Reading Between The Lines: Army Style

I feel for my spouse.  He has worked hard, done what he was told, and still keeps listening to those above him.  He should be rewarded but I think unless we find a loop hole we are doomed to not get him that justly deserved rank award.

Yesterday, being the research junkie that I am, I did some research to try to find a loop hole.  I might have found a technical error that when brought to JAG (Judge Advocate General) might just get J in the door for the board that is coming up.  MIGHT.

This is the data I collected.

According to the MILPER 11-317, its a pdf file, the following changes might have eliminated him from being a candidate.

B. REQUEST FOR WAIVERS FOR TIME IN SERVICE (TIS), AGE, AND UCMJ/CIVIL CONVICTIONS ARE SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY.

D. SOLDIERS IN THE ACTIVE COMPONENT (AC) MUST NOT HAVE REACHED THEIR 28TH BIRTHDAY ON THE DATE OF SUBMISSION OF THEIR OCS PACKET TO HRC. SEE PARAGRAPH 5G.

 K. A COMPLETED COPY OF DA FORM 2807-1 MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE APPLICATION PACKET. THE FORM MUST SHOW THE REASON FOR THE PHYSICAL AND BE DATED. THE FORM MAY NOT BE OVER 1 YEAR OLD FROM THE SCHEDULED SELECTION BOARD END DATE FOR WHICH THE SOLDIER IS APPLYING.
J's physical is almost two years old and he was told they were good for two years but he said getting another physical is no problem.

However, there is some good news too in the new announcement the Army made in its MILPER 11-317.

 J. MINIMUM APFT SCORE FOR ALL SOLDIERS IN ALL COMPONENTS APPLYING FOR OCS MUST BE 240 (80 POINTS IN EACH EVENT) ON ALL TESTS. APFT DATES MUST BE 30 DAYS OR MORE APART. MOST RECENT APFT MUST BE WITHIN 60 DAYS OF SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION TO HRC.

J's last APFT score was over 250 so he isn't in danger of not being accepted for the score on that one for his fitness test.

  E. MEET ARMY HEIGHT AND WEIGHT STANDARDS IAW AR 600-9.

J is far from being overweight.  He is quite fit and muscular to boot.

 Q. GT SCORE OF 110 OR HIGHER.  J's GT score was above 130.  He's smart.

 R. THE ARMY IS PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN ACCESSING OFFICERS WITH DEGREES IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING OR MATH; HOWEVER, ALL SOLDIERS MEETING ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS MAY APPLY. 

J has a bachelor's degree in a science field.  They'd want him because of that, one would think right?

 3. THERE ARE TWELVE CHANGES OR ITEMS OF INTEREST TO THE AC/RC OCS PROGRAM ANNOUNCED IN THIS MESSAGE. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT SOLDIERS APPLYING FOR THE FEDERAL OCS PROGRAM REVIEW AR 350-51, PARAGRAPH 1-7, WHO MAY NOT APPLY.

Now I head over to the AR350-51 Paragraph 1-7 subset M and I find the following:
 1–7. Who may not apply
Individuals may not apply if—
m. They would be over 34 years of age when appointed as a commissioned officer.

That is my loophole.  Think it will work?

He has all the qualifications that they want in an officer.  His APFT score is high enough over the minimum.  His GT score is also way above the minimum.  He has the ideal degree they want.  He is under 34 for another 9 months.  He has time.

But....they won't give age waivers according to the MILPER 11-317.  So is this futile?  I mean does anyone think we have a chance?

Annoyed With The Army

Dear President Obama,

I love my husband.  I love being an Army Wife.  But there are a lot of things I don't love about this life right now.

My husband just called me to inform me that OCS (officer candidate school) is no longer an option.  I'm pissed.  This has been his dream since he enlisted 4.5 years ago with his bachelor's degree.

When he was stationed in Korea he started his OCS packet.  That was 3.5 years ago.  The Army told him he had to wait a bit.  He didn't want to wait. 

