Twister..in real life.

As most of you have heard by now, yesterday 16April 2011, tornados ripped through the east coast. North Carolina got hit really badly. As of right now there are 22 confirmed casualties and many many injured. The whole state is under a state of emergency. I decided that tomorrow I am going to red cross and am going to volunteer as much time as I can to help these victims.

Growing up in Michigan, we do get tornados every now and then. However, none are really "deadly." Michigan does a test every first saturday of the month with the "tornado sirens." I didn't hear this down here. Yesterday morning and Friday evening everyone kept talking about how horrible and severe this storm was going to be. Myself along with others didn't think anything of it because back in the fall, we were supposed to get hit with a hurricane. The end results in this hurricane was sprinkles and sunshine. The weather yesterday was kind of over cast, the sun peaking out here and there and pretty humid. It started sprinkling a little bit and Jeff and I had decided to go to Sonic because I am completely obsessed with Route 44 sweet teas..extra ice. As soon as we pulled into the sonic booth, the power went out. Oh great, I thought. I looked behind me to look at the major road, all the traffic lights were out. We decided to leave and head home. Within the .2 miles of driving back home we saw almost two accidents. We get home and sit on the porch because it starts thundering a little bit. The neighbor had her little boy out playing in the rain with his spiderman rain boots and yellow poncho. Then is started to pour cats and dogs, and when I say cats and dogs, I mean elephants and velociraptors.  (Oh yeah and we lost our power too at this point) So we're sitting out on the patio, and we hear this loud thunder that didn't stop for almost 20 seconds. It was loud and kind of sounded like a train. I don't know if this was the tornado or not. But it scared the heck out of me! We went back inside, the power turned back on and the sun was out. The crap? I get online as fast as I can and I hear about two tornados. One in Fayetteville/Ft Bragg and one in Sanford which is like twenty minutes from me. I thank God that this thing passed us. I see pictures, watch the news, see videos, and hear stories and it breaks my heart. I haven't volunteered in a very long time so tomorrow my goal is to get down to red cross and do WHATEVER I can.

Those of you that are in any of the areas that got affected by these tornados, God bless you and your family.
For information on how you can help visit: Highland Hills Red Cross

Tell time like a soldier.

I hate using military time, being around so much it sort of starts to grow on you. Here's a little help on learning military time.

If it's past noon, add 1200 to it. Example: (1:00pm)  1+1200= 1300

If you watch the show Army Wives, they're not 100% right on everything. If it's before noon, it's ZERO and then the time and not OH. Example: 8am...0800 (Zero eight hundred)

Talk like a soldier.

I recently had a poll on which topics I should discuss in my next entry. Military Jargon was tied with skype dates. So I figured why not do both. I'm the kind of wife that makes sure my husband doesn't bring work home with him, and I try not to get involved with the army because I'm not a soldier. However, at times, you can't really help but to want to know what's going on. Like, who the heck is Roger, and why are we still talking about Charlie? I've only been a wife for six months, but I'm SLOWLY learning the jargon. One weekend, Jeff and I went camping and I told him, "My goal for this weekend is to learn the army alphabet." "You mean the phonetic alphabet?" He says. "Well yeah, same difference." Sure enough, by the end of the weekend I could recite the whole alphabet. It wasn't too hard but certain letters were a little tough. I started thinking of way to remember them. Example, L is for Lima. I only remember that because that's the town the show Glee takes place. Hah. Anyways, below is the complete alphabet for you ladies, and a little extra on the jargon. :]

Phonetic Alphabet:


A....ALPHA
B....BRAVO
C....CHARLIE
D....DELTA
E....ECHO
F....FOXTROT
G....GULF
H....HOTEL
I....INDIA
J....JULIET
K....KILO
L....LIMA
M....MIKE
N....NOVEMBER
O....OSCAR
P....PAPA
Q....QUEBEC
R....ROMEO
S....SIERRA
T....TANGO
U....UNIFORM
V....VICTOR
W....WHISKEY
X....X-RAY
Y....YANKEE
Z....ZULU

Other Jargon you may or may not find useful. :]

