Return Of The Something....Mood:
cheekyNow Playing: "Honk! Honk!" Flap, falp! "Hoooonk!!"
Well, I just got back from a spontaneous trip to Fort Bliss Texas. My brother officially deployed on Tuesday to the desert, and well, he needed help with the paperwork part.
The drive out there was very looooong I tell ya. I think driving out to California is a LOT faster. (in reality it isn’t, Cali is 1500 miles away, double what it is to Bliss.) Anyhow, I made reservations at the base Inn, and apparently the front desk gal forgot to tell me that check in was at 1500, so I arrived at 900, smelly and grungy, in need of a shower and coffee, only to be told “Come back at 1500!” Made me mad a bit because it threw off everything, luckily we were able to recover. So let me back this up, I drove 11 hours out there, got detoured to dirt roads where there was NO reception, arrived to the Gate to be misdirected to the base hotel, call up Soldier, who doesn’t know ANY of the street names on base, finally find him, go to the hotel and get told to come back later. Okay, so now we have to decide what to do next. After about ten minutes of that, we decide to go get something to eat, and kill some time before our 1300 appointment with the storage company. (I will explain that in more detail, later). He takes me to a food court in the mall and we split a Subway sandwich, and then cruise the mall some. Not a big mall, but a mall none the less. Then we decide that we will head over to his insurance company to cancel it, so it doesn’t renew, since he now has USAA auto insurance. (much, much better deal, he is SO excited about it) That was easy as pie AND thanks to “Porter luck” they aren’t taking his next payment out on the first of this month, but yet; he is still covered until the end of December. =) From there we headed down to the storage place. When we get there the sign on the door says they will be back at 1330, but… we had an appointment with them at 1300. What the heck??? So Soldier calls the other location and asks to speak to a manager about this, which left me in shock really, especially the way he handled the situation on the phone. He was VERY assertive, understanding, professional, and yet polite at the same time. Now for those of you who don’t know my brother or didn’t grow up with him, this is REALLY different, more awesome really. It was kind of cool, the way he took care of it. Me on the other hand I was just going to wait until 1330 and then be like, “Why weren’t you here?” To make a long story short, she sent us down to her location and we were set up with a unit there. (Don’t worry, its gated, 24-7 security there and all that yummy stuff.)
SIDE NOTE: I know you are thinking, “Why does he need a storage unit, when they generally store your car on the base lot when you deploy?” Well, about a week or so ago, I think it was anyway, he wrecked his car. He is okay, no one was with him, but since his car can’t be driven safely at normal operating speeds, they (base) wont let him store his car with everyone else’s. So in a nut shell, he needed a unit.
After that we headed back to post and I was able to check into my room. Then Soldier wanted to immediately go check up on his friend Bambi. She was at the USO, (that place was pretty cool!) working on a power of attorney for him, since she is a paralegal and well Soldier didn’t know that he needed one or who he was going to give it to and so because of the holiday JAG was closed and wouldn’t open until Monday. (Monday was not a good day to do anything really because that was a VERY busy day for the guys deploying on Tuesday). Well, when we sign in the gal at the desk tells us there is a raffle drawing for two STAINED tickets, so we were like, what the heck, why not. So we filled out the info and went to find Bambi. Apparently they do the drawing and Soldier’s Sgt wins the tickets. He of course shows it off to everyone in there, just to be annoying. It was kind of funny really. Anyway, Bambi is almost done with the power of attorney and a couple of Soldier’s other buddies show up, we will call them Silver and Gold, and we decided to go bowling after we print off the Power of Attorney at the library. Well, we all pile into my car and come to find out, the library is closed! Okay, no big sweat, we finally remember Soldier's roommate, Mustang Man has a printer. Soldier calls him up and we have the clear to print. Bambi also reassures us that the bank in the PX can do notary services, and that they are open on Sunday there, that way we don't have to deal with JAG on Monday if at all possible. Phew! (Mind you, it is now 1600 and I have been up for 31 hours straight) We head down to his barracks so he can give me some of his papers, print off the POA and well, show off his room. Well, his Sgt shows up and gives Soldier the two tickets he won at the USO for the STAINED concert. AWESOME!!! So now we have to put that into our schedule as well, luckily the concert wasn’t until late Sunday evening!
