if you know enough people and push hard enough for answers and research every friggin Army regulation in existence. We have had an incredible amount of support and I am eternally grateful to the friends that have stuck their necks out (and ears, good lord I have talked a few folks' ears OFF) to try and help us through this. It has been tough, but the no's have only motivated Steve that much more. He is out to do everything he never got to accomplish as a "Powerpoint Ranger."

And a side note/more explaining- usually a Captain that resigns his/her commission would re-enter the enlisted world as an E5/E6. But the Call to Active Duty Program is only taking back certain MOS's (jobs) for certain ranks. As far as officers go, Steve's branch was only taking back career course qualified Captains, so he was immediately disqualified going back as an officer based on that alone. But if he went back in as an E5, he would need to complete AIT for that specific MOS. Before Steve commissioned as a 2LT, he enlisted and went to basic training and AIT for infantry. Being that I am having a baby at the end of June, going to any AIT would really throw a kink in our plans of him being around for this baby's birth. (#minordetails) BUT, the only way to pick the MOS of your choice is to be an E1-E4. When he commissioned as an officer, he was an E4, so he is just going back to what he was prior to becoming an officer. Like I said before, financially, this is fine. Our current budget is less than E4 salary so we can actually put money into savings each month once he's back in. We were just really nervous that the needs of the Army would trump all, and the proverbial THEY would put him back in as an E5, thus ensuring he'd go to AIT and miss Baby #4's birth. BUT! For some reason, the Army needed him as E4 infantry and he doesn't have to repeat AIT. PRAISE THE LORD.

It has been a bizarre feeling to be standing on the edge of two very different, but equally attractive lives. On the one hand, we could picture ourselves in that blue house in the country. We had come up with backup plan upon backup plan for that scenario if the Army said no. We had multiple viable business ideas, researched potential buildings, bounced ideas off local friends, researched some more, brainstormed endlessly, and made extensive lists detailing how we would go about accomplishing these grand plans.  On the other hand, we could picture living abroad again. Attending military functions. Moving to a new, exciting location every 3-4 years. Exposing our children to new sights/foods/experiences. No matter what, we knew we'd be happy-sad over the outcome. Which I think is the best case scenario for a situation like this.

I only write this long, drawn-out explanation to give some clarity as to why we chose this route. I have met so many of my dear friends through blogging and I know if I was on the outside looking in, I'd want to know what caused all of this to come about. (Or maybe I am just extremely nosy? Guilty as charged.) We gave the civilian life a two year shot. We are big enough to admit that it didn't work out. We are looking forward to the coming adventure and maybe living somewhere for longer than a few months. Of course, with all the excitement of this actually working out (because we still can't believe that this ACTUALLY WORKED OUT), there is the other side that is composed of mostly sheer terror and being very pregnant. Prayers for a smooth move, a house available wherever we end up, a good OB that doth not protest to my epidural requests whether I am 3cm or 10, easy transition for the kids, and the perfect alignment of the stars as far as HHG and good neighbors are concerned would all be greatly appreciated.

Steve will be going ahead of us mid-April to report to his unit and the kids and I will stay behind to finish up school. This will give us time to get on a housing list and schedule HHG (because Mama ain't movin' herself again!) and just give us a little time to process the upcoming changes. We should be joining Steve mid to late May, which gives me a whopping four weeks or so to unpack and nest and meet my third OB (one for every trimester is how I roll) and figure out how to sorta kinda navigate the largest military base in the world.

Oh yeah, did I mention where we're going?

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Please feel free to inundate me with information! I am all ears!