Pierce surprised me one day our junior year in college and said "Hey, I think I want to join the military." Of course, I freaked out a bit. I had no desire to ever be a military wife. Frequently, being married to someone in the armed forces means putting your life on hold for theirs. I'm pretty selfish in the fact that I wanted a career, and I wanted to go to medical school. After talking it over and reviewing our options, we decided on the Air Force. Pierce's uncle was in the Air Force, his grandfather was in the Air Force, and he wanted to continue the tradition. Instead of going the traditional route, he decided to look into the Air National Guard first, which would allow him to live here in Indiana with me as I went through medical school and still serve. He wanted to work with planes in some fashion, ultimately someday getting a pilot's license.
He contacted a recruiter and the recruiter WAS AWFUL. Horrible. He never returned our calls. He was unhelpful in every way. I actually got so frustrated that I called the recruiter's office and bitched out his boss. Don't mess with my husband's and I's lives in the way he did. This went on for about 8 months. Finally, we were so frustrated Pierce decided to look in the Air Force Reserves. I didn't even know what the Reserves were, but they are along the same lines of the Guard: 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks throughout the year; however, the Reserves are controlled at the federal level and the Guard is more state-oriented. He contacted a new recruiter who was amazing and, within a few weeks (with no help from the other recruiter, who actually withheld some of Pierce's paperwork and made the new recruiter make a 2 hour drive to retrieve it) he was sworn in. This was about a year after he looked at me and said, "I want to be in the military."
Pierce being sworn in. He's in the dark blue and jeans.
After this, we waited. And waited. And waited to be told when he was leaving for basic. The recruiter thought it would be towards the end of July, beginning of August. I think one of the worst things about being in the armed forces is having to put your lives on hold while not knowing exactly when anything will be happening.
We had already been engaged for almost a year, and was a planning a wedding for April of 2011. The recruiter told us that we really should get married before Pierce left, for monetary reasons and peace of mind. In the middle of July, he called Pierce and said, "You guys really should get married now if you're planning on it." Pierce called me and I said, "Ok, let's get married next weekend. Find someone to marry us." So we did. That's another story for another time.
A few weeks later, we were told that Pierce was leaving for BMT (basic military training) on August 17. I started medical school August 16. We said our goodbyes tearfully at the airport, and I didn't see him for another 8.5 weeks. Ah, BMT. I don't think you could pay me enough to go through that again, and I wasn't even the one at BMT! I'll continue with this another time.
A picture taken at BMT by another AF mom at church one weekend. This was the picture that got me through those 8.5 weeks. Pierce is in the middle.
A quick little request: one of my best friends has a cousin in the Army. He is in the unit that was flying the helicopter that got shot down over in Afghanistan a few days ago, the helicopter that was transferring members of Navy Seal Team Six. He wasn't flying that evening, so he is ok, but the pilot of the helicopter was his mentor and friend. Please include the families of those lost in your prayers this week. Things like that hit close to home for me and especially my friend's family. There has been a college fund set up for the pilot's children under the name of Dave Carter Memorial Fund at 1st Banks in Colorado. If you would like to donate, contact me and I can give you the info.
Until next time,
jessica.eae
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