Sunday, October 25, 2009

Reintegration Update

I have been getting emails this week about Paul coming home. It seems like it is going to be an even bigger mess than when he left. I should know 8-10 days out when to "expect" him back at Ft. Campbell, however, that does not mean that he will be here at that time. Then 24-48 hours out, I will receive another email/phone call letting me know the details of when he should arrive. I will have to be there 2 hrs before the projected time because there is always a chance that he could arrive sooner. I am supposed to drive to hangar 6 or 7, and then catch a bus over to hangar 3. This is where the Welcome Home ceremony will take place. After everyone gets done talking, we get to meet our soldiers and spend some time with them (approximately 15-20 mins.) Then, they will be called back into a formation and will have to go turn in all of their sensitive items. I guess during this time, they will brief the families on signs that we need to keep an eye out for, and how we should not let our soldiers drive, and all the other stuff along those lines. After all of this, we have to get back on the bus and go back to hangar 6 to meet our soldiers again. At this point, I think I get to bring him home.
Starting the day after he gets home, he has to go to his Reintegration meetings. These classes are 7 straight days (even on the weekends) where they will do a medical check and basically counsel the soldiers. Apparently these meetings are only supposed to be half days.
According to these emails, Paul should not be back to Ft. Campbell until December 12th. This is likely to change a couple of times before then. Also, there is a chance that he will come in before the Army predicts. It is because of this that Paul will be getting his cell phone mailed out to him so he can call and keep me updated. I will be sure to keep this updated to let everyone know what is going on.

Paul has switched to days so has more to do at work. He has been keeping pretty busy, which I hope means that time is going by faster for him. He got his flu shot yesterday, which he does not react well with, and was starting to feel the effects when I talked to him last night. His day off is tomorrow, so he will get some time to recover from that. Other than that, he is just counting down the days until he gets to come home.

I started work this last week and I am enjoying it. I have very sweet kids and look forward to the time I will get to spend with them over the next 8 weeks. I have been working on organizing the house in my spare time and am starting to see a huge improvement. Im sure it will go back to chaos when Paul gets home, so I guess as long as the existing stuff is put away, we should be fine! =)

1 comment:

  1. WOW Amie I had no idea that it was so involved when a solider comes home and how hard it must be on the families to not be able to just eat them up when they step off the plane. You have a lot of courage to have gone through all of this.

    Time will go by faster as things at your work get busier. It sounds like you like your job and I forget how many kids you work with but I am sure they just love you.

    You are always in our prayers and we are hoping that time will go fast for you. Thanks for the updates on Paul some day we will get to meet him.

    Love you Mom Hess

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