All six kids hanging out in our hotel room (more on WHY as you read this post).I don't think I have ever had a formal nervous breakdown. But if I ever do, I am pretty positive that it will be the military system that causes me to lose my marbles. If anyone thinks government-run-healthcare is a good idea, I encourage you to spend just one year in the shoes of a military member or spouse. I will guarantee you that your mind will be changed by the end of your trial run. I don't want to sway people away from the military, thus my reason for hesitating to mention this on my blog. We are glad JB went into the military. We believe in our country. We know that quality individuals are needed to protect our country, and we are honored to serve in that capacity. But the red tape is likely to be my undoing, and honestly, it will be one of the main reasons that we get out of the military long before JB does a full twenty years. Things always seem like they are soooo much more complicated than they need to be. A quick example. In Germany, you need a special card to get gas at American prices. Otherwise you have to pay full, German prices (roughly double). My card had expired, and I needed to get more gas because I had to return my rental car because there is a policy that you can't keep the same rental car for more than two weeks. So I had to get my car refilled so I could return my current car and get a new one. The steps involved in this process? 1. Go to the Custom's office to get the card. (Take every piece of military paperwork you think might be required.)
2. Return home because I didn't have the most current receipt from my rental car company.
3. Return to the Custom's office where I was told that I couldn't get the card because my active duty husband wasn't with me.
4. Inform the Custom's officer that I had POA (Power of Attorney) for my husband. But that didn't matter apparently.
5. Sped many minutes explaining our situation. Explaining me having to come to Germany. Explaining the rental place requiring a car return, etc.
6. (At this point I evoked some pity from the officer, and I heard him use the words "fudge it" which means I lucked out big time in getting a card.) Honestly, I was shocked. I have never known anyone in the military to fudge anything -- especially a custom's officer. He obviously told the computer my husband was present. Bless him. I nearly cried.
7. Get a piece of paper which should give me a card.
8. Take that piece of paper to the gas station.
9. Get a card from the gas station attendant.
10. Take that card to a gas station in a town off-Base to get the car filled up since the Base doesn't have diesel at their station.
11. Fill up.
12. Return car. (This actually took over an hour as I had to get a new car, switch the carseats and stroller and get new car etc.)
13. Get new car.So you can imagine our surprise when JB and I went to fill up the new car just three days later only to discover that our brand new card had expired. Apparently, the new card only had three days worth of use on it because we have to get a new card for every different type of car we have. This means that JB (since he is in town and we don't want to rely on "fudging" again) is going to have to go back to Step 1 and start the process over to get a new card for our new car that we will only have for another two weeks.Oh, and because we didn't know our card expired three days after we got it, we had to spend $100 instead of $50 filling up the rental car.Sigh ....I try to avoid complaining, but it just seems that so many things are done in so much more of a difficult fashion then they need to be done within this government institution. It seems that everything within the military is the DMV over and over and over again. (Surely I am not the only person who has ever had a bad experience at a DMV?) Oh and the picture at the top? Well that connects the difficult system of the military to our next-door-neighbors from Turkey. We had a friend in town, Emily, from Turkey, trying to get a rotator back to the States. Each morning she had to check-out of her hotel room, pack up her four children, and go the hangar on Base to put her name on a list and wait to find out (sometimes all day) if they had gotten a seat. Then, when they would find out that they didn't, they'd have to find a hotel room and repeat the process the next day. I went to check on her once there. INSANE! People and luggage and kids EVERYWHERE! Is this the best way to get this done? It just seems like, with all our technology, we could figure out a way to do this electronically instead of in-person. So many steps to do such minimal things. Just drives me crazy. And unfortunately, Emily and her four kiddos did not make it back to the USA and are instead on a rotator back to Turkey today. Ugh! There. My vent. I'm done. Thanks.
2. Return home because I didn't have the most current receipt from my rental car company.
3. Return to the Custom's office where I was told that I couldn't get the card because my active duty husband wasn't with me.
4. Inform the Custom's officer that I had POA (Power of Attorney) for my husband. But that didn't matter apparently.
5. Sped many minutes explaining our situation. Explaining me having to come to Germany. Explaining the rental place requiring a car return, etc.
6. (At this point I evoked some pity from the officer, and I heard him use the words "fudge it" which means I lucked out big time in getting a card.) Honestly, I was shocked. I have never known anyone in the military to fudge anything -- especially a custom's officer. He obviously told the computer my husband was present. Bless him. I nearly cried.
7. Get a piece of paper which should give me a card.
8. Take that piece of paper to the gas station.
9. Get a card from the gas station attendant.
10. Take that card to a gas station in a town off-Base to get the car filled up since the Base doesn't have diesel at their station.
11. Fill up.
12. Return car. (This actually took over an hour as I had to get a new car, switch the carseats and stroller and get new car etc.)
13. Get new car.So you can imagine our surprise when JB and I went to fill up the new car just three days later only to discover that our brand new card had expired. Apparently, the new card only had three days worth of use on it because we have to get a new card for every different type of car we have. This means that JB (since he is in town and we don't want to rely on "fudging" again) is going to have to go back to Step 1 and start the process over to get a new card for our new car that we will only have for another two weeks.Oh, and because we didn't know our card expired three days after we got it, we had to spend $100 instead of $50 filling up the rental car.Sigh ....I try to avoid complaining, but it just seems that so many things are done in so much more of a difficult fashion then they need to be done within this government institution. It seems that everything within the military is the DMV over and over and over again. (Surely I am not the only person who has ever had a bad experience at a DMV?) Oh and the picture at the top? Well that connects the difficult system of the military to our next-door-neighbors from Turkey. We had a friend in town, Emily, from Turkey, trying to get a rotator back to the States. Each morning she had to check-out of her hotel room, pack up her four children, and go the hangar on Base to put her name on a list and wait to find out (sometimes all day) if they had gotten a seat. Then, when they would find out that they didn't, they'd have to find a hotel room and repeat the process the next day. I went to check on her once there. INSANE! People and luggage and kids EVERYWHERE! Is this the best way to get this done? It just seems like, with all our technology, we could figure out a way to do this electronically instead of in-person. So many steps to do such minimal things. Just drives me crazy. And unfortunately, Emily and her four kiddos did not make it back to the USA and are instead on a rotator back to Turkey today. Ugh! There. My vent. I'm done. Thanks.
5 comments:
Wow! I thought it was just Turkey that was crazy. What a frustrating experience!!
I feel your pain, I am also a military spouse and get so tired of the "red tape". They make everything so much more difficult than it has to be. If all of us can see this why can't the powers that be! It does seem to be worse when you are overseas though I noticed since you rely more heavily on the base and its flawed systems. Hang in there!
Your posts make me feel like a kid again. What I mean by that, is that hearing you rant about the red tape makes me vividly remember my parents saying the same things 30 years ago when I was a kid. My dad was a career Navy man, I was born when he was in his 2nd year and he retired when I was 28. I always wonder if there is a room of people somewhere saying "How can we make this more difficult?" Hang in there!
Dana
Wow, how frustrating! We just go to the PX to get our Esso card. Is this because your orders are not for Germany?!
Oh my gosh!!!! Actually, I think my dad would completely concur. I have heard him say similar things about the FAA, which is the government. I'm so sorry!
Sarah
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