---A---

AAA - Anti-Aircraft Artillery

AAFES - Army Air Force Exchange System

AAR - After Action Report

ABN - Airborne

ACAP - Army Career and Alumni Program (helps soldiers separating from the military)

ACP - Access Control Point

ACS - Army Community Services (provides family services)

ACU - Army Combat Uniform

AD - Active Duty

ADA - Air Defense Artillery

AER - Army Emergency Relief (emergency funds for families and soldiers)

AFN - Armed Forces Network

AFTB - Army Family Team Building (teaches dependents about military life)

AG - Adjutant General

AIT - Advanced Individual (or Infantry) Training

ALC - Advance Leadership Course (same as BNCOC, Army renamed it)

AOB - Armor Officer Basic

ANCOC - Advanced Noncommisioned Officer Course (needed to make E-7)

ANG - Air National Guard

AO - Area of Operations

APC - Armored Personnel Carrier

APFT - Army Physical Fitness Test

APO - Army Post Office

AR -Army Regulation

ASAP - Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program

ASU - Army Service Uniform (Class A's)

ATC - Annual Training Conference

AWOL - Absent Without Leave

---B---

BAH - Basic Allowance for Housing (money for rent for soldiers with dependents)

BAS - Basic Allowance for Sustinence (money for food for soldiers with dependents)

BCT - Basic Combat Training (formerly known as Boot Camp)

BDE - Brigade

BDU - Battle Dress Uniform (old camouflage uniforms)

BOGINT - Bogus Intelligence

BOHICA - Bend Over Here It Comes Again

BOQ - Bachelor Officer Quarters

BN - Battalion

BNCOC - Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course (needed for promotion to E-6)

BRAC - Base Realignments and Closures

---C---

CAC - Community Action Counsel

CG - Commanding General (in charge of the base or post)

CDC - Child Development Center

CENTCOM - Central Command

CIB - Combat Infantry Badge

CID - Criminal Investigation Division

CO - Commanding Officer

COB - Close of Business

COLA - Cost of Living Allowance (given in Hawaii, Alaska and overseas)

CONUS - Continental United States

CPS - Child Protective Services

CQ - Charge of Quarters

CY - Calendar Year

---D---

DA - Department of the Army

DCU - Desert Camouflage Uniform

DeCa - Defense Commissary Agency (run grocery stores on base or post)

DEERS - Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System

DEROS - Date of Estimated Return from Overseas

DFAC - Dining Facilities Administration Center (or known as the Mess Hall/Cafeteria)

DFAS - Defense Finance Accounting System (in charge of our pay)

DI - Drill Instructor

DITY - Do It Yourself (in relation to moving)

DLA - Dislocation Allowance (money to help with the cost of moving)

DoD - Department of Defense

DOR - Date of Rank

DPP - Deferred Payment Plan (military credit card, now called the Star Card)

DPW - Directorate of Public Works (maintains the base or post)

DSN - Defense Switched Network (secured communication lines)

---E---

EEO - Equal Employment Opportunity

EER - Enlisted Evaluation Report

EFMB - Excellence in Field Medicine Badge

EFMP - Exceptional Family Member Program (helps with special medical needs)

EIA - Excellence in Armor

EIB - Excellence in Infantry Badge

EM - Enlisted Member

ERB - Enlisted Record Brief

ETS - Estimated Time of Separation (date that you may leave the military)

EWC - Enlisted Wives Club

---F---

FAC - Family Assistance Center/Family Advocacy Commitee

FAQ - Family Advocacy Program

FCP - Family Care Plan

FDU - Full Dress Uniform

FLO - Family Liason Officer

FM - Field Manual

FORSCOM - Forces Command

FRG - Family Readiness Group (provides support to families)

FRO - Family Readiness Officer

FSA - Family Separation Allowance (paid to married soldiers gone for 30+ days)

FTX - Field Training Exercise

FY - Fiscal Year (begins 1 Oct and ends 30 Sep)

---G---

GO - General Officer

GS - General Schedule (pay schedule for civilian employees)

---H---

HFP - Hostile Fire Pay

HHC - Headquarters and Headquarters Company

HHT - Headquarters and Headquarters Troop

HQ - Headquarters

HQDA - Headquarters, Department of the Army

HS - Home Station

---I---

IE - Initial Entry

IET - Initial Entry Training (basic training)

