Decisions, Decisions

So this week’s entry was going to be about something else, but it seems that is a less current event, so it keeps getting pushed back. This one is about conflicted decisions. Please forgive me for being vague, I’m not sure how much information I should post here.

We’ve been pretty lucky over the last 6 years, out of 4 assignments, there is only 1 I could honestly never do again. We’re approaching the 4 year mark at the base my husband is currently stationed at. This means that there’s a good chance they’ll kick us out in January and we’ll be at the mercy of the assignment Gods. I have been dreading this. I love our current location. Not so much the fact that my husband is gone all the time and I’m left to deal with the overzealous wives, but I love the town we live in and our house.

As much as I don’t want to leave, it’s getting closer to decision time. My husband was hoping for a pilot training base for his next assignment and he had a particular one in mind. Last night, he told me it didn’t come down with the open pilot training assignments, so it’s probably not available for the fall cycle. The regular flight assignments for his plane have not come down yet, so we don’t know what’s available there. 

My husband’s commander called to ask if he wanted any of the pilot training assignments that did come down, one in particular. It’s in a small town but not Oklahoma (thank, God!) and it’s driving distance to our hometown, but further away than we are now. If he took this assignment, he would never get the pilot training assignment he really wants (because you usually only do 1 pilot training tour). It’s just not a very desirable location, but it could be worse. If we didn’t take it, he’d most likely be assigned another base with his current plane.

The good news with that is that there are 2 bases that we could live with that will most likely be offered… The bad news is that there are some not so desirable bases in that mix, as well. The bases that we’d want from this selection are not as close to home for us we’d end up dealing with something very new to us: snow.  The other con to these bases is he would be gone just about as much as he is now, whereas a pilot training assignment means he might deploy, but when he’s not, he would actually be home and have a real schedule.

I know I’m way too picky and that my pros and cons here are a blue sky situation where the military is a perfect world. It’s definitely not. I just like lists. So, the question is… Do we take the known, or roll the dice for the unknown?

The other factor in play here is that since he has a January date, he falls into both the fall and winter assignment cycles, so there’s a small chance they could wait for the winter cycle to give him orders (and possibly the base he wants), but we don’t get a say in that *bows to assignment Gods*. In addition, if they had him wait, he would most likely have to deploy with his current squadron again before the move date.

 It’s just frustrating. Sorry if this all sounds like incoherent rambling, sometimes it just helps to write things down. The hardest part for me is that I just don’t want to move. Either way, at this point, it won’t be the place we really wanted to be.