Anyway, everyone was still with us and previously Bambi had been having some issues than needed to be seriously resolved and Soldier promised her that before he deployed he, and Silver and Gold would call up the Chaplin to help her move in the right direction. Apparently, this was the right time to do it... so after I explained to her and calmed her down about talking to the Chaplin (she didn’t know they had to swear to confidentiality when talking to someone about issues ((however you explain that))) So, the Chaplin came down and was there for 3 hours explaining her options, and discussed a bunch with her. Bambi wanted us there for support, so well, I was stuck sitting on the floor for 3 hours trying not to doze off, not out of boredom, just out of pure exhaustion. After the Chaplin left I was finally able to go see my room, and take all my stuff up there. I promised Bambi we would get some ice cream, ice cream always makes the bad go away, at least temporarily, and that is what she needed. So we picked them up and decided dinner first would be a wise decision. Sliver wanted to bowl, so it was just Bambi, Soldier, Gold and Soldier’s roommate, Mustang Man (he drives a Mustang… they all laughed at me for calling him that and well, now he has a new nickname). We went to Denny’s and talked about dumb cartoons and sadly that was about it. We went to Cold Stone’s for ice cream and then I decided to call it as much of a night as possible. Mustang Man went and hung out with his other buddies and Bambi and Gold went bowling with Silver. Soldier and I decided to go over some of his finances and discuss the plans for tomorrow back at the hotel room. Eventually Bambi, Silver and Gold show up and I take the boys back home to the barracks. (Chaplin said he wanted Bambi to stay with friends, of course that were female, or with family, he didn’t care, but he didn’t want her spending the night alone in the barracks. So I was like hey, you can stay with me if you like, there should be a couch in the room.) The time was now 100 and I STILL hadn’t been able to go to sleep. She really needed someone to talk to and we ended up going to bed around 300. Needless to say I woke up with no voice. (I had been sick with allergies two weeks before and am still dealing with them)
I got up around 800 and met Soldier around 900 so we could drive his car ever so slowly to the storage shed. He thought it was a great idea to pack his car full of all his stuff so he might be able to buy time on Monday (so he wouldn’t have to waste time checking his stuff into base storage) just incase something went wrong. Great idea! So we finally get there 2 hours later, give the gal a copy of the car insurance and then head back to base to get the POA (power of attorney) notarized as well as get the rest of his needed supplies to deploy.
We get back to base, pick up Bambi and Sliver, kind of needed witnesses, and head to the PX. Of course we get there and the PX is HUGE like WalMart HUGE, (Ours here is tiny as all get out) and come to find out the person who is authorized to do notarization off and won’t be back to work until Tuesday!!! So we brainstorm, because we NEED to get this done, and Bambi is like, “UPS!!! They can do notary services!” So we rush over there, guess what? The guy who can do that is off too! I am getting a little panicked and running through all the information in my head to find a solution to this issue. The guy behind the counter says that on Monday the notary guy will be here. Okay, that is a little bit comforting but, not so much because Monday, Soldier may not be able to get time off and well, I was kind of tight for funds, since this was a non planned adventure, so I couldn’t afford to stay another night. Eeeek! Since there was nothing else we could do at the time regarding POA we decided to shop for the things he needed. Of course, he had no clue what, he needed, nor could he find the list they gave him and Bambi and Sliver didn’t know what all he needed either. But because I am woman, I am always prepared for man’s flaw. Haha! I brought a copy of the list they gave Flyboy when he was getting ready to deploy. Apparently they had never seen a list this well organized that made sense, haha. It really bothered me that they asked so many “Why would you need that?” kind of questions, especially about simple things like a mirror and a sewing kit. After those little supplies we had to get some nice civilian clothes for him to wear out there. Now this, this is the best so far…
We go to Military Clothing Sales, to find a mirror, since I can’t find one at the PX. I ask Soldier what time it was, since my cell phone was in the car, and he pulls out his cell and tells me the time. So, I asked him, how come you didn’t just check your watch?
“I don’t have a watch”
“You don’t have a watch?”
“No. Why do I need a watch?”
“Umm… it is part of the regs, and what if you are out there and you need to know the time?”
“Well I can use my cell phone. It isn’t part of the regs either.”
“But you won’t always be able to charge your phone and sooner or later the battery will die and you will be out of luck.”
