Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Why I'm leaving

There are alot of reasons I'm moving back to Alaska without my husband, none of which involve plans for divorce. I hate the town/school/job market here, and loved the town/school/job market in Fairbanks. He will be in town for minimal amounts of time for the next six months. He works insane hours when he is in town. I have a close friend in Fairbanks who has cancer and would really appreciate me moving back up there to be by her this fall while she goes through treatment.
But mostly I'm moving because I don't want to live here. The Army decided my husband had to move here and I came along. But I've decided this town isn't for me, so I'm leaving.
Alot of people will say long distance relationships are too hard to make work. But his job guarentees we will spend alot of time apart anyway, if the long distance part was going to break us up, it would have by now.
Other people say that he might die next time he deploys, I should stay and cherish the time we have together. Well, he could die next time he deploys. Or he could die next week hit by a car. Or I could get killed in a freak snow shoveling accident this winter. You can't plan your life around the fact that you or your spouse might die. And as for staying and spending time with him, he isn't here to spend time with. So why should I live by myself in a town I don't want to live in, when I could live by myself where I want to live?
Anyway... I spoke this week with the Admittance office at University of Alaska Fairbanks, and they should be able to push through the paperwork and get me readmitted in time to take classes this fall.
And I have a telephone interview tommorrow (wish me luck!) for a job at a different department of the old place I worked at. I would have loved to work in my old department, but no openings right now. Oh well.

Gettting ready to leave

I lucked out at my husbands last duty station. I loved the town. Fairbanks, Alaska is the best place I've ever lived. Its a good thing I loved it, I was there for four years. My husband,
between deployments, vacations, JRTC, and misc trips for school training, was there for about a year. He says he liked it too, but he really didn't get a chance to properly appreciate it.
The job market is great. Pay is great. Schools are great. The University is the best I've ever been too, small class sizes and plenty of online classses and distance education if you don't feel like driving to campus that semester. In-state rates for military dependents.
I was very sad to leave last year. So was my husband.
So we moved to Texas. Now I'm no stranger to moving. I've moved on average every three years my entire life. I normally enjoy each place for what it offers and look forward to seeing whats across the horizon when the orders come to leave.
But I hate it here.
I been looking for a year, and I haven't found one thing that is offered here that isn't better somewhere else. The job market is terrible. The University is overcrowded, the staff over extended, and the tuition worse than Alaska. But with my husband's pay, even with me not working, we make too much to qualify for financial aid, and my GI Bill just isn't cutting it.
The local restaurants aren't even that good.
Ok, the mass transit system here isn't that bad. But thats the only thing that this town has going for it.
And now my husband is leaving again.
Seperation is a fact of life in the Army. They don't bother us. We talk on the phone when we get a chance, write a lot of letters, send packages back and forth, and look forward to him retiring in ten more years. But normally I can keep busy, go to school, get involved in the community, or at least go to work each day. Those don't seem to be viable options here.
So I'm not staying. I'm going back to Alaska. I can't wait.

So frustrated......

I thought being an Army spouse would be a piece of cake. No problems. My father was in the military, my grandmother was in the military. Most important, I was in the Army, had spent 4 interesting years serving my country. Being a spouse would mean all the the benefits, but no field time. Yeah, more on the back story later.
At this point, the only association I have with post is for health care coverage. And even that will be out the door as soon as I can scrape up a job with health insurance.
Earlier this month I had an appt to see my regular doctor (yes, somehow I managed a regular doctor on this post) just to get a renewal on my same old perscriptions. No dose changes, nothing new, just renewals.
When I got to the clinic, I was told that my appt had been reschedualed. The doctor had called out that day, and my appt was reschedualed for another day.
First, I take the bus to get on post, involving 2 hours each way and 3 transfers. Second, I had to miss a day of school to make time to get to this appt. Third, they called me after I left for the day, left a message on the machine, and never actually talked to me to see when I wanted my appt moved to.
After I repeated all this for the third time, to the third layer of staff/management/rank, they decided they would find someone to see me, just to get me to shut up.
The doctor that saw me would not renew my percriptions. Said I had to see my regular doctor for that, but she did give me a 30 supply of pills for each perscription, just to tide me over. So nice of her.
So my appt was for next Tuesday. The clinic called me today, saying they had to reschedual my appt again..... I'm ready to scream. Don't they understand I don't just sit at home, I have to arrange time off to make these appts, that its not that easy to do?