After Korea he got stationed here.  He told his command that he wanted to go to OCS.  They said its not going to happen because of the upcoming deployment.  Again he had to wait.

He deploys and finds out that he can still get all the paperwork together while deployed.  He worked his butt off over in Iraq to get his physical and papers signed.  He gets home and is told he has to wait.  He waited as a good soldier ought to.

He waits.  His references expired.  So he got new references.  He was told again this summer to wait because of the next deployment.  He waited.

He then gets told that they are going to have a board in July before the mini deployment but that the folks at the board won't be ready for him.  He is told to wait until after the mini deployment is done.  He waits.

He gets back and tries to get his packet submitted yet again.  This time he is told that things are changing and there won't be another board this year.  He is told to wait until today for the seminar.  He waits. 

He goes to today's seminar.  He is now told he is too old.  They now have a cut off of 28 for OCS unless he was part of the reserve component.  He isn't reserves.  The Army killed his dream.

Is this how our Vets are being treated?  Why are their dreams being killed?

He listened to them and waited.  He did as he was told.  He went off to war.  He waited again as was told.  Now they are telling him its too late. OCS is the reason why my husband went into the Army to begin with.  He was given a promise that with his education the Army would be foolish to waste him on anything but being an officer.

Sincerely,
R

(Oh and I so did email this to him at the White House.  I am angry.)

Food To Cry Over

Yesterday I slaved over the stove to create a meal that J would love but had never had before, well at least not cooked by me.  J has had plenty of manicotti, the frozen cheese type, in his lifetime and has enjoyed none of it.  With a bit of cajoling I made him agree to give mine a try. 

See I make mine from scratch.  Mine is not just cheese but beef and onion are added in as well.  I took my time making it yesterday and spent 1.5 hours on just the prep work and another 30 minutes on baking it in the oven.  Yes I even grated by hand my cheeses.  It was worth it.

J said that this was the best manicotti he has ever had and was sorry that he didn't have me make it sooner.  He said he had tears in his eyes from the joy of the flavors in his mouth.  That brought tears to my eyes as well because I knew the pain of standing so long to make this dish was worth it, finally!

Unfortunately I won't be going back for seconds on this dish.  I have a tomato allergy.  I love trying to ignore it but the reverse peristalsis always reminds me that I'm not supposed to be eating tomatoes or tomato products.  Will I ever learn?  Probably not.

J took several of the manicotti with him this morning in his dog bowl, think Jacob Black, to have for his lunch at work.  He loves his dog bowl and he loves my manicotti.  All is well in the world.

Today I plan on baking a batch of oatmeal scotchies for him and his co-workers at the COF.  I've made the cookies for other people and his old civilian engineering office years ago.  The cookies were always a favorite of his grandmother too.  She couldn't wait for me to get them out of the oven.

My pain level is still about the same.  I'm not sleeping much and am up about every 30 minutes during the night.  Not much to be done about that.

OCS application update.  J went to sick call this morning to get the new medical paperwork done. Turns out S1 isn't so smart and the paperwork is good for two years.  Ugh!  So the only thing that actually expired in his packet were the references of which he started collecting during his deployment.  With any luck he'll have most of them in hand by the end of next week so that he can re-submit his packet.  Wish him luck.

Life: An Update

Life is always bringing me changes.  Some I can handle quite easily, others I just want to smack someone for dropping on my doorstep.  The later has been most of those of late.

J comes home last night with his OCS packet.  He has to re do the entire packet.  Why when S1 went over it with him months ago before he submitted it?  Well its because of the long field exercise.  His packet sat at S1 the entire length of the exercise and documents expired.  All his hard work, heck my hard work too as I helped in the gathering together of some of those documents, went to the circular file.  I told him if only he'd done this when I first suggested it wouldn't have hit the expiration.  Oh well, its done.  Starting over with phone calls for references last night.  Maybe he'll have it all together in two weeks time.  I hope.

