The failure of the Congressional Supercommittee to reach an agreement on deficit reduction is a setback for the country’s efforts to achieve fiscal responsibility while protecting our national security.  If Congress fails to act over the next year, the Department of Defense will face devastating, automatic, across-the-board cuts that will tear a seam in the nation’s defense.

Despite the danger posed by sequestration, I join the President in his call for Congress to avoid an easy way out of this crisis.  Congress cannot simply turn off the sequester mechanism, but instead must pass deficit reduction at least equal to the $1.2 trillion it was charged to pass under the Budget Control Act.

In my four decades involved with public service, I have never been more concerned about the ability of Congress to forge common-sense solutions to the nation’s pressing problems.  Since becoming Secretary of Defense, I have made it clear that the Department has a responsibility to help the country get its fiscal house in order — and we are doing that.  I have been leading a strategy-driven effort to achieve the more than $450 billion in cuts over 10 years required by the Budget Control Act.  We will move ahead with that plan.

But as Secretary of Defense, my primary responsibility is to protect the security of the nation.  The half-trillion in additional cuts demanded by sequester would lead to a hollow force incapable of sustaining the missions it is assigned.  If implemented, sequester would also jeopardize our ability to provide our troops and their families with the benefits and the support they have been promised. Our troops deserve better, and our nation demands better.

The emphasis in bold, is from my friend Andrea, who added…

Emphasis mine. I know a lot of people would applaud further cuts to the defense budget, but what a lot of people don’t understand is that the first things to be cut are not materiel or training. The cuts will first come from benefits and family programs. I know that even though I don’t qualify for MyCAA (educational training for spouses), I regularly use FMWR(Family Morale, Welfare and Recreation) and ACS (Army Community Services) programs to help me just get through the day some days.

This is the part most people don’t realize when they scream for cuts to defense spending. I don’t care what your opinion on the wars is. That is not, I repeat NOT where spending cuts get made.  It’s the FAMILIES that pay. Please, please PLEASE, hear and understand this. The cuts could/would include health care, dental, prescriptions (adding copays, or increasing them) child care, vital when BOTH parents must work, because believe me, we are certainly NOT that well paid. I’ve been very lucky these last years to not need work. My kids are older, out of the expensive phase of diapers, bottles, formula, etc. Even MORE vital when husbands are sent to train, to war, or to schools. Even I am looking to start building a resume and work experience.

Educational programs provided through ACS (Army Community Services, which provide job hunting, resume, adjustment to military life, resource gathering, educating new spouses, and many other vital services), Educational programs for dependents, such as the ability to take proctored exams at our Ed Centers, a benefit we already lost at our last post, not to mention sports and activities that help these kids feel like NORMAL kids with all the moving around, family counseling and outreach programs. They may not sound like much to you, but we depend on their availability. Especially when our husbands are away, be it for field time or deployments, or schools.

Think about who these cuts are really going to hurt before you demand them.

Think Before You Cut brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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Most important things first, on August 12, we got out of the motel we lived in for a month, and into our house on post. Not a bad wait at all. Hubby brought me to see it the day before we signed. We had trouble finding it at first, but were enjoying looking at the neighborhood when I pointed at one nice, corner lot with a single dwelling unit and said “I want that one!”. He laughed at me and said “yeah good luck with that.”. Turned left, and low and behold “that one” was OUR house. Ha!

Not bad eh? Now, I’ve never had the fortune to live in a single house, let alone one this nice. We’ve had eight-plexes, duplex, and no this is NOT officer housing. This is NCO housing. Conveniently located right across the road from where he works.

Our furniture and such took two more weeks to be delivered, though we did end up buying new before that, since you know…FLOOR! and our old stuff was about shot. And my Washer/dryer wouldn’t fit in our laundry room since it was a stackable that didn’t UNstack. So we had to replace that too. We got settled in, got the kids in school and, well…Hubby got this…

A 2011 Harley Davidson Fat Bob. He has waited 20 years for his bike, and after 9 years in the army, 2 deployments, and especially that one to Afghanistan…it was more than well deserved. I sustained the first injury…I thought I’d sit on the bike, in my shorts, and bam…exhaust burn. I left skin on the pipes and ended up with a pretty nasty wound. It didn’t look that bad at first as you can see. But I ended up going to the ER when blisters continued forming 2 days later. Ouch. It’s all healed now, and fading fast.