IG - Inspector General (investigates questionable situations on base or post)

ITO - Information Travel Office

---J---

JAG - Judge Advocate General (military lawyers)

JUMPS - Joint Uniform Military Pay System

---K---

KIA - Killed in Action

KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid

KP - Kitchen Patrol

---L---

LES - Leave Earnings Statement (Military Pay Stub)

LN - Local National

LOD - Line of Duty

LZ - Landing Zone

---M---

MACOM - Major Army Command

MEDDAC - Medical Department Activity

METL - Mission Essential Task List

MI - Military Intelligence

MIA - Missing in Action

MILPO - Military Personnel Office

MOS - Military Occupational Specialty (Job Title)

MP - Military Police

MRE - Meal Ready to Eat (Food that's vacuumed sealed)

MTF - Military Treatment Facility (Military Hospital)

MWR - Morale, Recreation and Welfare

---N---

NBC - Nuclear Biological Chemical

NCO - Noncommissioned Officer

NCOER - Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report

NCOIC - Noncommissioned Officer in Charge

NG - National Guard

NPD - No Pay Due

---O---

OBC - Officer Basic Course

OCONUS - Outside Continental United States

OCS - Officer Candidate School

OD - Officer of the Day

OER - Officer Evaluation Report

OIC - Officer in Charge

OPSEC - Operational Security

OWC - Officers Wives Club

---P---

PAO - Public Affairs Officer

P-38 - Small can opener for C-Rations

PAM - Pamphlet

PCS - Permanent Change of Station (moving time)

PERSCOM - Army Personnel Command (in charge of promotion, movement, etc.)

PERSEC - Personal Security

PFU - Physical Fitness Uniform

PLDC - Primary Leadership Development Course (needed for promotion to E-5)

PLT - Platoon

PM - Provost Marshall

PMOS - Primary Military Occupational Specialty (primary job)

POA - Power of Attorney

POC - Point of Contact

POV - Privately Owned Vehicle

POW - Prisoner of War

PT - Physical Training

PX - Post Exchange (store on base or post)

PZ - Primary Zone (in reference to promotion)

---Q---

QM - Quarter Master

---R---

R&R - Rest and Recreation

RA - Regular Army

RC - Reserve Component

RCP - Retention Control Point (gives cutoffs for promotion)

RD - Rear Detatchment (soldiers who stay behind from a deployment or exercise)

RDC - Rear Detatchment Commander

RDF - Rapid Deployment Force

REG - Regulation

RIF - Reduction in Force

---S---

SBP - Survivor Benefit Plan

SCO - Squadron Commanding Officer

SDNCO - Staff Duty Noncommissioned Officer

SDO - Staff Duty Officer

SGLI - Soldiers Group Life Insurance

SIDPERS - Standard Installation/Division Personnel Reporting System

SMO - Squadron Maintnence Officer

SOP - Standard Operating Procedure

SRB - Selective Reenlistment Bonus

SSI - Single Soldier Initiative

SSN - Social Security Number

STRAC - Skilled, Tough, Ready Around The Clock

SZ - Secondary Zone (in reference to promotion)

---T---

TDY - Temporary Duty Assignment

TIG - Time in Grade

TLA - Temporary Living Allowance

TLE - Temporary Lodging Expense

TM - Training Manual

TRADOC - Training and Doctrine Command

---U---

UCDPP - Uniform Clothing Deferred Payment Plan (military credit plan for clothing)

UCMJ - Uniform Code of Military Justice (military law)