I've gained five pounds.  I stepped ever so gingerly onto the scale yesterday morning only to see tilt.  Okay so it didn't say tilt but it should have with the numbers I saw.  The ovarian cysts aren't going down.  I'm gaining weight and eating less.  I'm full easily with the cysts pressing on my organs.  The pain is now above the naval.  Last week the pain was still only below the naval.  This indicates to me that they are not reducing.  Great.  I'm rationing my percocet to just one a night.  I have enough left now to last until Thursday night if I'm careful. 

During the day I take acetaminophen with the hopes that it will take the edge off most of the pain.  It never does.  I did some more research on the ovarian cysts.  There is absolutely nothing they can do to reduce the size of them except for surgery.  I'd rather not have surgery.  I don't like taking the risk of an infection.  Staph infections happen more often then we realize.  So here I sit whining and complaining about the pain.

Now I can complain more because life just sucks more.  I'm alive I know this because of the pain.  I don't want pity, I want sex.  Did I just say that?  Yes!  No sex makes me grouchy.  I should be used to not getting sex being an Army Wife.  But when the husband is home I'd like to make up for all that time when he is gone.  No sex of any sort because a woman's orgasm causes the uterus to elevate and shake.  We aren't allowed any jiggling movements or so says the doctor.  No sex he says.   Again I say, "Life sucks".

We finally have a bit of nice weather here.  Its cold but not raining.  Well its not raining yet.  I'd love to go out for a walk but the pain keeps me inside.  I think I'd go outside if I had a hot tub but that is about it.  Okay maybe if there was a trail of unopened chocolates leading me down the street I might budge from the house.  But only if the chocolates led up to a bottle of narcotics.  Geez make me sound like a druggy doesn't it? 

Two more weeks until my next ultrasound.  A few days after that I get my dental work done.  Had to wait until there was no fear of me being pregnant.  Mid May I have my MRI.  I'm going to glow in the dark from all the radiation.

On the subject of female issues, another blogger pointed out the feminine napkin and tampon commercials as being unrealistic.  I have to agree with her on that one.  How many of my female readers, during that time of the month go hiking with no toilet on a trail.  How many go sky diving?  How many plan taking a cruise in search of that special guy?  Really now!  I mean how come they don't show the truth?  How about showing a female shouting at the man in her life.  Maybe show her drowning her PMS in ice cream, chips and chocolate?  How about showing her crying because yet again she didn't conceive and the pain is bad both emotionally and physically? 

Yes, I realize that stuff most likely will scare men off from women who expect us to be those "fake" females that love to do outdoor sports during that time of the month.  I realize that products probably won't get sold if the truth were shown on tv.  But I'd like to see some truth in advertising and none of this "have a happy period"  bs.

I'm crabby.  I'm unhappy that all my vacation plans have gone out the window due to high gas prices.  I'm unhappy that I'm not pregnant.  I'm unhappy that I'm in pain.  I guess they only thing that is making me truly happy right now is that I know I'm loved even when I'm not the best person to hang with.  Love really does make a difference even when I'd like to rip someone's head off.

I'm alive, I'm able to do things to take care of me, I'm capable of giving and receiving love.  Life isn't so bad.  But it could be better.

Fear Of The Unknown

Fear of the unknown is ever present in my life and in the lives of my friends and family.  Feed a fear and go into a panic.  Starve a fear and overcome it.  Well that is something I say at least but I'm not always sure it is true nor am I sure it always works and for all situations.

Just today a friend of mine who is in her twenty-seventh week of pregnancy started bleeding.  I fear that she will have a preterm baby like the last one.   Can I do anything to prevent it?  No.  The only thing that I can do is make myself available to her via phone and web to help her cope with the stress levels.

