Well, let's see...I'll start with my reenlistment! I recently found out there was another assignment for my MOS in Germany. Taking this assignment would give me the opportunity to stay in Germany for another three years at least. We would also be about an hour away from Tami, so we would be able to hang out with each other on a regular basis more than we have been in the last six years. This was all very exciting to us since we thought for sure we were about to be shipped back to the states in May 2010. The one problem is that my ETS is less than three years away so in order to get the assignment I needed to reenlist in order to cover that timeframe. So, all in a hurry I went to the reenlistment office and as soon as I could I reenlisted for another six years.
So we scheduled the ceremony for Tuesday at 0900. My 1SG pulled the whole troop together to watch.
We had a 0900 formation just so everyone could watch the ceremony. It's normal for the Armmy, they're really into their formations and traditions. So after waiting around for about 10 minutes, I started giving the Commander a hard time about his phone ringing in a German ceremony the day before. This lead to me doing push ups pretty quick. It's ok though because it was all in fun...you should notice I'm smiling while I'm down.
We did finally get the ceremony done, the Commander and 1SG both said some really good things about me, so that was good to hear. Overall, the ceremony was good, and I'm glad to be in the Army for another six years. I actually do enjoy my job for the most part, and I'm proud of what I do.
Then today, I go into work today and the Commander comes into my office and says "I've got a question for you and I need you to be honest". Everyone knows that this is not a good way to start off a conversation! Anyway, he proceeds to explain that they need to designate an NCO as the Rear Detachment NCOIC. Basically, this means staying back and dealing with everything here while the rest of the unit deploys. This is taking care of the spouses that are still living here, and all of their problems, taking in new soldiers and getting them and their families situated and the soldier ready to meet the rest of the unit downrange. Then when it's time for the Unit to come home I call families when their soldier is almost home to tell them where to be and what time to be there. I make it sound like it's an easy job but the truth is that it would probably be a harder job than anything I was doing down range. This job has a lot of long hours, getting called in to work at all hours of the night, and not being able to go very far away from post just in case something happens and I need to be there. When I go up for promotion to E-7 they look at this job as holding a 1SG position. That would look really good on me and my career, and could be a springboard to promotion for me. After talking to Christina and SFC White, who was the last Rear D NCOIC, and getting their opinions I told the Commander that we would do it. Nothing is set in stone right now, not even close actually, but they don't have very many options left if I don't do it.
