TDML Thursday!

Sorry this is so late coming out everyone but today was a hellacious day which I will tell you all about another time of course...can't forget to tell my readers all the juicy stuff going on in my life.

So last Thursday I left off where I had my beautiful little girl and Mr. M had made it home the day she turned 9 days old!! Yay for making it home before she turned 1 right?!! Ok all mil wives out there will totally understand that one!

So  today I am actually going to skip ahead a few years to the first time we ever moved to Germany.  Now this was 2000 and with the millenium over and the world not coming to an end...oh you all know you were the ones hiding in a closet praying it didn't end *grins* we had gotten on that horrible 14 hour flight from Oklahoma City to Frankfurt. Once we got to Germany we were told that due to bad weather we would not be able to fly into Frankfurt and were being rerouted to Ramstein. Ok well knowing nothing about Germany and all I was thinking "ok so is that in Germany"..don't laugh seriously I didn't know!  We landed at Ramstein and all unboarded the plane and were escorted to a movie theatre where we all sat and waited for news. About 2 hours later a man came in and said "Anyone who is due to be stationed here in Ramstein may stay and the rest of you can now reboard the plane and head to Frankfurt"  In my mind I was thinking you lucky ducks we have to get back on that blasted plane and fly more?!!!  Oyyyyy vaaaaa!!!  So back on the plane we went and we did finally make it to Frankfurt. Now back then the military flights landed on the actual military base in Frankfurt and we were all very easily routed through the tiny airport and told to grab our bags and go to such and such building..now this was not easy with a 2 yr old and 6 bags in the snow!!!!  Let's just say I was already hating Germany at this point. We get to the building and are told...we are so sorry but due to this being a 4 day weekend and the plane not getting in on time we are going to have to put you all up in barracks for the weekend and someone from your duty station will be here to pick you up first thing Tuesday morning...Really?!!!!  OMG now the Army is just messing with me right?!!!  So yes we spent a whole weekend..did I mention we flew in on Friday..living in barracks...Yay us!!!

Once Tuesday came and we were put on a shuttle bus and taken to Baumholder where we were supposed to be stationed we were picked up by a nice man who took us to the hotel and welcomed us greatly.  Wow ok maybe it wouldn't be so bad....be careful what you think in the Army because as soon as you get happy they will rip it right out of you!!!  We stayed in the hotel for 1 week. We were told that Battalion had decided they wanted us to go to Wiesbaden instead. Once the company in Baumholder heard that they left us on our asses foks...yupp see told ya don't get too happy in the Army.  So a week later someone from Weisbaden picked us up and took us to what was supposed to be our real duty station...ohhhh don't worry it gets better.  We went to the company and the first thing we had to talk with them about was the fact that since we had signed in at Frankfurt we hadn't been paid. They were all so happy to help us with that and to tell us that for some reason Mr. M had been put in as AWOL...what?!!!!!!  Get the frick outta here!!!  Ok so they would fix it and we were ok since we had savings..baahaahaaaa!!!!  Once Wiesbaden started to inprocess us we were told that wait we were going to go to another duty station instead..ummmm can you say pissed off person 10 times really fast?!!!  Can you all not just get your crap straight or what?!!!  So off we went to Giessen.

We stayed in guest housing in Giessen for 3 weeks..yes folks I went homeless for more then 30 days and I hated it!  Now by the time we finally got a house and started to get settled of course the Army decides that Mr. M needs to go for training with the rest of the unit leaving tomorrow.  Yupp new home, no household goods delivered for a few days, 2 yr old, no drivers liscense and no vehicle...bye Mr. M have a great time and don't worry about us we will be fine!  Insert hysterically crying me right about now**

Mr. M goes to training for a month and I get to put your house together alone with a 2 yr old. Ok so by now our savings had ran out and oh yeah I didn't tell you we still weren't getting paid..yupp!!  So we went from Feb 15th until June 1st with no pay due!!  Now how is that for the Army taking care of it's own right?!!  Now I do have to say it was much harder to put in a pay inquiry with Mr. M gone but I am not shy when it comes to messing with my family nor my money so I was on top of it as much as I could be.  I finally had had enough by May 1st and had started calling any number I could get my hands on..the company, the battalion, the Generals office and IG!!  Oh yeah you heard me right I called IG..nana nana boo boo!!  Ok so my dad who is retired military told me to or else seriously I would have had no idea who to call..thanks daddy!!

Let's just say that once I had talked to a very nice Major at the Generals office and another Major at IG the ball was put in motion and I was taken to Wiesbaden to pick up all of our back pay in cash..yupp cash people!! Holy cow I have never held that much cash in my life and it was actually a little scary. I asked the nice man who took me there to please take me to the nearest bank to deposit it before I got robbed or went on a serious shopping spree...I could totally shop with all that cash and probably would have if given the chance!

Once our money was back on schedule and we had cash to live off of again...hallelujah...I had to go take my drivers test and buy a car. I got my drivers liscense first try and found and bought a German car within a week of getting paid.  *happy dance*  Oh yeah I'm awesome and I did it by myself...eat that Army people!! Haha!!

So by now the entire company new that I was not a woman to sit back and behave..me?!! NOOOOO!!  I have matured all don't get all  oh you are one of those wives with me but I was broke and alone!!!  So everyone was so nice to me and I ended up finding some fabulous friends who lived in the building across from us and helped me out big time.  I was on my way to loving this country that I had cried about having to come to and who knew I would one day be so sad to let it go.

Oh just a little more info while Mr. M was gone on his training and we had no household goods, no phone except for a prepaid cell we bought the first day in Giessen I got a horrible call that Mr. M's mom had a stroke and was paralysed on her left side now.  I am sure that a lot of mil wives have been through this situation but I had not and I had to make that long walk to the company to ask how to get ahold of Mr. M to tell him the news. I even was asked by an idiot if I really thought I should even tell my husband right now. Ok people he was not at war and he could call home from training just as easily as if he were home so what exactly was the problem then?!!!  Sheesh there really are some winners out there but I am sure you all know that as well.

Ok since I have written a book now I will leave it here and pick up next time with us getting accustomed to being in a foreign country and we adjusted with it all.