There are many things about being "married to the military" that are interesting. After much thought, debate, and laughing, I came up with...drumroll, please..."The Top Ten Most Annoying Things About the Military"
#7: Getting a Damn Vacation a.k.a. "leave"
The origins of the term "leave" escape me...perhaps it developed when the first people tried to take vacation and continually heard from the higher command, "But you can't leave!"
The needs of the military always come first. I have no problem with that. But the military doesn't do well at DEFINING their needs.
For example, right now my husband is based on shore duty. The boat he's on isn't going out to sea. It's a training facility. There is no one to fight, no place they need to be. He's got over 50 days of leave stockpiled. He wanted to take four days off to go to a Corvette show in Illinois. Four days. That's it.
"Nope. We need you."
I ask him why- is there some special inspection going on? No. A class of students graduating? No. A nuclear attack we're preparing for? No.
This, of course, begged the obvious question. Would the Navy really fall apart and be unable to function if First Class Petty Officer "X" isn't on the "moored to the pier" boat for four days?
Is our country really at risk if he takes four days off?
Here's the really annoying part. When he hits sixty days of leave, he has to take leave or they have to pay him for the extra days over sixty. He'll hit sixty some time in the spring. Nothing is going on then that we want to do. I can already guarantee that they'll come up to him around April 15th, and say, "You HAVE to go on leave." And they'll make him take ten days off. Great, wonderful. We'll enjoy "give the government an arm and a leg" day together! WooHoo!
And this isn't an isolated incident. He missed his own sister's wedding. They let him off in time to get to Illinois by 11:00 that night. Uh, what? Nice of them to let him off when he's already missed the wedding! I was in ICU once w/ pneumonia and septic shock. He had to work all day and then come visit me. I was only in the hospital for TWO DAYS! Couldn't they have spared him two damn days! (excuse my language).
As always, I don't complain without proposing a solution. And here it is (Obama, Secretary of Defense, take note, a bona fide genius is about to dispense advice):
Instead of asking "What would Jesus do"......ask "Is the Navy (or Army or Marine) really going to fall apart if we lose this guy for X number of days? Is our national security really at risk by losing this guy?"
If the answer is "yes", we need to give these guys a pay raise! (I won't even go into the percentage of military members who are considered to be at the poverty level)
If the answer is "no", let them take a damn vacation!
#7: Getting a Damn Vacation a.k.a. "leave"
The origins of the term "leave" escape me...perhaps it developed when the first people tried to take vacation and continually heard from the higher command, "But you can't leave!"
The needs of the military always come first. I have no problem with that. But the military doesn't do well at DEFINING their needs.
For example, right now my husband is based on shore duty. The boat he's on isn't going out to sea. It's a training facility. There is no one to fight, no place they need to be. He's got over 50 days of leave stockpiled. He wanted to take four days off to go to a Corvette show in Illinois. Four days. That's it.
"Nope. We need you."
I ask him why- is there some special inspection going on? No. A class of students graduating? No. A nuclear attack we're preparing for? No.
This, of course, begged the obvious question. Would the Navy really fall apart and be unable to function if First Class Petty Officer "X" isn't on the "moored to the pier" boat for four days?
Is our country really at risk if he takes four days off?
Here's the really annoying part. When he hits sixty days of leave, he has to take leave or they have to pay him for the extra days over sixty. He'll hit sixty some time in the spring. Nothing is going on then that we want to do. I can already guarantee that they'll come up to him around April 15th, and say, "You HAVE to go on leave." And they'll make him take ten days off. Great, wonderful. We'll enjoy "give the government an arm and a leg" day together! WooHoo!
And this isn't an isolated incident. He missed his own sister's wedding. They let him off in time to get to Illinois by 11:00 that night. Uh, what? Nice of them to let him off when he's already missed the wedding! I was in ICU once w/ pneumonia and septic shock. He had to work all day and then come visit me. I was only in the hospital for TWO DAYS! Couldn't they have spared him two damn days! (excuse my language).
As always, I don't complain without proposing a solution. And here it is (Obama, Secretary of Defense, take note, a bona fide genius is about to dispense advice):
Instead of asking "What would Jesus do"......ask "Is the Navy (or Army or Marine) really going to fall apart if we lose this guy for X number of days? Is our national security really at risk by losing this guy?"
If the answer is "yes", we need to give these guys a pay raise! (I won't even go into the percentage of military members who are considered to be at the poverty level)
If the answer is "no", let them take a damn vacation!