USAR - United States Army Reserve

USARC - United States Army Reserve Command

USAREC - United States Army Recruiting Command

USMA - United States Military Academy

USO - United Service Organization

UTA - Unit Training Assembly

---V---

VA - Veteran Affairs

VHA - Variable Housing Allowance

---W---

WMD - Weapons of Mass Destruction

WO - Warrant Officer

WOAC - Warrant Officer Advanced Course

WOC - Warrant Officer Candidate Course

WOCS - Warrant Officer Candidate School

WOSC - Warrant Officer Senior Course

---X---

XO - Executive Officer

Numbers

4-F - Classification given to those deemed unfit for military service

50-cal -.50 caliber machine gun

51-cal - heavy machine gun used by the enemy

79 - an M-79 grenade launcher

82 mm - a mortar used by the enemy

105 - a 105-mm howitzer

201 file - a US Army personnel file

Terms

Alert - call to be ready on short notice

Allotment - deduction from pay to bank or individual

Allowance - special pay or compensation

Article 15 - punitive action

Blanket Party - unofficial punishment of company goof off

Billets/Barracks/Dorms - where single soldiers live

Brownnoser - person who sucks up to seniors
Cherry- Soldier fresh out of basic and ait

Chit - paper given by medical to be excused from certain types of work or exercise

Chow hall - dining facility (AKA mess hall)

CQ - 24hr watch over the barracks

Dependent - family member entitled to military benefits

Detail - job or assignment

Dining in - social gathering for soldiers only

Dining out - social gathering for soldiers and spouses

Dog And Pony Show - doing something for the Brass or the public
Fartsack - Sleeping bag

Full Bird - Colonel

Garrison - post or community

GI Party - cleanup duty

Grade - pay level

Guidon - unit flag

Grunt - Infantry Soldier

Hash marks - stripes on uniform to show time in service

Hoo ah - slang meaning something is acknowledged and understood

Insignia - indicates branch of service

Jody call - cadence

Klick - slang for Kilometer

Latrine - restroom

Legs - Non-Airborne Soldiers

Motor pool - area where vehicles are kept and maintained

Orderly room - company office

Orders - written or spoken directive

Organization day - outing that is usually mandatory for soldiers and optional for families

Poge - non-combat MOS

Police call - cleanup duty
Puss Pad - the little pad used for sleeping on

Rank - official title of the service member

Re-up - reenlist

Reveille - bugle call at the beginning of the day

Retreat - bugle call at the end of the day

Sick call - where soldiers go for medical treatment

Short timer - someone who is about to leave the military

Short tour - unaccompanied overseas tour

Staff Duty - 24 hour watch over the unit area

TA50 - field gear

Tricare - our medical insurance

United Concordia - dental insurance for family members

Zero Dark Thirty - very early in the morning

80% of information is from bragg wives page on facebook.

Skype Dates

This goes back to talk about how wonderful social networks are. Before you read this, google SKYPE, and download it now. or those that are reading this and are like "WTF is skype?", it is basically like AIM. You can call someone else on a skype account and talk via webcam. This was the perfect tool to survive deployment.
During deployment, I did absolutly nothing. I worked, I went to school, I stayed home. I very rarely went out. When I would know it was time that Jeff would be on Skype, I made sure I was always done up real cute. We'd call our little skype sessions, "Skype dates." I would look forward to these ALL day. A lot of people ask, "How do you keep it fun?" Well, you have to make it fun. Your soldier is just as happy to see your face as much as you're happy to see his. Some days when my soldier was in one of those "I don't care about anything" moods, I would grab a fake mustache and a fake tattoo sleeve and talk in funny accents. We would have dance offs. We'd play music on either end, guessing who the band was and we'd dance like complete goofs.
Skype dates are a lot of fun. As long as you make it that way. I'm a pretty strong individual, and just like anyone else, being away from your loved one can be extremely hard. It wasn't always all peaches. There were nights where I had no contact with my soldier. Then those crazy thoughts fill your head. One night in particular I will always remember. Only because I almost lost it. Jeff and I were lucky enough to skype almost EVERY day. So it eventually had its own routine. Day before Thanksgiving and day of Thanksgiving I had not heard from him. The first day I thought, ok, well maybe he's busy. But on Thanksgiving day, I felt in my heart that something was off. I went about my day with family and tried enjoying it as much as I could. Bed time rolled around and (I usually left skype on all day) my computer started ringing. It was Jeff! I answered and he just looked bothered. He told me that a suicide bomber had tried bombing their FOB earlier that day. (A FOB is a forward operating base, a little tiny base basically). I asked if he was ok, if anyone had gotten hurt, etc. Luckily the bomber just blew up the Afghani police station. None of their police were injured. The only one hurt in this case was just the bomber himself. Talk about failed mission. Shrapnel had flew all the way over to Jeff and his sergeants  little "hut" as I like to call them. He had pictures and was actually excited to show me. The only thing I could do was just breathe and say "WOAH."
Other times on skype, it's just sad. You miss your soldier, you're tired of being alone, no one understands you, etc. I can not describe how big of a mess I was with him gone. I didn't know anyone else in a military relationship I could turn to. That's why it is SOOOO important for girlfriends and wives to connect. There were numerous skype dates where I would just sit on skype and cry. Jeff is going to hate me for this, but he would too. And you could see the hurt in his eyes. I feel bad for ever making him feel that way. The one thing I didn't want to do was to distract him from his job. But there were always ways to turn things around and smile again. I look at all these survivors from WW2 and just thank god that I did not have to go through what their wives did. I am sooo thankful for us to have the technology we do now.
With all this said, I come to my conclusion for today...If you are currently going through your first deployment, DOWNLOAD SKYPE. Talk to other wives. Stay busy.