The following Sunday, we had our friends over. We were lucky enough to join two other soldiers he worked with in Washington, and deployed with when we moved here. There’s Tracy and Andy, married couple, and Joe. Andy shows up on his bike, our garage is open so you can see ours too, and thus our first complaint was born. A neighbor complained about the “quality of the company we keep”.  Because of “all the bikes”. Right. All TWO bikes. Mind you, as I mentioned these are all soldiers stationed here. Three guys that worked together, fought together, and lived together for years. All three who are decorated combat veterans.  People are jerks, and THIS is why I make friends far from my neighborhoods. Anyhoo..

Shortly after the house, school started back up for me so I’m buried in Cultural Anthropology, Ethics, Intro to Law, and Art of the Cinema until December 9th. I did however finally decide where I’m going with my education. As I wind up my AA in Letters, Arts, and Sciences I’ll be picking up some prereqs for my next degree program. I’ve decided to get a BA in Psychology, and hopefully after that a Masters. My goal is to work on post, in the future as either a Family Advocacy counselor, or in the Substance Abuse program, or just at the hospital. I’d really like to get involved in working with PTSD patients and their FAMILIES. Maybe by the time I get done with school the military will acknowledge Secondary PTSD and that families suffer through this and need assistance as much as their soldiers. If not, well…guess I’ll become a squeaky wheel.

As for my spare time…what little I have, I’m finding myself enjoying cooking again. Probably because I have a great kitchen now. I’m also finding keeping a house this size clean is a full time job! I’ve also decided to learn to sew, and I’ve started little craft projects from Pinterest that caught my attention. My first completed project was a set of four coasters.

Gaming has taken a back seat aside from Dragon Age 2, but WoW still remains unattainable. Maybe next xpac, who knows. It just takes more of a time investment than I have.

And Old Sweet Song, Keeps Georgia on My Mind brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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Orders. We couldn’t start the moving process without Orders. He returned hom on June 3rd from Drill Sgt School. He SHOULD have had his official orders in hand by the 17th of June. Yes, he had orders prior, but he needed to post graduation orders. The first set are contingent upon graduation, the officially official orders are cut when that happens. He got the run around for a full month finally getting his orders sometime late in the first week of July. Mind you our report date here in Georgia was July 17.

With orders in hand the process began. And it went well right up until we got movers scheduled.  That didn’t happen until July 8. We figured it would still be ok, we don’t have a lot of stuff, having cleared out tuff we no longer needed or wanted prior to this. The company guy shows up Thursday the 7th and informs us it will take until the 10th. The day we planned to depart. He also informed us that they wouldn’t be working over the weekend so as not to disturb us. Shut the front door I call bullshit! They weren’t going to work the weekend because they don’t work weekends. Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining buddy, even in Washington I know the difference. We also had a motel room set up. Anyhow, they said they’d start Friday. They dropped off ONE worker to pack. ONE!! We had already gone through and packed most of the house into Rubbermaid totes. It still took her all day and she never finished. In fact, this wonderful moving company didn’t finish until I think the 12th. Which meant he didn’t sign out until the 13th. Oh no wait! Someone in the Army screwed up again and forgot to sign a paper, so make that the 14th.

@N04/5959960376/">So, We drove 3,000 miles in 3 days. We stopped long enough to sleep a few hours in Montana, South Dakota, and Missouri. We drove through Washington, Idaho, Montana (gorgeous!), South Dakota, ended up in Minnesota by accident, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and finally made it to Georgia. Along the way we saw the awful flooding in Iowa and Missouri. Entired farm fields under water. In fact we had to go the long way around as a large part of I-29 was closed due to the water.

The picture to the left shows how close it was to the interstate when we drove through, taken through my window so the quality isn’t my usual. In fact that goes for all my shots since we were in a rush.

I can’t even put into words how it felt to see the flooding. I didn’t know about it, because we seldom watch the news. It put things in perspective though. For 4 years I complained about all the rain in Washington, that’s nothing compared to this.