“Yeah, you got a point.”
“We will get you a watch.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. I will be okay.”
“No, it is part of your uniform, you need a watch.”
“It isn’t part of my uniform. Here, I will prove it to you.”
So, he calls up his Sgt…
“Sir, this is Soldier, I have a question for you… My sister seems to think that I need a watch and it is part of the regs… yes Sgt… yes Sgt… my cell phone… yes Sgt… “
He of course is now blushing very brightly.
“Yes, Sgt… you’re right Sgt… Okay, thank you Sgt, bye.”
Mean while, Bambi and Silver are anxiously waiting to see if Air Force spouse wins the military regulation debate or if Soldier does. I reply to him, “So… You need a watch?”
“Yeah, I really didn’t know it was in the regs…”
“Yeah, me neither” says Silver.
“Guess our next stop is the watch department, because I need one too” Bambi adds.
“Really? You know you can also use your watch as a compass; that would come in handy over there if the situation arose…”
“You can use it as a compass? How would you do that?”
“I can’t believe you don’t know this stuff, and you are leaving, when…? Haha”
“So… what is the mirror for?”
“…”
“No really…”
“Well, one, that way you don’t cut your self shaving and two if you ever get stranded out there, you can signal for help with it.”
“You can signal a plane with a mirror?”
“Are you teasing me or are you seriously serious?”
“I am serious.”
“Let’s go get a watch… “
Anyway, so we head back to the PX where we find ridiculously high priced cheap watches. So we decided we would hit WalMart on the way to the concert. By this time is about 1500 and we still needed to go over finances and get ready for the concert. Yay for being pressed for time!
Oh wait!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK up! I forgot the biggest part, well one of them anyways. After ice cream, we took everyone to the bowling alley to meet up with Silver. Well before Soldier and I decided to go to the hotel and discuss plans and finances, he was going to take me to a place where I could get a better view of the city. It is GEORGOUS at night. I will attach a picture from Google, since I didn’t have a tripod; all of mine came out horrible. Here you go, El Paso at night...
So anyhow, we leave base, get lost and decide just to turn around and go back to post, it was getting late and well I was really, Really tired. Here’s where it gets ironic… I start to drive on post, go to the check point where they check everyone’s ID’s and Security Forces flags me down. That is NEVER a good sign. Like anyone I am freaking out in my head, trying to figure out what in the world I did wrong to have them notice me. I am very cautious and take driving very seriously on post, I mean I do off post of course but on post, I am like a nun. Lol. I have nothing to hide, and I can’t think of anything that I did wrong, so now I am really starting to worry. The guy asks for ID’s, license and registration and insurance. Then he makes me mess around with my lights. Like make sure your signals work and such. I am of course thinking to myself, I used my signal, I learned that lesson last time…
SIDE NOTE: right after Flyboy and I got married, well towards that September, he had to do Security Forces, stuff for a while, for well, whatever reason they gave it, and one night he had to pull this weird midnight to 300 shift, just watching a hanger. Since we lived a half hour from base at the time it was silly for me to drive him there, drive home, wait there for an hour or so and then drive back, just to pick him up and drive back home again. One thing it wasted gas like mad and two I was really tired and didn’t want to risk getting in an accident with unnecessary driving. (That was when I had my brother’s Grand Am, that too is another long side note) So I drop him off and decide to pick some munchies up at the gas station, drive back on to base, and then I couldn’t decide. Do I go hang out with all of Flyboy’s buddies at game rooms by the barracks or enjoy nice quiet time, where there wasn’t a chance I would get pinned with supplying alcohol to minors and screw Flyboy’s reputation. Meanwhile I make a last minute decision and don’t signal. Bright bubblegum lights, and nearly soiled undies.
“Ma’am, do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Yes sir. I didn’t use my turn signal” I’m so sick to my stomach I am about ready to hurl. I mean they can kick you off post for 24 hours, 3 days, a month or even for ever if they deem so, and that would not be good since, Flyboy is still post and has no way to get in contact with me nor the fact that we live so far away from base.
“Why didn’t you use your signal ma’am? And may I have your license and registration and base ID please.”
So I proceeded to tell him about my last minute decision and that I was waiting for Flyboy. He took my information back to his car, lights of course still bright as day and twirling around in my rearview. An eternity later he comes back, hands me my stuff and says,
“Well, I originally pulled you over because your license plate light is out.”