Bless our soldiers and keep everyone safe.

Online Dating

Being an army wife or even army girlfriend, you meet a LOT of friends. Granted, you never really MEET with them, but you don't have to. Social Networking sites such as facebook have done amazing things. If you're still back home when you're soldier is deployed or you're not around anyone that understands how military life is, you resort to what I like to call online dating. This is the only time where its actually OK to meet up with a stranger you met online.

Before I moved to Fort Bragg, I told Jeff I didnt want to drive the 14 hours by myself. So he flew up a girl I had met off facebook from Fort Bragg. Ok, so I know you're thinking, "What the hell was she thinking?", but hear me out....If you are military YOU UNDERSTAND. I'm going to refer to this girl as Sweden. So i picked Sweden up from the airport, to my surprise it wasn't awkward. We talked like we knew each other. We clicked in a way you click with friends you met in high school. After we got to my house, my brothers bombarded me with random questions. My brother Zach takes one look at Sweden and goes, "Wait, so like you guys met on facebook?" I answer back, "Yep." "Aren't you worried she's like going to cut your throat in your sleep?" Ohhhh brother. I couldn't help but to laugh.

Jeff and I went home in October for our wedding and he had his block leave. While we were there, I would of course check my facebook, and another wife had added me. I will refer to her as Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan got married a week before Jeff and I did. She was on her way to Bragg when we started talking. We exchanged number and texted quite frequently. I didn't think our relationship would go anywhere. After Jeff and I got back to Bragg, we had a little bank from the wedding so we bought some stuff for the apartment. We had a bought a futon from Target that we got for really cheap, but we couldn't fit it into Jeff's G6. Go figure. After remembering Michael Jordan just moved down there and still had the moving truck, I texted her and asked if her and her husband would be willing to meet up with us and help us with the futon. They did. We've been friends ever since. A couple days ago Michael Jordan just told me that before they had met up with us at Target that her husband had asked her, "You guys met on facebook? That's weird, aren't you worried it's some perv?" Apparently even soldiers themselves don't get it.

With all this being said, it is completely normal to meet random wives online. Share your stories, get advice. Live, Learn, Love.

Green Ramp.

