Before and during the last drill weekend, I decided to stay in the Guard till they throw me out which likely will mean going to Afghanistan in two years or so. Our unit should be getting new aircraft at the beginning of next year. If all goes well, I hope to go with them.
When I started working full time in Iraq writing about soldiers, it became clear that in an ideal world I would have been in public affairs all the way through the training to get ready to go to Iraq. That way I could have gotten information about every soldier before we went on active duty and written about the whole process--civilian, to soldier in training, to the desert and back again.
So I will write about all the training we do until plans for the unit become more clear. Then I will have to get waivers both to stay in the Army past 60 and to deploy. Our sergeant major thinks both waivers are possible, but nothing is ever a sure thing with waivers and exceptions.
On Monday when we were at the Corn Maze, PA State Senator Mike Brubaker was welcoming the veterans as we went in. Later when we were eating he came over to our table and asked if there was anything he could do for us. My wife said, "Neil wants to stay in the Guard and go to Afghanistan. Can you help him with that?" Sen. Brubaker called his aide over. It turns out we live in a different senatorial district, but he said Senator Smucker would certainly be willing to help. My commander in Iraq, Scott Perry, is the representative for the PA 92nd district, so maybe I will have other help getting a waiver.
At least now I can stop thinking about what to do next. I will try to stay in as long as I can. If I can't stay, at least I tried. Next drill I will take an eight-hour ride in a Chinook and take pictures of aerial gunnery. No matter how long I get to stay, I will get to do a lot of fun stuff while I am in.
Veteran of four wars, four enlistments, four branches: Air Force, Army, Army Reserve, Army National Guard. I am both an AF (Air Force) veteran and as Veteran AF (As Fuck)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel
In The Elements of Marie Curie , Dava Sobel presents the life of one of the most compelling figures in the history of science. Marie Curie...
-
Tasks, Conditions and Standards is how we learn to do everything in the Army. If you are assigned to be the machine gunner in a rifle squad...
-
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ’s August 1914 is the first volume of his The Red Wheel cycle of novels an epic attempt to explain how Russia slid ...
-
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day is, on the surface, a beautifully restrained novel about...
Livin' the dream. Go for it!
ReplyDelete-Julian
It seems like you're following your path. Keep blogging brother.
ReplyDeleteDitto of your other comments. I truly admire you as I know that no matter how good of shape you are in the years creep up and there is a great deal of overcoming you have to do to do what you are doing. Of all things please keep blogging. Thank you so much for what you do.
ReplyDelete