“My what?”
“Your license plate light ma’am.”
“My license plate light? I have a license plate light? Really?”
Don’t worry, I wasn’t being rude I was really shocked. I honestly didn’t realize I had one. I mean, it isn’t something you check, like tail lights or head lights. It really threw me off.
“Yes ma’am…” he was kind of laughing at my utter confusion.
Long side note short, we chatted for a bit, then he took off, and I pulled over in a parking lot, just to make sure he wasn’t just yanking my chain. Sure enough, I had one and well, it was out. Luckily I wasn’t ticketed or anything, I was much relieved after that, well until Flyboy got in the car later that morning and started harassing me about being pulled over. Apparently he and the guy doing the shift with him heard the whole thing over the radio…
Anywho, back to Bliss… So he is having me check all the lights, and he says…
“Ma’am, do you know why we flagged you down and had you pull over?”
“Honestly, no sir, I have no idea”
“Well, we noticed your license plate light is out”
“My what? Are you kidding me?” I laughed “That is what they pulled me over for a 2 years ago in my old car”
“Well, you need to get it fixed or just don’t drive at night”
“Yes sir, thank you. Umm, where would I get it fixed around here? I am from out of state, so I don’t know my way around here too well.”
So he proceeded to tell me where and what not. It was kind of a huge damper on my visit. I was having a GREAT time and then there is nothing like Security Forces to pull you over and kill the moment. I still had fun don’t get me wrong, but yeah, another necessity added to our busy agenda.
Well I told you that because I had to add the fact that before we dropped off Silver and Bambi, we had to pick the car up from the Firestone shop on base. I could have replaced the light myself, but I had no supplies and I figured, why not have these guys fix it while we are shopping for all this nonsense, that way it kills two Canadian Geese with one stone. So, Bambi and Silver got dropped off and Soldier and I head back to my room with the laptop and a lot of talking to do. Blah, blah, blah and we decide to get dinner on the way to WalMart on the way to the concert. Dinner consisted of Weinersnitchel =) I felt bad because I wanted to go there with Flyboy, since he had never been to one, but I had been wanting their chili cheese dogs for a few years now. We don’t have one out here, man do I miss some of those Cali restaurants. WalMArt was PACKED, you would think it was Christmas Eve or something. Somehow we managed to find a parking space and rushed inside to find a watch. Oddly this store didn’t have a big watch display like the store we have out where I am now, but we managed to find him a watch that he was happy with. This one was pretty cool too. It had a compass on it as well, that was actually correct, well unbroken none the less. Next was the concert, yay! We got lost. So we called Flyboy, whom I think NEVER slept, but was instead on the computer the whole time I was gone, and he helped us figured out where we needed to go. We were REALLY far off of where we needed to be. Haha. When we got there I realized we should have left a loooooong time ago. I hadn’t been to a concert in a big city in a long while, needless to say, packed wasn’t the half of it. A few circles around the block and one left turn into the dark abyss and we found a parking lot with no, “you park here and your car will explode or be towed away at your expense” signs, so it was destiny at $5 dollars a car. We already had our tickets, so we didn’t have to wait in that line, just the one where they separate the boys from the girls and then pat them down. That was a first for me. Little weird and uncomfortable, her hands were cold and clammy. Haha. Anyway, so Soldier and I meet up at the next check point and emerge into a small building with super LOUD music and enough people to allow you to ride only two rides at Six Flags during the entire day you were there. Finally, we found our seats. I of course have little to no voice so I am defiantly not able to be heard, heck I could barely hear myself think at the time. If I recall I had to scream my thoughts in my head, just so I could hear myself. Soldier was like, well I am glad I had my hearing test on Wednesday instead of tomorrow. I was like Whaaaaat? Haha.
I don’t know who was playing when we got there, but the next band up was Papa Roach. I really like their songs, and really I didn’t know they were the ones who sang them. Let’s see… they played,
And I think two from their new album. I don’t like the swearing in them but the lyrics are very powerful. It sounded AWESOME at the concert and I hope they come out here so I can take Flyboy. Seether, was the next group that played and we only heard like a song and a half from them, because we had to go back to post. We were both really disappointed that we missed Stained. They were to play next. Soldier had a room inspection at 500 the next morning and he still needed to finish packing. So I let him pick the time that we should head back and he picked 2030. It was AWESOME though. I took some pictures with my cell phone. 
