He did it! Hooray!
Getting to this point was not an easy one, unfortunately.
We've stayed pretty mum, up to this point, on a lot of the "coming home" drama, because as usual, the information and status of things changed daily--sometimes hourly.
The few weeks prior to his trek home he was told his LOR papers (letter of release from Afghanistan) was misplaced/lost and until it was found/reproduced he was going to have to stay in country.
For a week or two, it wasn't that big of a deal per se.
The trek home for most deployed soldiers, especially in active war zone countries, are typically very complicated, making stops for sometimes days in other foreign countries waiting for your connecting flight to make it back to the states.
Usually that entails your flight out of said war zone country, to Kuwait where you sit and wait until a flight is available and there are no sand storms postponing those who got there before you. After that it's a free for all which country you'll fly to on the way home (John's done Iceland and Ireland on deployment #1 and #2) and sometimes not even sure what US state you are going to fly into until you are boarding your designated flight!
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| Proof of life from Stephanie Hendrixson! :) |
I knew John said he "should be" on his way out of at least Afghanistan that first weekend of October, but with the missing paperwork I wasn't getting my hopes up, there hadn't been any resolution that I had heard about to that point...
So you can imagine my shock when I get a phone call (yes, that's a BIG DEAL) from him a couple days later saying "I'm in Texas," about to board his flight back to ole NC.
I had no clue he'd even left Afghanistan and now he was state side, what!?
This is the most out of the loop I've been out of all the deployments, so sharing the news with family was almost awkward, like I'd been holding out on them or something!
He landed at Ft. Bragg the evening of October 6th and crashed with our long time friends, the Hendrixson's.
This is where things get complicated and completely frustrating.
On October 1st, the US government went into shut down mode, leaving most of us wondering if we were even going to get a paycheck.
What most people don't remember is that this isn't a new situation for us as military.
Our paycheck's being "held" has happened before.
It's not something you are truly prepared for, even if you know it's coming, and it always seems to happen at completely horrible/inconvenient times (is there a really good/convenient time? Not really, but ya know...).
Fortunately, for at least us active duty families, our paychecks have NOT been withheld, for now.
However, with this round of government shut down came the furlough of nonessential personnel at US bases around the world and that is where things halted for us personally.
After a deployment a soldier must go through extensive psychological and physical checks and exams before they are "released" back among their families and you.
The people that conduct these post deployment exams/checks were considered "non essential personnel" leaving soldiers who just came home, without access to the essential exams/checks needed to get their post deployment leave to be with their families AKA: they have to go into work the next day and resume business as normal until told different.
What this meant for us:
John is in NC.
Brynlee and I are in CO.
John is home, but not home with us...so really, it doesn't count.
Total days away from us, except his two week mid tour leave in May, totals 377 days as of October 6th, when he arrived in NC.
We're depending on his leave/time off for him to come to CO to help us move back to NC to be a family again.
So, what to do?
THAT was the question that I sat here trying to figure out.
Do I try to move Brynlee and I myself?
Do we just forget about his leave and just go to him?
Do I hire someone to do this for me?
It really amazes me that when you find yourself in the most twisted/helpless of situations that God can really show through and show who is really in control.
Within two days of John being "back at work," the furloughed personnel that conduct these exams were sent back to work (without pay) and John was able to make his exam appointments to finally get his leave granted to him (like he hadn't earned it yet or something?).
We officially bought a plane ticket yesterday for him to finally come to Colorado on October 21st.
Although that still feels like a world away from now, I think after all this, we can get through one more week!
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| John with Patterson and his family. They had a "Welcome Home" dinner for him, so blessed! |
Maybe even go on a family vacation...who knows. ;)
We're so blessed to have such a supportive group of family and friends here in CO, that one more week with out daddy, although not ideal, is totally doable.
We're also blessed with our friends, we call family, back in NC that are such a huge support system especially while John is there readjusting.
One thing I have learned while being married to the military is that the relationships you invest in while living this lifestyle, they really can be invaluable and forever.
I could go on forever about the benefits and blessings I've been given by having some of the most patient, selfless, understanding, and flexible friends and families there that have made our time at Bragg bearable and makes me excited to go back, even if it means leaving our "real" family.
Here's to the last week of "missing daddy"-dom. We can do this!
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