"How ARE You Walking?"

Funny question...one posed yesterday to Soldier by the VA doc doing his paperwork...and he was dead serious.  Seems that there is WAY more going on in Soldier's spine than we were being let on about.  And the VA doc is a little on the furious side.  This could be a good thing I guess, but leaves us wondering what else we don't know about.

There comes that "adventure" from the previous post...good thing I've learned to roll with the punches I suppose.

What's Life Without A Little Adventure....

My new motto apparently.  We begin again with the drama of getting the Spousal Unit medically retired; seems some genius in Germany did the wrong set of paperwork...naturally.  So it all starts anew, only the RIGHT way this time.

In the meantime we've been weighing the options available to us.  Buy a place here and saddle ourselves with a mortgage OR stick to the land in Nevada (completely raw) and slowly build as we can afford it.  Of course it ALL hinges on J-O-B-S for me and the Spousal Unit.  He's eligible for a lot of the gov't jobs in both places because of his whole disabled Veteran status.  I'm eligible as a spouse but not for as much.  Pros and cons are being discussed in depth and it's looking as if Nevada is currently on the winning side.

Now it's just a matter of when/where/how/if...too many questions to be answered and all those answers hinge on the US Army...frightening, no?

Oh, yeah...we arrived safe and sound in the Ozarks, got all our junk (way too much stuff, I admit) and have the kiddos settled in.  Even though I'm applying everywhere I can, no job offers have been forthcoming (making the decision to leave all the more easy).

A Looooooong Time Comin'

but it's finally happening.  In about 2 short weeks, we'll be back on US soil.  Back to the Ozarks we go...off to Fort Leonard Wood for a bit.

And so the fun of packing has come and gone...the furniture and most of the rest of the house all out of the house as of yesterday.  The rest of the goo gone in about a week and a half...us on a plane and Stateside by the end of the first of April.  OPSEC shot to hell, don't care...I'm ready to be home.  Ready to settle in and get back to business with getting ourselves set for the inevitable.

We've done alright from over here (Hubs is practically debt free...a little work left on mine).  But there's more to do.  So ready to get onto the rest of it.

Alas, that's all for now...see you on the other side of the pond soon!

Um...Wow!

Sorry I've been incredibly MIA...things are still crazy, we're still in Germany (obviously) and still awaiting orders back to the States.  Could be NC, could be TX or could be GA.  Yeah, they so aren't sending us back to MO (surprise, surprise).  Still don't know when...could be 2 months, could be 3 weeks, could be less.  So essentially we are living in perpetual limbo.  I'm sadly getting used to it.

It's rough, honestly, not knowing.  Harder on the kids knowing that we'll be leaving, just not knowing when.  Hard on me with planning out my classes and hard on Soldier on so many levels.  The whole not knowing is seriously a pain in the ass with any kind of planning to be honest.  Even the should be simple stuff like grocery shopping.  I know it sounds weird, but it is.  We could come down on orders and be gone in 3 weeks or less if they want it so...and I've seen a few friends get the "less" bit...like 8 working days.  Not so easy when everything around here closes not only on US holidays but German ones as well.

Anyway, we're still alive...still kicking...still waiting. 

More No News...

Soldier's diagnosis is pretty well complete.  Five (5) herniated disks...two in the neck, three in the lower back.  Moderate spinal curvature (and not in a good way) and possibly some (hopefully) temporary nerve damage.  Yay us!

No news on a "you're headed Stateside" date...the new system does that now, sends Soldiers back to the States to MEB out...fine by me!  Although I will miss my Doners, Eis and real schnitzel.  I won't miss the lovely goings-on that the Post has happening...like cutting off the hot water and heat at night to "save money/energy" (said with a mocking laugh, btw)...yeah, you read that one right.  The damn heat was on ALL summer, with the exception of the two warm (80's) weeks we had in September...now, the temps are hitting mid to lower 40's at night and mid 50's during the day with a wind that blows straight the f**k through the not so weatherproofed windows...no heat.  Nice.

Anywho...we await dates, which we won't get until mid-November at the earliest.  Either way, the Brown Dog and the Black Cat will have to find new homes...can't fly with us if the temp is 45 or below and as much as I love them, I don't see us forking over $1500 to fly them via PetAir to the States.  That conversation with the Screamers went over like a brick.

There's an update...scarce as it is.