We headed back to the car and his Sgt called to tell him that he needed to be in PT gear instead of ACU’s, with ticked Soldier off, because for about a week they were telling him otherwise and so his PT gear was packed at the bottom of one of his bags, so now instead of heading back to post, we had to head to the storage unit to pick up his mini vacuum, since he had Space Bags (I had told him about them when Flyboy was getting deployed). After getting back on post, with my fixed license plate light, we called it a night. I called Flyboy and talked until he could barely understand me, since my voice was going out like a flickering half dead light bulb, then hopped in the shower and called it a night myself. I don’t know if Soldier actually got any sleep that night or not, I know I did though.
The next morning I had to check out by 1100 or else I would be charged for another room. So I set my alarm for 830 just incase I slept through the alarm, I mean I was exhausted. I gathered everything and awaited Soldier’s phone call, hoping I would get one before noon. We still had to get that dog-on POA notarized and get his mail forwarded to Mississippi Mom as well as a get a copy of his orders, not to mention he needed to get everything done that they wanted him to get done. Monday was very time pressed day. Well, 900 comes along and he texts, “Meet me here at XYZ”. So I jump to my feet, grab EVERYTHING, and rush my sick, hard to breath self down the three flights of stairs, there was no elevator in this particular building, and race to the car. (yeah I forgot to mention my room was in a building waaaay across post and waaaay away from the main hotel building.) Anyway I get half way to XYZ (MAN is it windy today or what, holy cow!!! Good thing my bicycle is tied down and surrounded by a fence, otherwise it would have blown away by now, goodness!) and he texts me again, “Sorry, false alarm, they screwed up over here”. Well dang it! I am already over at XYZ. So I decide to head over to the main hotel and check myself out. That was too easy and took like 30 seconds, well that sure killed time. Bah. So I then decide to head to the PX to make sure the notary guy is there at UPS and to also send off a package that needed to be sent. Sure enough the guy was there, and I sent off my package, and just as I was about to leave a German soldier came in and was going to send a package off! A German soldier! I mean he had a thick accent and everything! It was awesome! I know, I know, a soldier is a soldier, but I have only seen US soldier and Canadian soldier in person, everyone else I have seen on T.V. It was really neat; he is from a different part of the world! Well you can think whatever, I thought it was awesome! So I head back to the car and play the waiting game. I am used to the waiting game; Flyboy is notorious for making me wait. Haha.
Waiting, waiting, waiting, then the phone rings, it is Soldier, I am clear to pick him up. I race back to XYZ, doing 25 mph of course and pick him up. He looks really different in his uniform, kind of cool really. =) Then we head back to the PX… hehehe
Well, here is the problem, we need witnesses. Soldier figures we can just grab some from the PX, not a problem. We get to UPS and the notary guy tells us that he will be right there with us and to go ahead and start signing where it needs to be signed. Soldier finishes that and he starts looking for people to ask if they wouldn’t mind being a witness. HAHA! I have no voice otherwise I would be asking. So, Soldier turns around and there is this really tall guy, kind of build like young Gomer Pyle standing in uniform behind us. Soldier asks, “hey, would you mind being a witness for us?”
“A what?”
“A witness.”
“A witness for what?” he asks a little confused and worried.
Soldier quietly sighs heavily, “A witness for this power of attorney, all you have to do is sign… “ The Gomer guy discretely snaps to attention throwing Soldier’s train of thought WAY off. Soldier stops talking for a second and puts his hand over his forehead and rubs it slightly in puzzlement, “Dude! What are you doing? You are above me…” Soldier points to the rank on his own chest and continues to explain about the power of attorney witness. Meanwhile I notice a Major, who is also filling out a POA, laughing like none other, quietly of course, and if he smiled any harder I think his face would have shattered. Hehe. Anyway, the poor Gomer guy was very flushed and I can’t imagine how embarrassed he was, but he goes back to parade rest and Soldier is still trying to explain this to this poor guy. Gomer slightly agrees and Soldier seems relieved and looks for another guy to borrow. Well the notary guy, is finally ready for us and he asks about our witnesses and Soldier says, “We have your buddy behind the counter and this guy over here,” he points to where the guy was and no longer is. Soldier turns around and doesn’t see him, “where did that guy go?”
