*Sigh*...
10 years ago today my hubby, Rob, enlisted in the Army. It was a month after I had graduated from high school. On the 4th of July in 1999 we were with a group of our friends talking about getting jobs and going to college when I overhear Rob answering the question of what he was going to be doing at the end of summer by saying he was heading off to boot camp in 10 days.
Ummm... EXCUSE ME?!?! My high school boyfriend somehow didn't see the need to tell me he was leaving in less than 2 weeks to join the Army? (Yes, he knows he will never live this down even though he has more than made up for it by so lovingly including me in later decision about re-enlisting and other career moves.)
Oh, and why did he join the military? And why the Army and not some other branch, you ask? Well... it turns out Rob's younger brother, Mike, was planning on joining the Marines once he graduated from high school (which he did until a little over a year ago when he got out and moved to Salt Lake City with his wife and my cute nephew & niece... but I digress....) So, the Marine recruiter called the house to talk to Mike. Rob answers and explains that he is not Mike, but the older brother. Mr. Super Recruiter has the ingenious idea to ask what Rob is doing with his life. Not even making the recruiter work for the sale at all, Rob replys with the most desirable answer a military recruiter could ever hope for "not much of anything". So, in less time than it takes to figure out who the idiot on a road is- Rob had agreed to go down to meet the guy at his office to "chat". The next day Rob went down the area where he thought the Marine recruiting office was- since he had seen other military recruiting offices all in this one complex. And they all were there-- except for the Marines who, for some reason, had their office across town as Rob later learned.
So, Rob looks around lost since he can't see a sign saying "Marines" anywhere and decides he'll go talk to the Air Force while he's there- only they are closed for lunch. And standing outside a few doors down, with a big grin on his face, watching this young man wandering around lost was the Army recruiter who made sure he wasn't closed at such an opportune time as that. Well...all it took was a simply "Hey, I'm open over here... and why don't we go inside and chat" and the rest is history, folks.
Anyhoo-- so he has been a soldier for 10 years as of today. And as many in the military world know we're "half way there, man" - referring to the cool fact that we can start getting retirement pay by staying in the service for at least 20 years. (Though we may stay in for more- only God knows right now.)
These 10 years have included 5 years of living in the barracks before we were married, living both on and off post, 2 re-enlistments, 2 year long tours in Iraq, TDY trips to Israel & Romania, 3 duty stations (2 of which were in Germany), and the chance to travel much of Europe together. I am excited to see what these next 10 years have in store for us.
I had planned to throw a "1/2 Way Party" to celebrate today- but duty called and Rob was not able to be here. My plans for this party? We would go bowling with friends and bowl 5 frames- then switch and bowl another person's last 5 frames. (Playing 1/2 of each game.) We would eat pizza made with 1/2 of one topping and another topping on the other 1/2. I would make jello in clear cups out of 2 different colors or a checkerboard 2 flavored cake. (You get the 1/2 and 1/2 idea I'm going with here.) And of course the party would start at 1/2 past some hour until 10 o' clock (to celebrate the 10 years.)
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