September: Accept job in Taiwan, discover they lied about salary, turn job down. Start turning in applications everywhere.
October: Continue turning in applications to any and every job we can find. Find a fantastic position with the Utah State Legislature where Brent had his internship before we left for England that he absolutely LOVED. He already knew the people he would be working with and had an extremely positive response from the Legislator in charge of hiring. He was even more qualified than they were asking for and was a shoe in for the position.
November: I start working at a nearby office. We discover that due to budget cuts nobody will be hired for awesome job with Legislature. Brent starts vigorously pursuing applications with the Border Patrol and Air Force as well as continuing to submit applications everywhere else.
Late November: Brent picks up a seasonal job to hold us over. Air Force isn't looking like a possibility because the time line wouldn't have Brent into training, until August 2009 and we can't wait that long!!! The Border Patrol is looking like our only option.
December: Brent decides to talk to an Army Recruiter. We feel surprisingly good about the Army option and decide to pursue it and see what happens.
January: Brent turns down a job with the Border Patrol with my blessing (don't get me started)
Late January: Brent applies to become an Army Officer and is turned down. (Two of the three members of the Officer Board said "yes" one was unsure and left his recommendation blank)
February: One can only apply to become an Officer twice, ever. The whole month is spent going back and forth between; "Should we just go enlisted now and apply again later with a different Officer Board?" or "Should we take our chances at winning over the third board member?" After going back and forth on the issue all month, as well as encountering several minor hold ups, we decided to take our chances with the Board on March 4th and see what happens.
March 4th: Brent goes before the Officer Board and after seeing improvement in is Physical test scores and asking about three questions, he is approved.
March 5th: I accompany Brent to SLC for the day as he goes through paperwork, signs the contract and is sworn into the United States Army.
Another reason I didn't write about any of this is because we had no idea what was going to happen until the day before it actually happened. Now to address why we decided to go ahead with the Army in the first place despite some obvious drawbacks.
First and foremost, when Brent came home after talking to an Army recruiter for the first time and told me about the options within the Army, I felt really good about it. Unexpectedly and surprisingly good about it. I don't take those feelings lightly.
Other strong benefits to the Army:
- Brent will go in as an Officer, meaning right off the bat he will receive three months of intensive leadership training and secret clearance. Both of which will be valuable in future career goals. Going Officer also means, from what we've heard, significantly better treatment, significantly better pay, better housing, and all around better life for all of us. It is also a professional work experience which is something he is lacking and something that everyone wants.
- The Army will pay off up to $65,000 in student loans which we desperately need. With the Officer pay and the CLRP (College Loan Repayment Program), we should be completely debt free in 4 to 5 years. When we would have normally been paying on our current debts for anywhere from 20-35 years.
- On top of Salary we get a housing and food stipend and will be completely covered as far as insurance and retirement goes.
- There are a limited number of overseas bases or we might have put all 10 of our desired locations overseas. We submitted our top five desired locations as; Belgium, Italy, Germany, Japan and Korea. Of those five the most likely place we would go is Korea, but we would be thrilled to go to any of them. We would like to continue to live in other countries, but doing it through the Army who will take care of travel and moving arrangements is way better than cramming all our stuff into 6 suitcases or paying through the nose to have it transported. Not to mention being able to live in a completely foreign country on or near an American community with American conveniences close by sounds ideal.
There are strong down-sides of course beginning with a 5 month separation while he is in training, eventual deployment and the risks involved with that. We had some lengthy discussions about that up front. We came to terms with the risks and trials involved with Brent's joining the Army. We will deal with them as they come.
I am also working really hard not to have any expectations besides Brent's Salary and the CLRP. We don't know exactly what job they will give him within the Army. We may never go overseas. The initial 5 months could be longer. Who knows how long is deployment will be. In the end we decided that even if all we gain from the Army is work experience, leadership experience and a sound financial situation, we'll be happy.
So, we are excited and happy with our decision. Brent ships out mid-April to Ft. Jackson South Carolina. From there he will go on to Ft. Benning, Georgia. I am hoping I'll be able to work out seeing him at least once in both places. Meanwhile, Zariah and I will continue to stay with my parents and join him in August/September. By that time it will have been almost a year of living with my parents. I don't think this next 6 months will be nearly as frustrating as the first 6, simply because there is an end in sight. We are now officially moving toward a goal instead of floating in limbo. That makes it easier already to relish the time we have to spend here.
So there you have it. I would love to hear your response.
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