Okay. Well D finally got interviewed for his security clearance a little over a week ago. He was told that they now have to finish processing clearances like his in under 90 days, or they have to do a bunch of extra work explaining why it wasn’t done. The guy said that his has been open for about 60 days (then) and that he should hear the official word on whether or not his clearance is approved before the end of July. Knowing that they had about 30 days to finish up gave us some hope that we can start figuring out what the heck we will be doing, or where we will be going soon.
I’m a newbie to this whole orders choosing thing. When he reenlisted and chose his orders last time it was mid-deployment. He was up for shore duty, said he wanted to recruit and they were more than thrilled to let him do what he wished. Easy peasy.
This time though, its been months of waiting and wondering what is going on. The security clearance was the detail that was forgotten. He needed to apply for one to go back to the ship and that wasn’t brought to his attention / remembered until late March. He was supposed to pick orders in April. So you can see… mid-July we are a teensy bit antsy (to say the least). Then there is always the fear of – what if. Is there something on his background check he didnt know about? Should we have to worry about that? So until the clearance is final we are kind of in limbo.
But now that he has been interviewed he can start talking to the detailer. So today when the orders were released he called the detailer. Looks like for an FC1 your choices are: Norfolk, Nofolk or Japan.
Seriously. As of right now there are only three sets of orders available. D spent 5 years in Norfolk and was looking forward to going somewhere else. And at the risk of sounding like an ignorant American don’t know if I’m really up for moving overseas. Maybe if Europe was an option…
Man… hindsight is 20/20. In a perfect world he would have gotten the security clearance and picked orders in April. Because in April there were orders all over the US. Pretty much: pick a city, any city!
So… right now we dont know what to do. Wait until next month when we have clearance in hand? Try to get one of the three available now (even though we dont want them…)? Neither of us are sure what we should do.
So stay tuned for more of the continuing saga of: Picking Orders. Yay!
I agree, the waiting is so hard! It’s tough to pick now or wait and see. The second time DH was up for orders he talked to *everyone* he could about what he wanted – and we ended up moving across the country while everyone else we knew got to stay in the area. Needless to say, when it’s time for orders I always remember that experience.
As an aside, DH is in Japan so you could say hi if you went there. Hahaha
Yes. I am an impatient person, so waiting SUCKS.
We have friends that have been stationed in Japan and love it, and friends that have hated it. I think it is what you make of it.
So I guess we will just wait and see… haha.
if you were in VA, you’d be close! ArmyWifeLife, Me, IdealistLefty, LawyerMama… Partay!
LAW
I’m not a fan of VA, as you know. I hear Japan is lovely, though. We considered orders to Kitty Hawk before we went to SD, so I know it’s a complicated decision. I was afraid the language would be so difficult to learn that I’d end up isolated within the military community and be just miserable. But hand signals and a few basics really do get you a long way. How long would you be there? Honestly, I think it would be a really fun trip. Think of the travel you could do!
As for the uncertainty, I feel for you. We did a year plus of that nonsense and it sucks a lot. I hope your sweetie’s detailer isn’t as much of a crapfest as J’s is – boy does that not help.
I hate the waiting game. And so much of the military boils down to it doesnt it?
I’m with you part of me thinks japan would be an adventure and then part of me thinks, eh I’m not sure I’m up for it! Cripes, I think the north is an adventure!
I just came across your blog, and I am in a similar situation… except for the fact that we really want to go back to Norfolk. We are both from Virginia Beach, and that is where we are hoping to go. I love it there, and our families are there. We don’t find out where we are going until the end of this week, but I feel like we have been in limbo since my DH started supply school here. Best of luck!