Reed's 19th Army Anniversary!!!

[Melissa]

:bliss:

Yesterday marked the date that 19 years ago Reed stepped off the bus for BASIC training down at Fort Dix, NJ. Although I've only been around for the past 6 years of his service in the military, we've been through the roughest part, namely recruiting.

As of today, Reed could put in his retirement paperwork and be out a year from now. :woot: However, he's going to wait and see if he makes the next pay grade. If he does, he may need to stay in for a few additional years (which I certainly don't mind) and hopefully he'll be in a band he loves.

But we have the ball in our court right now, so if the Army decides to pull any shit :rolleyes: he can drop his paperwork at any point and the shit will stop!

We're almost there!

[Karly]

Awesome news, Melissa! Congratulations, Reed! :cheer:

[marcy]

:cheer: 19 years, that's great. And yay for options. If he stays in, would you remain in VA?

[sheila]

Wow! That is great news! Congrations and thanks to Reed.

[Dennis]

That's great!

[Melissa]

If he stays in, would you remain in VA?
We have no idea. What I'm personally hoping for is that he gets his special rating back which will allow him into the really good bands (Atlanta, Heidleburg Germany, the NATO band in Belgium, and one I forget) and then hopefully go somewhere in Europe. But that is just my wishlist. He would love it if the band was started back up at Fort Carson, Colorado (in CO Springs) and got to go there.

Then again, we could be here for a few more years. At this point, he doesn't get much say in where we go.

[Lyoshka]

Wow, Melissa! What an achievement!! Please pass my congratulations to Reed!!! Incredible!
Damon's brother is a marine and is also a lifer... they sure do got nice benefits and are taken care of pretty well!

[LISA]

Congratulations Reed!!! :woo:

[Alyson]

Congrats! That's great!!:)

[Melissa]

Wow, Melissa! What an achievement!! Please pass my congratulations to Reed!!! Incredible!
Damon's brother is a marine and is also a lifer... they sure do got nice benefits and are taken care of pretty well!
:nod: That's one of the reasons that we're considering staying in a few more years. At 20 years, he'll get a 50% pension, but if he says a few more years, the percentage goes up. Plus, if he gets the promotion, his overall pay will go up quite a bit.

[Melissa]

Thank you everyone!

[magoo]

Congratulations to both of you!

My friend's husband plays in an army band in Heidleburg. Trombone, I think. :)

[Melissa]

Sarah,

That's awesome! Reed was there for 5 years, he loved it!

[Brandi]

This is awesome! Congrats to Reed!

[MrsPeacefrog]

:aok: That's great news!!!

[Joan]

Congratulations!

[Clare]

Wow! Congrats to Reed :)

[Bev]

Fantastic! Quite an acheivement! :)

[Bretta]

Fantastic!!!!

[Melissa]

:crossfing: The promotion list is out to selective people. I have a generous wife on my Army site checking to see if Reed made his promotion. I'm so freakin nervous about this!

Finding this out will dictate the next 5 years for us. :crossfing:

[sheila]

:crossfing

[Melissa]

So far the word is he didn't make the promotion list. However, at this point it is a win win situation for us. If he got promoted, that obviously good that he'll get more pay, retire with a higher pay. But the downside is, he'd have to extend for a few more years.

If the list my friend has is right, we still win, he gets to retire in June of 2008, or basically whenever he wants. So I'm taking this as a good thing!