Deployment honesty

My friend Brittney doesn't live here by me anymore. I wish she did. I so wish that Clay and Brittney and their little girls were here by us so we could support them during Clay's deployment.

Brittney and her husband and her two beautiful daughters moved to a new Base last July. They were one year ahead of us in the residency game. This move was expected. It was known.

And then, just this past December, they said good bye to Clay. He is somewhere else. In some undisclosed location. While they live out their lives in a new town, away from the people they had been with for three years. They move you somewhere new and then they deploy. Seems kinda backward to me even though I know it has to be this way.

Brittney wrote a post on deployment the other day, and I really appreciated her honesty. You have to know that Brittney isn't a downer person. She can make the best of any situation. She's independent and resourceful and innovative. She's creative and thoughtful.

But she was honest that deployment is hard. They miss Clay. She is a single parent for seven months. And she has very little support around her due to their move.

Let me switch gears for a moment. Don't worry. This will all connect eventually.

This morning, I took the boys to story time at the Valpariaso library. I had never been before, but I had heard wonderful things about it. And for good reason. We had a wonderful time. We will definitely go back. There was a wonderful elderly woman named Miss Betty who read and played with the kids. She told us not to worry if they only sat there for seven seconds. There were huge animals to wrestle with and a toy house and a train and a plane. The boys loved it.

My friend Sarah was there. She was talking about preparing for our upcoming move. What? Move? Oh. Yes. Move. We are moving just like Brittney did last July.

I told Sarah I hadn't started thinking about it yet. She said she was sorry for causing me to think of it. But actually I should thank her for reminding me that we have four months until we move to a new Base. Four!

Not only are we moving but most of our wifia friends are moving. We are all headed to new Bases, somewhere in the U.S. or across the world.

None of us know, for sure yet, where we are going. Some of us have a good idea. Some of us have no idea. We will find out in the next 30-60 days. We've been told we could know as early as March 1st and as late as mid April.


I have not discussed on my blog where we are hoping to go or where we ranked to go simply because I don't want to naively think that the decision is in our hands. It is in God's hands. He will decide. I also don't think I should count my chickens before they hatch. So we wait.

I will say that we are hoping to be stationed at a Base with a slower deployment rate. There are actually a few Bases that do not deploy their physicians due to where they are located. However, we will not know that for the next 30-60 days.


But, right now, as it stands, not knowing where we are headed, I have to face the fact that my husband could be deployed in as as early as 9 months. He could be deployed the December after we move. I am not sure I am ready for this possibility. I am not sure I know how I would do it if we are sent to a new place to live in July, yanked from all of our support, still not living by any family, and then he leaves us for at least seven months. I don't know what I would do.

When we signed up for the military back in 2003, deployments were rare. Most physicians did one or two in an entire career. They were also four months long. Now they are occurring ever 2-4 years for anywhere from 7-13 months.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that we need our military. And I know we need people to serve our country. And I support my husband if he is the one who has to go.

But that doesn't mean it would be easy.

I realized that we are a small percentage of the population. How many people do not find out where they are moving -- whether they will be going one state away or one world away until three months prior to their departure? How many people, after arriving, have to say good bye to their spouse for seven months? Seven months while you remain in a place that you don't call home and haven't called home. Not really anyways. You have no family there. And often, not many friends.

Brittney you are doing an AMAZING job. This is a very hard thing to do. I say this to all my friends who have spouses serving overseas. What an amazing thing they are doing. What a sacrifice. How difficult on those they leave behind. Let's remember to pray for our servicemen and women during a heavy season of deployments. Let's remember to pray that they come home safely.

And let's remember to pray for me and all my friends as we prepare to move to a new place in just four months.