She's going to cheat on you, and if she goes to school with the Marines she'll probably end up marrying one of them. Not trying to be harsh, I've just seen it too many times.
The male to female ratio is so absurd that even the "wookies" get their pick of pretty much any guy. If she is halfway attractive, she is going to be pursued, hard, all the time. Sorry Latin but erk is right...I think her signing her contract is the death knell of your relationship.
Yep. Break up and move on dude. After all that I've seen, I will never date anyone in the military. Not that the broads who are in the service are any worse than the guys, if I were one of the gays or a chick I would steer clear of military dudes.
She's going to go to boot in Chicago for 3 months, then a school in probably either Chicago or VA for 3 months to a year. Then she's going to be stationed on one of the coasts (or overseas), in a whole new world that you are not a part of. After that, she'll go on deployment for six months. If you stay together, you'll get two or three calls from bootcamp if you're super lucky (meaning she has RDCs that are nice enough to allow more than the initial call, and she prioritizes you over her family). When she's in school you'll get calls every other day at first, except on her duty day. Then maybe once a week. If you manage to stay together through the completion of her A school, I'll be amazed. In the unlikely case that happens, she'll get to her first duty station and break it off within two weeks of getting there, because she'll realize it's time to stop holding on to the past and move forward with her new life. This is all without factoring in other guys, lots of them. Guys that have a shared base of experience, constant proximity, and not a lot of other girls to go after. And they don't know you, and they don't give a fuck about you, or feel any kind of guy-code responsibility to you. It's over, bud. Sorry.
HOLY. SHIT. TRADOC is being ridiculous right now. They're changing policies weekly, and it isn't getting any easier. When The Husband was at DLI I would fly out once a month and we'd hang out around Monterey with a room at the NPS, then Monday morning he would drop me at the airport and go to PT. No real accountability, we'd just go about our business and no big thing. He got to GAFB and of course, because it was a new location, they were initially pretty restrictive, but nothing crazy. Midnight curfew and no staying off post without a pass. That part was different from DLI, but rumor had it that once he'd been there for a minute the restrictions would lighten. Then Memorial Day weekend happened, and after that...Holy. Blue balled. Shitsnacks. I live 238 miles from The Husband. Financially, it makes more SENSE for him to get a mileage pass and come to Arlington to see me and the kids. But because people in the army can't stop raping each other, and drinking, and doing dumb shit (I'm looking at you, Bragg and Hood) that doesn't get to happen. I have to make the drive. To a shithole town that has EXORBITANTLY priced hotels. One night in a Ramada Limited? Over $150. The Inn on post rarely has Space A, so you can't count on that. And when I make the drive? His 2100 curfew is still in full force. He has to be back at his barracks at 2030 for 2100 formation. They do full accountability and on the weekends, they do recall formations in the middle of the night. Absolutely no alcohol. (Not even if he's granted a pass. The 4th was a dry holiday.) I have to get a hotel room, hang out with him, take him back on post, and then the earliest he can leave in the morning is 0500. Because of the absolutely intelligent behavior of the new privates at GAFB, now they can't have any OTC meds. At all. Because the privates decided to "get drunk" on meds. Because they're fucking idiots. And the battle buddy system has gotten a bit nazi-ish. By the time he leaves TRADOC he will have been in the army just short of two years. We'd originally been slotted to go to San Antonio. Now it's Meade. I'm super excited to live somewhere with SEASONS. I'm a Texan. I don't know what those are really, but they look gorgeous in pictures. Also - sorry guy. You and your girl need to end things before you wind up hating each other, because she's pretty much guaranteed to move on from you. Better to end it than to be cheated on.
Your husband is a boot. That's how life is as a boot. It'll get better once he hits the fleet (or whatever the fuck the army calls it).
I'm familiar with the army and their training protocols and demands, thanks. I'm also aware (which you may not be) of the difference in TRADOC over the past several months vs what it was before. The question posed was how TRADOC is now that they've tightened down and changed their rules, not whether I considered it right or fair. I know the role of the initial entry soldier. This ain't my first rodeo.
Are you, though? Because this sounds like pretty standard procedure with regards to every single branch's entry level training courses. Regardless, sorry I insulted your wealth of military procedural knowledge.
