TBT: Afghanistan Deployment

Jeremy left for his first deployment to Afghanistan on November 3, 2010.

He had to report to Camp Pendleton around 2 am to get his weapon and load up on the busses so they could drive to March AFB and fly out.

We decided not to sleep that night, instead we stayed up cuddling on the couch watching movies and enjoying our last few hours together.

I was surprisingly unemotional the entire day. He loaded up his bags and we drove his truck to base. He checked out his weapon. We waited around for a few hours (because it’s the military and there is always waiting lol).

He left with a fairly small group of Marine, probably 25-30. The rest of the unit had left a few days prior and his detachment would meet up with them in Afghanistan.

A few other wives were there, only about 4-5. Most were crying. A few left before the busses came, probably to get home and get their kids to bed.

One other wife stayed until the busses left. I didn’t know her at the time, but we ended up being good friends when her husband and Jeremy became friends during deployment.

I didn’t cry when he got on that white bus. I didn’t cry when it drove away. I didn’t cry when I drove home.

But when I got home and saw the gifts that Jeremy had left me; a teddy bear with a voice box in each hand that he had recorded with his voice, flowers, and my favorite chocolate; I cried.

“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard”

And when I woke up in the morning; alone. One day down out of 7 months; the end seeming so very far away…I cried again, for the last time of that deployment.

I missed my husband, of course. But I felt that the best thing I could do for him during this deployment was to be strong. Be strong for him so all he needed to worry about what his job. He didn’t need to worry about me, about if I was sad or depressed. He had a job to do, and my job was to help him do that job to the best of his ability.

To be continued….

Weekly Photo Challenge: My Neighborhood

Here it is. San Diego, CA

Unlike most military families, we have lived in San Diego County for my husband’s entire military career.

I moved down to San Diego in August 2007 to go to college at San Diego State. I lived on campus in the dorms…crazy experience, but one I think every freshman should have.

I then moved in with two of my friends from college to an apartment about 15 minutes north of campus. Jeremy was living in the barracks at Camp Pendleton about 45-60 minutes away and would come see me every weekend at my apartment. I lived in the living room of a 3-bedroom apartment with 3 other girls. Oh the joy of being a poor college student lol. I paid $450 and put up a curtain haha

After Jeremy and I got married we moved up to Escondido, about 1/2 way between my school and Camp Pendleton (the gray area at the very top left corner of the map). We lived there for 2 years until Jeremy got tired of the commute.

When I started graduate school we moved to Oceanside, where Camp Pendleton is located and I commuted the 60 minutes to San Diego State 2x a week for classes.

January 2012, Jeremy got order to MCAS Miramar (that’s the grey area on the center of the map). We were VERY lucky to be able to get a local duty station change so I could finish up graduate school. I don’t know what I would have done if they had sent him to another state with me being just 1/4 of the way through my 2-year program.

So here we are, coming up on 6 years of living in paradise.

I don’t want to settle down in San Diego, and I would not want to raise a family here, but I must say, it’s not a bad place to be stationed for a few years 🙂

I hear a lot of military spouses complaining about their duty station. Maybe I see things different because I chose to move to San Diego and wasn’t forced to because of my husband’s job, but I think in most cases a duty station is what you make of it. If you think it is going to suck, it will probably suck. But if you think it will be fun, and you try to find things you enjoy and take advantage of what is around you, then you will have a much better experience.

And when I hear fellow military wives complain about San Diego I can’t help by laugh. Your going to complain about living somewhere that people pay to come to on vacation?! Seriously?! I promise you, it could be MUCH worse.