I wanted to make a blog focused solely on green ramp. For the followers that aren't military, Green ramp is where you meet your loved ones after deployment, or where you may see them off. When I first heard the term green ramp, I pictured a runway that was green. Cute, I know. Green Ramp is more of a ginormous storage garage with bleachers on an air strip.
The day Jeff came home, you get a number to call along with a "secret code" to find out when the plane comes in. My "secret code" was "flight ohio" and I called that number 27 times that night. The first time, the flight was supposed to come in at 1am. That being said, you want to be at green ramp a couple hours early. So I made sure I was ready around 7pm.  After calling numerous times the flight was coming in at 2am. So I met up with an Army wife I had met online, along with Jeff's mom and little sister. We had left at midnight and were on post around 1am. We waited around for what seemed like forever. I stepped into the garage not expecting what to see. I was expecting the guys to come to green ramp on buses like those old war movies.  When I got there, there weren't that many people. There were kids all dressed in "My daddy is my hero" t-shirts, women dressed extremely nice and (some like they were hooking). American flags were in the hands of everybody there. Homemade signs. The whole ten yards. The army band was there and they were playing. It made the situation seem a whole lot more real. I sat on the bleachers nervously shaking. A man came up to the PA and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen the flight will be in sight in about 15 minutes." Everyone cheered and the band continued to play. Other soldiers were there and they brought out a red carpet. A few minutes later that same man came back to the PA. "Ladies, your 82nd Airborne troopers are now in sight." At that point half the people ran out the door to watch the plane land, I stood up. Next to me was a girl not much older than me. We both looked at each other, screamed and cried. "I think I'm gonna puke!" She boldly stated. I didn't know her, but I felt like I knew her. I knew her pain. "I think I'm gonna pee!" I said back all excited. The plane landed, the band played and our soldiers marched right in those doors. It was the most over whelming feeling ever, and you could feel everyone elses feelings too. After talking about how deployment was and other jib jab, they let the soldiers go to their family for fifteen minutes. I couldn't find Jeff ANYWHERE. I finally spotted him and had previously thought about doing the whole dramatic jumping into the arms of a soldier move, but I didnt. I didn't even have time for my brain to tell me to breathe. I ran off the bleaches nearly falling on my face, ran into a girl who was no older than six, and gave him the biggest hug I had to give. It was amazing, and the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. It didnt seem real....This was the man I've been waiting for for 365 days. Here he is. Shining armor and all. After the fifteen minutes were up the PA announcer said that the soldiers had to come back to their company, return their weapons and do a few briefings. (Basically that briefing was to tell the soldier not to go off the deep end.) To my left another soldier was greeting his family and was walking away and his little boy, no older than 4 started crying, "Daddy don't go back! Come home!" THAT was the saddest thing I have seen. My heart hurt for that little boy. But his daddy came home and they are now stationed in Colorado. Jeff was at his company for about four hours and I got to pick him up and we moved into our apartment that day. Green Ramp is an amazing experience and it was so emotional. I'm glad I got to be a part of it, and I'm glad I felt the things I did. But I am not looking forward to doing it again. It will happen again, but as for now, I'm loving my soldier like he is leaving tomorrow.

Army Wife.

It has been a while since I updated this blog. A lot has changed. The drive down was a bit different. The goodbyes were the hardest. As I left my house around 8am, I was making perfect timing. I was supposed to be in North Carolina around 7-8pm. I got to the last toll both in West Virginia, and my car stalled out. "Hold on just a second." I told the toll operator. I shut off my car and turned it back on. It started, but the steering was off. I put all I had to turn the wheel to the right to get off the next exit. As i pulled off the freeway, I shut my car off and heard a lot of banging and leaking. I got out to check it out and coolant was leaking EVERYWHERE. I flashed my hazards on and a few different people stopped by to help. I was two miles away from my radiator going into my engine. Nice. I'm standing outside in the 80 degree weather that feels like 100, and these people tell me they can fix it for 300 dollars. I start crying, "I only have 200 on me and I have to get to North Carolina." I pull the sob story about my boyfriend being in Afghanistan and I'm trying to get down to Fort Bragg. The people felt bad for me so they fixed it for free. I finally got down to North Carolina at 6am the FOLLOWING day. The day came to where I would meet Jeff at green ramp (where the flights came in). I was a nervous wreck. Have you ever felt so nervous that you wanted to pee and puke at the same time? Yep, that was me. Things went great. We got everything settled into our apartment and life was perfect. In october, Jeff told me he wanted to re-enlist. But in order for us to live together at another duty station, we would have to be married. Soooo you guessed it: I am NOW an army wife!! We got married October 16th, 2010 in a cute little chapel. I had a beautiful dress and we were surrounded by everyone we loved and everyone that loved us. It was the best day of my life. Now living as a married couple we do not have any children but we adopted a pure bred bassett hound, named Bella. She is the best dog in the world and is beautiful. She brings a smile to my day. Since Jeff has re-enlisted our duty station is going to be at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. We leave in July. Anyways, I have to cut this short today because it's St. Pattys day and hubby is hungry!