Life During an I.R.R. deployment. (How we are handling the backdoor draft)
As you can imagine, receiving the news of activation from the Army has been a slap in the face. In an effort to be a bit less negative about the whole mess Sherri and I find ourselves in, I have decided to use this situation to serve as a sort of 'kick in the ass'. We have become very active in political reading and writing. We pour over tons of web pages nightly and I have begun this blogging as a forum to release energy. Here I will vent, bitch, raise questions, answer questions and basically exercise my right to freedom of speech to it's fullest extent.
The first thing we have started exploring is to get an idea of our 'peers'. Other families who are finding themselves in the same situation as us. To date, approximately 4,000 Individual Ready Reserve soldiers have been ripped from their lives to don, once again, the uniform. I use the term ripped because it is the most appropriate way to describe how this is done. As in our case, all the others as well have been given a mere 30 days to prepare. 30 days is pretty minute when you think of the endless things that have to be done to ensure you family will handle themselves while you are gone.
In our case, we have to get Sherri back to our house in Lena, IL so she can be closer to family and have a support base within minutes of her.We are fortunate in this aspect of the deployment, as some families are probably left to fend on it's own with family support thousands of miles away in other states. We also have to take care of any legal issues that might exist. We have to make sure that our finances are accessible by both of us so things can be done here while I am gone. There is a number of other things we have to do, that are too detail oriented to even
bring up here, but just know that 30 days really puts your back to the wall.
From a soldiers standpoint, this is more stressing thin most of the things I have done in my times of service. No longer am I being deployed as a member of a unit. Moving with people I have trained with and equipment I am familiar with. Everything will be new. I will meet new
people around every turn until I final land in the unit I will be assigned to. My best guess is it will be four months before I find a group of people that I will know long enough to become acquainted with. Wherever and whomever they may be, I hope they are well trained and
friendly.
Stay tuned as Sherri and I continue to prepare for this most unexpected event and keep you up to date as to how we are doing as well as keeping you informed of our political views. You can imagine how they may sound right about now.
Until next time, stay safe, be happy and remember, Johnny Jihad is not hiding under your bed. He is living in a cave where he belongs.
The first thing we have started exploring is to get an idea of our 'peers'. Other families who are finding themselves in the same situation as us. To date, approximately 4,000 Individual Ready Reserve soldiers have been ripped from their lives to don, once again, the uniform. I use the term ripped because it is the most appropriate way to describe how this is done. As in our case, all the others as well have been given a mere 30 days to prepare. 30 days is pretty minute when you think of the endless things that have to be done to ensure you family will handle themselves while you are gone.
In our case, we have to get Sherri back to our house in Lena, IL so she can be closer to family and have a support base within minutes of her.We are fortunate in this aspect of the deployment, as some families are probably left to fend on it's own with family support thousands of miles away in other states. We also have to take care of any legal issues that might exist. We have to make sure that our finances are accessible by both of us so things can be done here while I am gone. There is a number of other things we have to do, that are too detail oriented to even
bring up here, but just know that 30 days really puts your back to the wall.
From a soldiers standpoint, this is more stressing thin most of the things I have done in my times of service. No longer am I being deployed as a member of a unit. Moving with people I have trained with and equipment I am familiar with. Everything will be new. I will meet new
people around every turn until I final land in the unit I will be assigned to. My best guess is it will be four months before I find a group of people that I will know long enough to become acquainted with. Wherever and whomever they may be, I hope they are well trained and
friendly.
Stay tuned as Sherri and I continue to prepare for this most unexpected event and keep you up to date as to how we are doing as well as keeping you informed of our political views. You can imagine how they may sound right about now.
Until next time, stay safe, be happy and remember, Johnny Jihad is not hiding under your bed. He is living in a cave where he belongs.
posted by John Sole Jr at 11:12 PM
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