“I think he left, Soldier” as loudly as I could manage. (no voice remember)
Soldier of course is now a bit frustrated, so the notary guy asks the Major and he was more than happy to be a witness. We both thanked him greatly. All we needed now was two copies and a trip to the post office and a copy of his orders.
Soldier has to be back by 1315 to pick up orders, we were making pretty good time, until we got to the post office. LINE, long LINE. That took an hour only to be told that since it was a temporary change of address for a deployment, we needed to go to the building around back. We rushed over there, they closed at 1130 and it was 1127, definitely pushing it. We got there and they told us we had to talk to the guy in the mail room at his barracks… I LOVE circles… Since he can do that himself then, we decided food is next on the list. I asked him where he wanted to eat, he was like chow hall is fine. Now why on earth would you want to have your last stateside meal with family be at the chow hall, when while you are over there that is ALL you ever eat anyway? Especially if family is going to cover your meal? So I picked Weinersnitchel again since it was closer to post than the rest of the places.
We ordered and I had him check his watch, and we were a head of schedule, so after we ate I had him call up his new bank, USAA and have them set up a bunch of stuff, like transferring funds from his old account and such as well as adding me on there to speak for him while he was deployed. He really likes USAA, I am really happy too. This bank has been awesome to us and the deals they have for the military guys is unbelievable. I feel really foolish for not switching over when Flyboy wanted to, and I wasn’t going to have Soldier miss out on what I did, and he is grateful for it too! His insurance has gone down like $40 AND he has more coverage! There is a lot more, but as long as he is happy, that is good.
So we got that taken care of, and we were back on post by then and it was getting to the time when he had to go back to work. He went back picked up his orders, made me a copy and then gave me one last load of stuff to take back to storage before I left. We each gave each other a small corny safety brief, hugged and said good bye. I wanted to stay a bit longer but I needed to get on the road, I had 11 hours and construction ahead of me and he had to make sure he was ready to go. It was very sad and depressing to leave, but I recently got a response to a (WOW that is a lot of geese outside! I can hear them over the music playing on the computer!) an email I sent him within his email about some stuff, and he made it there okay. He says that all is well with him. Which is always good to hear. =) If he is able to continue replying I will post some of it here, if it is okay with him of course. (Goodness, I think I should check the weather, it is sounding more and more violent out there! Eek!)
Well that was spontaneously needed trip to Fort Bliss. I have more I plan on updating everyone with, but I think 16 pages in Word is enough for one day. Haha! Hope everyone is doing well. I am getting back into writing, I am glad everyone does enjoy my rambling. Finally the world DOES revolve around me! Bwahahahaha! Just kidding. =) I am really humbled that you guys want to actually read all of this, and were upset when I stopped there for a while. I will keep it up, Lord willing. =) I need to fix lunch, “my tumbly is a rubmlin’” to quote the Pooh. Take care! Love you all!
~NikiRose
P S. > Here are some more pictures. I shrunk them down so I wouldn't use up all of my space on here. If you want bigger ones I can send them to you if you like, but I don't know who wants them...
This one he let me take after we got back from the concert. I told him, "Mississippi Mom is going to kill me if I come out here and don't get ANY pictures of you" I don't think he was quite ready for this one, nor some of the others. hehe, but I am glad he let me take some. =)
Then this one he was following me back through the little hall way and I stopped and took a picture behind me. I think this one came out GREAT! I mean he was a bit suprised but it looks really good. Don't worry, The King, he doesn't wear his hat like this in public, he was just goofing off to bug ya. =) Plus it is fun to be dorky. hehe =D
This one is of both of us, obviously, and I had to set the camera on timer and put it up on top of the entertainment center in the living room quarters in order to get this one. I don't have any "nice" non-goofy ones of us, I think it would have been a little too hard on both of us for one of those.
These last two I took just as I got over the mountain pass coming home from Bliss. I thought it was really, Really, pretty. These pictures don't even begin to capture what I saw, but it was worth a shot anyways, no pun intended.
Well I better go, my tummy is still rumblin' and it is doing so more angrily. Eeek! Love you!
~NikiRose