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So we’re here, in a motel. The weather is gorgeous, the heat feels great, and I’ll have more pictures later. I’m thinking it’s about time to visit the pool. Well, when hubby gets back from post anyhow.

Long Strange Trip brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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On top of THAT stress, I have kids with cavities and dental expenses to shell out. The car needs fixed for the trip, and even though it’s under warranty, there’s a $200 deductible. Add to that we’ll need to have money ready for the drive cross country, and shipping our second vehicle, even knowing the army OWES us money and DOES pay travel pay we can’t count on THAT being available for the trip itself. No, they don’t pay for shipping a vehicle in the continental U.S. either. So on top of THAT stress I have guilt that I did NOT save any money for this moment. BUT I know in my head I couldn’t. There were bills to pay, food to buy, dental expenses ate up our tax refund, always something coming up. I tried, but life gets in the way. And what makes it harder is this trip, we still have a couple bills to pay out. Car, insurance, etc. Didn’t have that last time. I keep telling myself we’ll get through it, and praying that we have a safe and smooth experience.  I just hate when everything piles on at once ya know? We’ve gotten through worse.

So, What HAVE I been doing?

Taking over the world…(Sid Meier’s Civilization IV)

Visiting exotic locations (Zuma’s Revenge by Popcapcrack Games)

AAlong with learning to knit, crochet, continuing to art journal and try drawing something daily. And my newest hobby, trying to not pull my hair out.

Shove Your Hurry Up and Wait brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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Suckituptitude- ability to deal with all manner of jackassery, tomfoolery, bullshit and hassle without whining to the command that you need your husband home immediately. Can be handled with or without whining, but preferably with wine.

This came about because, as usual…he is gone and something has gone wrong. The dog seems to have some tummy trouble. It is of course FRIDAY. Which means no vets are open until Monday. Except the ones that require payment body parts and a co signer to walk in the door.  All of these vets are…off post. I have never driven out there. Nope, not in four years. Oh wait, once, to get my car home, but I was following him. Anyhow, in the course of telling him he should be able to just come home…it went something like this

Me: Shadow’s sick, the Vets are all closed, I can’t drive off post, you need to come home. This sucks.
Hunny: I know
Me: It’s freaking me out
Hunny: I know
Me: Come homeeeee
Hunny: I caaaan’t
Me: Not even if I whine?
Hunny: Think a doc would sign a red cross message for excessive whining?
Me: Hell I’ve seen it work for spouses that don’t have NEAR my level of suckituptitude.

So there you go. Today’s message brought to you by the letters S.U.C.K.S.

From The Desk Of…ME! brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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Shortly after my panic ended, the anger ensued. I stopped being upset about my own situation, because we have always survived. We survived before he enlisted as a family of four on $5,000/year. We survived when he enlisted as a family of four on a private’s pay which at the time was less than $1000/month.  That sounds like alot but we were in alot of debt, and we still had many bills.  I know my resources, I know where to go, who to call, and what to do. Not everyone is so lucky.

My anger shifted to anger for those who are where we once were. The new private with a wife and kids trying to live on a so small salary, and having that cut in half, even for one week would be devastating. Trying to keep food on the table for a family is hard enough in this economy, and gas prices are nuts.

Having support networks furloughed that are a huge part of keeping our families strong during deployments especially, and during everyday military life in general.

When I looked at my bank account and did a quick review I realized it would be tight but we’d make it if we could make an interest payment on our car. Our credit union (AlaskaUSA) that handles it allowed us to skip it. Which, if our pay arrives screwed up next week, as has been known to happen, we’ll do. If we get a full pay as they say we should (albeit a day or two delayed for the other half possibly) we won’t. I’m not sure how that’s going to shake out really. We’ll see when payday arrives.

But I wanted to say I’m glad it’s worked out. I’m glad Planned Parenthood has been left alone. I hope we don’t go through this again next week. And thinking about what could have happened to that young private, I want to make a plug.

