I am official

I am now officially a military wife. I have both of my cards (one for reservists and one for people on active duty).

The only reason I wanted the card was to save myself trouble getting through security on base. However, I have learned that these cards offer other advantages as well.

I am now, officially in the computer. If JB dies, I get $400,000. Very exciting stuff there. Also, if he cheats on me and I turn him in, he can be court-martialed. Another exciting discovery.

Yesterday, JB was on an OBGYN rotation, and there were no patients scheduled. So while he had to go in in the morning and at lunch for a lunch meeting, he ended up having quite a bit of time here with me. We ended up running a lot of errands. We picked up his dry cleaning (uniforms for his interview next week), he got his hair cut at one of the military barbers, and went to the little store where you can buy Air Force t-shirts and other gifts.

We also spent a good portion of the day working on getting my ID's and a new ID for him. A few months ago, JB's paychecks stopped, and after a few phonecalls, he realized they had his graduation date in the computer as 2006 instead of 2007. He got this sorted out, and he started receiving paychecks again, however, the computer still had him down as 2006. This meant he was on an active duty tour while no longer in the military. We had to get this sorted out before we could get the ID's. It took about two hours, but we both left with ID's!

Last night, I went to my first pharma dinner. Technically, wives or significant others aren't supposed to attend these dinners. However, since I work for two medical organizations, they got me in. These are amazing dinners at amazing locations where you receive a presentation on a certain drug and eat an amazing meal. This one was on a new drug for smoking cessation. The meal was, nothing short of spectacular, and this restaurant was RIGHT on the ocean. In fact, right through the huge glass window, there was a couple having a fancy dinner on the beach.

I learned a lot during dinner, and I'm not just talking about all the information on smoking cessation drugs. We sat with two first year residents and one of the first year resident's wives, and Joe, who is basically THE main "go to" guy for all residents --all of which gave us some things to think about. Here were some things we learned:

• Joe told JB that if he puts Eglin down as his first choice, he is basically guaranteed a spot. If we were to choose civilian first and then Eglin, we are losing our "edge" in getting Eglin if the military doesn't let us do civilian.
  
• The housing stipend is up to about $1400 a month and rising every year. If we choose to live on base, we don't get the money. If we buy a house off base, that stipend pays our mortgage. The bad side is that to live off-base, we will be at least 15 minutes away which would require us to buy a second car. However, to not take advantage of FREE equity seems rather foolish as well.
  
• One of these guys lives right in Destin. He is actually thinking about buying a small boat and boating over to base every morning. JB's jaw was literally UNDER the table.
• The military will MOVE us to the base come next July. They do everything. However, if we choose to move ourselves, they will reimburse us for everything and pay us for weight and distance -- what comes out to about $5,000-$10,000. A signing bonus of sorts. These guys said that while the money would be nice, not having to pack a thing was quite a fun event as well.

We have not made a decision yet, but things are becoming clearer. Please continue to pray for us as we try to figure things out in our mind. JB must fill out his paperwork on September 15th so that date is fast approaching.

Also congrats to Kristen Y. who won the trivia yesterday! Hurrah!