I knew the day would come when DADT would no longer be the law of the land, I just didn't expect it to be this year. (Technically the repeal will be implemented over time next year.) The irony is this was the year Nerdstar separated from the military after over ten years of service between active and reserve duty.
I'm glad another soldier and their family won't have to go through what we did. And honestly, we never had it that bad. No one ever cared one whit that she was gay. But to be in a war zone and to not be free to talk about your loved one back home is a stress no one should have to suffer. I've always thought if straight people had to spend one day removing all evidence of their marriage and not being able to talk about their spouse and/or kids then they might get a small glimpse of what it's like to be under DADT.
I spent a couple of days trying to decide if I should post this on my old blog or here. Sometimes I really miss my old blog. So much history there. (duh.) But I think this is our new blogging home.
As Nerdstar said in her last post, she'll finally be discharged from the Army on August 6th. Wow. She's been in the military in one capacity or another longer than we've been together. The hardest year of my life was the one she was in Iraq, which in a good way is now a distant memory.
You can read about our Iraq adventures here and my thoughts on being a pseudo military wife here.
This time last year is about when her separation from the Army pretty much started. Through a ton of stupid acts on the part of her chain of command, she was unable to finish a required course. It's taken them a year to finally discharge her. It was coming home early from that class that allowed us to finally get on track with having little Noah Maxx.
We got to travel to some really cool places thanks to the Army. And it's a shame the Army is losing a really good officer, but the time for being apart is finally over.
Hello, this is Nerdstar and I thought that I'd give a bit of update on what has been going on lately.
So far, Noah Maxx is still inside the belly and being fairly active. The doctors at the ob/gyn. office are not predicting that he'll make his debut early, but then again, they are not exactly sure either. It seems like the doctors really don't know anything, that's medical science for you, educated guesses, educated, but still guesses.
I think we are ready for him to arrive, and I will let you know, of course, in retrospect, if we have somehow forgotten something!
I finally found out that my last day of work at my current project will be on next Wednesday, and I think the timing is just right. I had been thinking about taking off a few days earlier anyways. Just in case that there are a shortage of projects at my current company, I went ahead and took an offer from another company, ready for when I get back to work. Needless to say, I am not that worried, at least not right now.
I had also received my honorable discharge order from the reserves (for those of you who might not know, I've been an army reservist for quite a while now, with one combat deployment.). It's a bit of a long story that lead to the discharge, but I think it's really a blessing in disguise. With the current system of frequent, long deployments, confused (and sometimes ill-willed) leadership system, these are a few dollars and a few fringe benefits that I am willing to let go of. Kudos to those who are opting to stay with the services. It has been a crazy 14 years, and it's time to go.
For now, we're just concentrating on relaxing as much as we could, and waiting for the arrival of Noah Maxx!
