What's that old saying? "If you want to make God laugh, just tell Him your plans?" Well given the recent changes in the Broo-says life plans, Padre must be up there be having quite the giggle fit!
Last Thursday, El got an assignment to be an OTS (Officer Training School) Instructor at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Maybe I jinxed us when I blogged about us wanting to stay in Europe for another few years, taking on Germans in Beerfest and skating on our beer in the winter and drinking it in the springtime. After the initial shock of "Well, we were expecting bad but not THIS bad" (I'm sure Alabama is great and all, but when you were hoping for a land of wiener (schnitzel), you gotta admit it's kind of a let-down), we had to make some decisions about what we wanted to do after leaving Spain. As El found out more information about the assignment, we learned that it would be a three year tour, and it would totally take him out of his career field. "Isn't that an honor to be asked to be an instructor? That must mean he's a real hot dog in logistics!", you might say. And then I'd make a raspberry sound in your direction for using the phrase 'hot dog' when not referring to tubed meat. But I digress. To answer your question, the position isn't necessarily something that's merit based. It was just the case of the assignment team seeing an empty slot during the time we'd be ready to PCS and plugging Elliot's name in there. Nice and cozy, right? Well not if he's taken completely out of logistics (it would be a general instructor job, not one for LRO'S (logistics readiness officers)); then it ends up hurting his career. No bueno. The interesting thing is that he had been told by multiple assignment team members that the next logical step for his career plan was to take a staff position, and that's not where he was assigned. To tell you the truth, neither one of us expected him to get an instructor position because, well, we didn't think it was an option. We figured that we might end up in a location that wasn't ideal, but an instructor slot didn't even cross our minds. Listen, we would be be fine going to Alabama if he was doing something in logistics (after my initial reaction of course), but moving to Montgomery and not doing what he enjoys would not be in our best interests. So what now?
After a few long and serious discussions that were seriously long (for serious), we decided that the best decision for us was for Elliot to decline the assignment and separate from the Air Force. He submitted his separation paperwork on Monday and will officially be a civilian on May 1st. I'm going to give you a moment to let that sink in. ::Sips coffee, looks at watch:: This is a HUGE change for us, and we are sad that things didn't work out how we'd planned, but life doesn't always work out according to plans, no matter how strong the feelings or intentions behind them. So instead of moving to Germany, we are going to head back to the next best place, Washington, DC. Okay, maybe it's not as good as Winterfell, but we still adore it. Elliot is already pursuing various opportunities, and I have started applying for different jobs. We'll both continue our grad school classes and will figure out living arrangements in the next few months. The more we think about it, the more excited we get to be back to the States, closer to so many people that we love, American conveniences, and Honey Boo Boo. We will move back at the end of January, which seems so incredibly soon. I am REALLY sad to leave so many wonderful friends, but it's a small world (after all) and I know we'll keep in touch. Plus, we still have 3 whole months living in Europe; plenty of time for laughs, memories, and excellent adventures. We're understandably disappointed that we won't be able to stay in Europe, but it's not the end of the world. We'll definitely take multiple trips back, and who knows, maybe we'll end up finding dream jobs overseas? There's no point in pouting or shaking an angry fist at the world; sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don't. I'm excited for this new chapter in our lives (God, that sounds like every celebrity press release ever), and Courtney and Elliot's Excellent Adventures will certainly live on. But in the meantime, I'm going to sit back and enjoy this delicious margarita...
Last Thursday, El got an assignment to be an OTS (Officer Training School) Instructor at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Maybe I jinxed us when I blogged about us wanting to stay in Europe for another few years, taking on Germans in Beerfest and skating on our beer in the winter and drinking it in the springtime. After the initial shock of "Well, we were expecting bad but not THIS bad" (I'm sure Alabama is great and all, but when you were hoping for a land of wiener (schnitzel), you gotta admit it's kind of a let-down), we had to make some decisions about what we wanted to do after leaving Spain. As El found out more information about the assignment, we learned that it would be a three year tour, and it would totally take him out of his career field. "Isn't that an honor to be asked to be an instructor? That must mean he's a real hot dog in logistics!", you might say. And then I'd make a raspberry sound in your direction for using the phrase 'hot dog' when not referring to tubed meat. But I digress. To answer your question, the position isn't necessarily something that's merit based. It was just the case of the assignment team seeing an empty slot during the time we'd be ready to PCS and plugging Elliot's name in there. Nice and cozy, right? Well not if he's taken completely out of logistics (it would be a general instructor job, not one for LRO'S (logistics readiness officers)); then it ends up hurting his career. No bueno. The interesting thing is that he had been told by multiple assignment team members that the next logical step for his career plan was to take a staff position, and that's not where he was assigned. To tell you the truth, neither one of us expected him to get an instructor position because, well, we didn't think it was an option. We figured that we might end up in a location that wasn't ideal, but an instructor slot didn't even cross our minds. Listen, we would be be fine going to Alabama if he was doing something in logistics (after my initial reaction of course), but moving to Montgomery and not doing what he enjoys would not be in our best interests. So what now?
After a few long and serious discussions that were seriously long (for serious), we decided that the best decision for us was for Elliot to decline the assignment and separate from the Air Force. He submitted his separation paperwork on Monday and will officially be a civilian on May 1st. I'm going to give you a moment to let that sink in. ::Sips coffee, looks at watch:: This is a HUGE change for us, and we are sad that things didn't work out how we'd planned, but life doesn't always work out according to plans, no matter how strong the feelings or intentions behind them. So instead of moving to Germany, we are going to head back to the next best place, Washington, DC. Okay, maybe it's not as good as Winterfell, but we still adore it. Elliot is already pursuing various opportunities, and I have started applying for different jobs. We'll both continue our grad school classes and will figure out living arrangements in the next few months. The more we think about it, the more excited we get to be back to the States, closer to so many people that we love, American conveniences, and Honey Boo Boo. We will move back at the end of January, which seems so incredibly soon. I am REALLY sad to leave so many wonderful friends, but it's a small world (after all) and I know we'll keep in touch. Plus, we still have 3 whole months living in Europe; plenty of time for laughs, memories, and excellent adventures. We're understandably disappointed that we won't be able to stay in Europe, but it's not the end of the world. We'll definitely take multiple trips back, and who knows, maybe we'll end up finding dream jobs overseas? There's no point in pouting or shaking an angry fist at the world; sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don't. I'm excited for this new chapter in our lives (God, that sounds like every celebrity press release ever), and Courtney and Elliot's Excellent Adventures will certainly live on. But in the meantime, I'm going to sit back and enjoy this delicious margarita...
Really, Honey Boo Boo!! LOL. I know you guys will find your place, especially Elliot...With God he has the ultimate plan for us, it not being exactly what we want but sometimes just what we needed. I'll be through the 'D' and we can share some crabs...Not literally :-)
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