I want to encourage people to donate to Army Emergency Relief. If you want to help our soldiers, this is the agency that does it. They provide grants and no interest loans for car repairs, they’ll help with buying food or paying rent, avoiding utility shutoffs, even dental emergencies for the families. They’ve been a big help to us just with the car repair loans. And they were there, ready to step up in the event of a shutdown.

AER provides:

Help with emergency financial needs for:

• Food, rent or utilities
• Emergency transportation and vehicle repair
• Funeral expenses
• Medical/dental expenses
• Personal needs when pay is delayed or stolen
• Give undergraduate-level education scholarships, based primarily on financial need, to children of soldiers

That’s what I’ve got to say, now that things are calming down. Thank you to my twitter list for their support, and patience as I /Jessraged all over the place. You’re all Awesome.

Crisis Averted, Awesome Abounds brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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Look at that, I gave you a new twitter to follow AND blog to read in ONE quote! Proving once again that Jess is Awesome. Yes? Yes! Right, anyhow…

Stupid Politics. Stupid Government. Stupid no pay check coming next week. Stupid bills due anyway. Stupid Congress. STUPID. –tweeted by myhomemadehappy

Jess has some rage today. This government shutdown bullshit. Holy crap. I looked at my husband’s pay for the 15th. Half. HALF! That’s not right. Now, before I go any further, YES I am just as pissed off about planned parenthood and Head Start! I’m a woman after all, I have daughters that may one day depend on planned parenthood for THEIR care when they are no longer military dependants. Believe me, I CARE! And my Mother in Law works for Head Start! My children both benefitted from head start as little darling girls. Not that you can TELL now that they’re *darling* teenage girls. (* denotes sarcasm in case you need to know).

But I’m A LOT pissed off at the president. YES. I know it’s not all on his head. Yes I know it’s party politics bullshit. BUT when he made his little speech last night, he mentioned those 800,000 Government employees living paycheck to paycheck.  He mentioned that a few times. He mentioned loan and passport problems. He mentioned other things, but not once did he mention the 2.2 million Active and Reserve military that are being required to report for duty without pay!

Let me repeat that. TWO POINT TWO MILLION TROOPS. Required to report for duty. Fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. REQUIRED TO REPORT but only receiving HALF their pay on the 15th. Oh they keep saying they’ll continue to EARN their pay, but they won’t GET a paycheck until this is settled. That doesn’t put food on the table, or cash in the bill collectors’ pockets in the mean time.  “Eventually” isn’t going to cut it. it’s not going to bring comfort to troops fighting overseas now worried whether their families are making it when they shouldn’t have to.

I know how much I personally am going to be affected by this. I just blew my savings on my dental work, (not by choice but when your doctor says “this is bad, no more waiting your health is at risk” you don’t dick around) I have a little left of the pay from the 1st, and a call into my bank about my car payment. My kids are awesome and fully OK with eating Ramen and Mac n Cheese for a while if we have to. But what about these young, newly enlisted soldiers on a private’s pay trying to support a family of four? I can’t even imagine it.  Wait, yes I can, and it’s ugly.

What most people do not realize is it’s not JUST the troops and families affected financially. ALL of our support resources are govt run too. Our health care, Army Community Services which provides education and information to the spouses and soldiers. EVERYTHING on an installation is basically government run. And A LOT of those paid employees are being furloughed as well. Sure we have many volunteers, but these jobs are important, and often cannot be replaced by volunteers.  Child care centers, gyms, teen centers, are possibly affected as well. The doctors in our hospital and clinics, and nurses are not always soldiers, they are mainly civilian providers. I realize med staff is critical but we’re still looking at a slow down of a system that already takes more than two weeks sometimes to get an appointment. It took me 3 days of calling at 6-7am to get seen for illness this week.

And let’s remember the fact that my husband is off at school. He is waiting on the money to pay his room and board that’s due to arrive on the 28th. This is a payment (travel pay) that gets screwed up quite enough on it’s own, what happens to that? Am I to support his room and board (Roughly $1k just for a month in the room) along with ours on HALF of his paycheck?

I have so much homework due this weekend, and I can’t even think straight or read the texts.  So if you see me flailing on twitter. Don’t assume I don’t care about planned parenthood, head start, or npr. I do. Especially Planned Parenthood. But right now it’s personal, it’s survival, it’s my LIFE and my entire community, and support network, my friends…no my family. It’s literally my WORLD being affected by this right now, so maybe I get to be a little selfish yes?

