You can breath easy… this isn’t a long post. Shocking, I
know! It’s actually a really condensed and hurried version of the events of
this last month and a half…
We got fantastic news today! You remember back in like July
when I said I had that phone interview with the Lieutenant Colonel for my
dependency waiver? And that she approved her portion of the waiver? That particular
phone interview was July 18th, and we got news that it was
“approved” on the 19th. That’s when we decided we were ready to
announce our endeavors. We still needed the Group Commander to officially
approve it, but we were pretty confident. The dependency waiver was supposedly
going to get sent up to the Group Commander, and it was supposedly just a
“formality,” so we expected it to be wrapped up within a week. Well that didn’t
happen. We hadn’t heard anything by the first week of August. By the second
week of August, my Sergeant called me and said that there had been no movement
on the waiver whatsoever. He didn’t know if someone had dropped the ball, or if
someone was just on vacation, or if someone lost the paperwork, or of the group
commander was just extremely busy, but we were all frustrated that it wasn’t
even TOO the commander yet. My recruiter was making calls like crazy trying to
get to the bottom of it. Another week passed. Still no movement. It made us
real nervous. After a solid month with no progress, we finally got a call that
said it was FINALLY to the group commander. Then the next day, we got another
call that said I needed to have ANOTHER phone interview with the Lieutenant
Colonel!! Apparently there were more things that needed to be discussed in
detail. I was pretty rattled. It was a longer phone call, more in depth and thorough.
The Lieutenant Colonel was still really nice. I’m not going into detail about
the phone call because I’m sparing you a long read… but at the end of our phone
call she told me that during our last conversation, she had been really
impressed with me. She said that it was apparent that whenever I go up against
an obstacle in life, I fight my way through it and that I don’t give up easily.
The big thing they wanted to know was that while in the Air Force, while I’m up
against a mountain of obstacles (children, a family, trainings, physical
training, my job, etc) that I won’t come crying a week in saying it’s just too
much and I can’t handle it. This more in depth phone call was her way of
gleaning that reassurance I guess…
When I got off the phone, I called my Sergeant. He said that in the past, the rule had been:
When I got off the phone, I called my Sergeant. He said that in the past, the rule had been:
If you have 2 kids and a spouse (3 dependents) you need a
waiver
And if you have 3 kids and a spouse (4 dependents) you need
a waiver
Well I guess on Monday (literally a week ago) they passed a
new regulation that said if you have 4 dependents, you still need a waiver, but
you no longer need one if you only have 3 dependents. That didn’t change
anything for us, but because I was the very first waiver to EVER be pushed
through after this new regulation, they were being extremely thorough. Kind of
a “CYA” deal as far as my recruiter was concerned. That’s supposedly why my
waiver has taken far longer than it was ever supposed to take.
It has by far been the longest month and a half for Clark and I. We just kept saying, “We should have this waiver by now, what could possibly be taking so long? Why isn’t anything happening? What’s wrong??” It was rough.
I just got the official call. My heart stopped when I saw that it was my recruiter calling. He said, “I have good news! You have your waiver!” (It's August 26th, a whopping 38 days later) I'll be honest, it felt like WAY longer. It felt like years. Anyway...
Whoohoo! We were finally able to schedule the final part of this whole process.
It has by far been the longest month and a half for Clark and I. We just kept saying, “We should have this waiver by now, what could possibly be taking so long? Why isn’t anything happening? What’s wrong??” It was rough.
I just got the official call. My heart stopped when I saw that it was my recruiter calling. He said, “I have good news! You have your waiver!” (It's August 26th, a whopping 38 days later) I'll be honest, it felt like WAY longer. It felt like years. Anyway...
Whoohoo! We were finally able to schedule the final part of this whole process.
I found out that I have to take the DLAB. The Defense
Language Aptitude Battery exam. It’s ANOTHER dumb test to determine if I can do
anything language related in the Air Force. You can’t study for this test. I
say there’s a good chance I won’t do very well. The test determines if you
potentially have the ability to learn another language. I can pretty much count
to ten in Spanish and say goodbye in French. That’s about it. I would like to
do well on this DLAB test, but I don’t have nearly as long to study, or any
material to study for that matter, so I’m kind of on my own. I’m not going to
let myself stress as much about this one. If I don’t do well, there are plenty
of other jobs in the Air Force I’m qualified to do. I’ll just do my best.
This is how my DLAB and my physical will work:
This is how my DLAB and my physical will work:
On Monday, September 9th, I will go down to MEPS
in Salt Lake for paperwork, and I will take the DLAB. I will spend the night at
a hotel reserved by the Air Force, and when I wake up Tuesday morning, I will
be taken straight back to MEPS for my physical. Then of course, that’s when I
turn in my list of job preferences.
I am completely sick about having to go to my physical. It
is far more thorough and extensive than any physical I’ve ever heard of. Just
from the little I know, they watch me pee, I have to hang around in my bra and
underwear doing all sorts of physical tests with other people around. The duck
walk!? I have to do the duck walk almost naked… they check everything.
EVERTYING. It’s extremely extensive. When you’re pregnant at the doctor’s
office, you are allowed to go into the restroom on your own to pee in a cup. If
you have to be undressed for a physical, it’s a quick check, and then you cover
back up. You don’t have to parade around like a circus freak for the better
part of an hour, NEARLY NAKED. My worst nightmare is about to come true and I
cried when I found out the details of my physical. For those of you thinking
I’m a sissy… go ahead and have 4 children, have a stretched out stomach and be
more self conscious about your body than you ever thought possible, and then go
dance around next to naked for a group of people. I dare you. I can do just
about anything. I can join the dang Air Force and have a baby for another
family for crying out loud, but I almost backed out the day I found out how
extensive this physical would really be.
Needless to say I’ve been a mess about it for the better
part of a month now. Oh well. I just gotta get through it I guess.
So Monday and Tuesday, September 9th and 10th, exactly 2 weeks from today, I go in for my final stretch of hurdles before we find out if this is really official.
So Monday and Tuesday, September 9th and 10th, exactly 2 weeks from today, I go in for my final stretch of hurdles before we find out if this is really official.
It’s kind of surreal having our dependency waiver. We just
thought we would never get here. We are that much closer… we are very excited
and hopeful.
As I’ve said on facebook, I am officially to graduation
standards for basic training. I could leave tomorrow and graduate. I’ve worked
hard for 6 solid months to be here.
I’ll let you know how I do on the DLAB and how my physical
goes. Then if all is well, and we pass the physical, we will just be waiting
for an official ship date!
Wish us luck!
Eeeekkkkk!
