HTX, you’re making a good move. Military life is a tought life, but you’ll get much more out of it than you can imagine. Getting an education while in the military is easier than it’s ever been. My husband is currently working for his BA. (He plans on finishing up during his next deployment to Afghanistan.) There are online classes and, in a few years, all that military experience will translate into college credits.
Moving your wife closer to family is a great move. She’s going to need their support over the next few years. For me, the hardest parts were the PCS moves. It was always easier when I was able to go home for a few months with the kids and let my husband close things out in the old place and set things up in the new.
Do you two have children? If not, do you plan to?
We do not have children. We want children, but our rocky and incredibly unstable financial situation over the past few years has prevented us from trying. We haven’t tried not to, mind you, as we believe that if God wants us to have kids, we’re going to have kids, but we certainly haven’t been attempting it.
I grew up as a foreign service kid, the son of a former Marine who went to work for the civil service. We moved quite a bit, so I know how to handle that. I believe it did me a great deal of good, and I think what children God blesses us with will benefit from my service as much as I will benefit from the opportunity.
The pay cut she will take from leaving her current job and taking the job “down there” will be minimal compared to the benefits of being so close to her sister and extended family. I never anticipated valuing her family quite the way I do, but over the years I have pretty much dropped the “in-law” bit when speaking about them. That is one reason this resonates so strongly with me. Besides, with the whole PCS issue, giving her time to be close to family while I am away at training is a big deal.
We’re going broke trying to get my education finished. We simply cannot afford it as things stand. Even with the financial aid I am eligible for, all the stupid rules and regulations about aid and the ridiculous application of “affirmative action” in education has screwed us and I’m between a rock and a hard place. I see nothing but potential for us with this “new” course.
That doesn’t make it any less frustrating that things spiraled out of control, though.