STUPID is STUPID Stupidhead brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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First off, Hubby received his award, his Bronze Star With Valor.

Then, we found out that his school has been rescheduled! For March, and we don’t move until JULY!! This is awesome. No cross country trek in the winter, no yanking the kids out of school mid year. And more importantly, no rush to get ready, and a normal Christmas for us. Also, I’ll be able to enjoy the WoW Cataclysm release as well as Dragon Age 2!! *cheers*

Then we both got miserable yucky colds. We’re over them, mostly, now the kid has it. I would kill for a break from sniffles and coughing around here, seriously.

Let’s Catch Up! brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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He finally arrives at his location, but is too late to not be marked as a no show. BUT, that’s not all. He shouldn’t have been SENT in the first place. There is a mandatory amount of time a soldier must be home from deployment before he can attend a school. He has not been home long enough. Now, this changes the no show to a no qualification, so that’s good. So he got there, only to be turned around and sent home. He’s not alone. Many soldiers from his deployment have the same problem. They are even being pulled out of classes they’ve already started and sent back. They said they’ll try and get him to school in January. Ok.

BUT, our orders to move to GA (whether Drill Sgt or not, we have two sets) are for January. This means either they get pushed back, OR he goes to school En Route. Basically meaning I get stuck with all the moving crap. We’ll drive (I hope) together to GA, where he’ll pretty much leave me and go to school. I’ll be left with the arrangements for housing, delivery of our household goods, claiming of moving pay etc. Which…I know how to do, I’ve just not done it. Luckily, I have friends there that would probably help me around the place if I holler.

What we are thinking about doing? With a child in her Jr year of high school, and our future kind of up in the air, we may just try and stabilize where we’re at until she graduates.

Who knows, we’re in a strange kind of limbo here. But…I guess I should be careful what I wish for in the future.

Careful What You Wish For brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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The last two months I’ve wanted to not end.

They have. In the wee hours of the morning, I’ll drop him off to start his journey to Drill Sgt school. I won’t see him again until November.

I really want to throw a fit. I’ve seen him so far all of 2 and a half months so far in 2010, 6 months in 2009. I realize it’s only two months. I also know it isn’t near as bad as deploying. But that doesn’t make the side of my brain that just wants to be with him any happier. I also know what comes at the end. He returns and a couple months later we move to Georgia where he takes on his newly trained role of Drill Sgt.

There are alot of positives to this. Really. No deployments for 2 years, good for his career, better climate for me (I hate WA and it’s wetness), and closer to PA. But What most people DON’T get is…he won’t be around. He will work from 4am to 10pm 6 days per week, and half days on Sundays for 13 straight weeks, then MAYBE get two days off before doing it again. The normal 2 weeks of leave in summer and 2 weeks in winter don’t happen that way. He’ll get some leave in winter for the holidays, but that’s pretty much it. And of course noone in their right minds wants to drive home for Christmas in the winter through the West Virginia mountains, so I’m not sure being close to PA is really that much of an advantage.

Basically I’ll see him for a few minutes before we go to sleep, and a couple days every few months. THIS is why we bought the second car. Because the truck will never be available to me.

Our kids are 15 and 17. These upcoming years will be most likely the last we have with them living at home. The last we get to do some things we want to do as a family. Go to Disney, go camping in the Smokies. These things will have to be squeezed in where possible.

Now, granted none of this is fact yet. But I trust the friend that gave me the info, since her husband was just doing it himself. And I know I’ll deal with it with my usual suck it up and drive on hooah dressed in my big girl panties, kickin ass the whole way. It’s kinda my thing. And there is ONE big positive to it. None will be shooting at him, or trying to blow him up.

But now? RIGHT now?? I want to throw myself on the floor, fists and feet flailing about screaming “IT’S NOT FAIR!!” until I’m hoarse. And maybe glomp onto his leg and scream NO NO NO NO!!

A Serious Case of the Not Fairs brought to you by Lady Jess - (Have You Seen My Stapler?)

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