Yeah, but the Army is now applying these rules to everyone in AIT, including prior service soldiers who are reclassing. So you have 30-year-old NCOs with multiple combat deployments who are subject to weekend recall formations, forbidden from drinking, etc. If I were to switch my MOS I'd be under far tighter restriction than I was when I went through AIT in 2009 as a PFC (back then even for IET soldiers there were no restrictions on weekend drinking if you were 21+ once you "phased up" a month or so in, most weekends were yours from about 1730 Friday until 1800 on Sunday, mileage passes for long weekends were pretty much rubber stamped if you weren't in trouble of some kind, etc.). And they're also now applying the same restrictions to privates at DLI--not prior service there, thank Christ (I'm going next year)--which, OK, they're privates, but at the same time some of the DLI courses are 18 months long and all are very academically intense; you have to let people blow off some steam from time to time. Shimmered, what language did your husband study at DLI?
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Yes. And, it sounds like you're not in the Army. Which is fine, but since you're in another branch, you've had a different training experience, it's more speculation on your end then anything else. Which is also fine, but based on your experience you see the norm. Based on the Army's experience, these are very new and very restrictive things, and some of them are needlessly restrictive. He had a 9 mo course there. You'll REALLY like DLI, as you well know. Prior to this mess, all soldiers were given privileges to be adults, etc. and it really wasn't that bad. Since you're prior service, you won't mind it.
TRADOC sucks, especially as an older guy. A buddy of mine, through some crazy drug deal, was able to get an 18 month DLI slot for Arabic. He does the same job I do, and they tried to pull all sorts of shit with him. Every time, he just pointed to his hat and said "this isn't black, that's green... I'm not listening to a word you have to say." People whined and moaned, but did nothing. I went through the "gay" parts of my training at ages 23-24, and that was enough for me. I can't imagine doing it now. A friend of mine went through Ranger School at age 42, which is ridiculously hard core. But in all seriousness, just be happy he is stateside. Imagine reading your post from the viewpoint of, say, a wife currently waiting at home while her husband is on his fourth or fifth 1 year deployment.
Oh I understand that, and generally maintain that perspective. I'm fully aware of deployment issues, and hope to get lucky enough to avoid them for a year or two. Even so, TRADOC is a chapter of his military career I know he's ready to move beyond.
If you think it is going to be much better when he is done, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Many units are just as gay, if not worse.
I know that too. Living in a transitional status for the past two years has been less than awesome. The daily grind of the army won't be too much more fun. I fully expect stupidity, inefficiency, and time wasting. It wouldn't be the army otherwise. But at least, barring deployment, 3 days out of 7 we should see each other. And that's a step up from now.
Anyone ever been to Europe, specifically Germany before? Anything I absolutely have to go do or see in my 2 years here? I've already heard a lot of good things so I'm excited, but this move has got me into a funk so I'm trying to plan some activities to get out of it.
Hey everyone, just checking in from the Red Sea. Everything is going great on the ship, not a whole lot to report. I've been flying my ass off ever since we got to this area, and I've flown in about 6 different countries out here with a new one coming tomorrow. I can't really upload any of my pictures right now since my camera isn't compatible with the computers on the ship, but just imagine a Navy ship sailing around the water with no land in sight, with helicopters taking off and landing on the small flight deck every now and then. We'll be crossing the Equator in a couple weeks to get to our next port visit, so I get to do my first Son of Neptune Court. Should be a good time since the Navy guys on the ship aren't really in shape at all, therefor they can't "initiate" us too hard. I'm expecting to be getting back State-side around November, so only about three months to go in this 8 month fling.
The Shellback ceremony isn't about physical prowess. It's about humiliation. I don't care what your abs look like while you're crawling through 50 yards of weeks-old garbage strewn across non-skid.
So a little late but I made E-5 first time testing, and now the AF is forcing NCO's into special duties since not enough people are volunteering for shit jobs. The only special duty I could ever see myself doing is recruiter, but I'm a bad liar. All I know is if I get picked up for something like PME instructor I will strogly consider taking the 7 day discharge option.