I have a fear that yet again I won't be pregnant.  I have only two cycles left in which to conceive and then I'm done.  Yes I'll be done.  At forty-one years of age the military doctors don't like to have a woman keep trying to conceive.  If I was thirty-one things would be a bit different.  If I feed this fear that I'll never get pregnant I'll become depressed.  If I starve this fear I might do something foolish and risky that might accidentally terminate a pregnancy if indeed I am pregnant.  No exercising, no heavy lifting either with the round ligament pain I have right now.  I have to be cautious and its driving me nuts.  Sunday I should be able to test at home.  If its negative yet again I have to wait even longer before I can go get the blood work so I can start my next round of clomiphene citrate.

My spouse is going through his own fears of the unknown.  He has a lot of choices he has to make with only about two years of active duty left on this contract.  Does he stay in and pursue the career he always wanted as an officer, warrant or go the NCO route?  Does he get out and try to find a job in the economy?  Jobs are scarce and he told me just last night he doesn't want to get out.  He has his OCS packet all ready to go but others are telling him to hold off on submitting it until he makes one more rank.  Do they realize that would mean he'd have to start from scratch again on this packet?  It has taken him the better part of a year to get this packet ready since he started it when he was deployed to Iraq.  While references were easy enough to gather together the physical wasn't that easy to get with his busy schedule.  Last time he tried to get the physical he had to wait on chopper flights to the nearest MTF (military treatment facility) in Iraq.

I'm guessing his fear is of rejection.  He would make a great leader.   But if he continues to second guess what those around him are thinking about him he'll never try to excel.  Would you keep trying to better yourself if you felt as though the folks you work with have no confidence in your abilities?  They haven't told him they have no confidence and most likely he is just fearful of the unknown and looking for that reason to lose hope.  We've all been in those situations before.  Just like when a guy proposes to a girl the fear of rejection is there even if he believes its a sure thing he doesn't know what her answer will be but just has to hope.  However if the workplace situation isn't conducive to mental growth a person will not feel as though they are worthy enough to apply their skills and succeed.  Just as if a child were brought up in an abusive family that child would feel worthless and continue to harbor those feelings of self loathing through adulthood until assured differently that they are indeed worthy. 

The Army has changed greatly since when my dad was a soldier.  Back in his day, the 1960's, a guy could easily elevate himself through the ranks.  One day he'd be a sergeant and get into a fight lose his rank but within a month he'd have his rank back again.  Usually a soldier back then would make sergeant in under three years in the service but not now.  Now they have the points system.  Now a soldier who has the capabilities to excel is held back because he or she doesn't have enough points to warrant that extra stripe or brass marker.  What happened to be being judged as worthy? 

With two wars going on simultaneously one would think that attaining rank would be that much easier, but its not.  Now many soldiers are leaving the service after just four years and they are leaving as specialist.  Sure they leave with the GI bill for college but they didn't have the time that the recruiters assured them they would have to take classes while in the Army.  Benefits have been cut so deeply for the soldiers that not only are they receiving less money for housing, they don't get the computers for college they were promised, and now the MWR (morale welfare recreation) programs are on the chopping block too.  The MWR is what runs our commissary (grocery store) and exchange along with the wonderful discounted trip programs.  Why should our soldiers of all ranks care about helping the other guy get ahead and assuage his fears when they are feeling the economic pinch?  Not all NCO's (non commissioned officers ) are out for themselves but quite a few of them are from what I've seen.  "So lets feed the fears of the junior enlisted and make sure they stay where they are" is what I get from this system that is straight out of the feudal period.  Oh haven't you noticed that its quite close to the feudal system?  Right down to what the people are allowed to wear, eat and where they are housed.  Yes its a broken system but I don't see where it can be fixed. 

Sorry about the rant.  Back to where I was before it now.

Its just too easy for me to tell my friend to relax and for me to tell my husband to just go ahead and submit the paperwork for OCS (officer candidate school).  I'm not in their situations.  I'm not the one facing their fears.  I have enough fears of my own, self-inflicted fears, to face.  I made my own decisions in life that got me thus far and had to face my own share of fears.  All I can do is just be there for my friends and family with open arms and an open mind.  I just hope they do the same for me when I have to face my own fears.