A healthy *pinch* of skepticism, NOT an entire truckload!

Everyone says not to believe what the Army says. Recruiters lie, dates change, plans fall though. This stuff is true to an extent, but it's not always true. My recruiter never lied. Every R&R and homecoming date me and Thak have ever been given has been accurate within a week. We have lost a couple great sets of orders.... well, three between us, but the reasoning was valid and nearly expected. The bottom line is, if you aren't a complete idiot, know how to check facts, and keep your expectations realistic, the Army isn't so deceptive after all.

Because of this, it's really become annoying to me that the motto of so many wives has become, "I'll believe it when I see it." They say this about EVERYTHING. They say it about the assignment their husband's hardworking reenlistment NCO (oh yeah, that's my husband!) ran all over creation to get for him. They say it about deployment homecoming dates (ok, that one's kind of understandable. Rumors are so prevalent, especially in the lower ranks, and units do get extended sometimes, although not so much in the past two years.) They are even saying it nonstop to our Garrison Commander about half day holiday schedule!!

OK, so here's the thing about half-days. They are an Army tradition as old as most of the posts we're stationed at over the course of a few decades. Soldiers work until noon from December 20 until January 3. This gives the ones who did not take leave a little bit of time to focus on stuff that isn't work over the holidays, and since most people are on leave, there really isn't much work to do, so letting the soldiers who have remained to "hold down the fort", so to speak, go home early during the holiday timeframe, actually makes practical sense. Plus, like I said, this is a tradition as old as Reville at 0600, Taps at 2300, and crappy food in the chow hall. Taking this into account, it's very annoying to hear wives saying, "I'll believe it when I see it!" when the Garrison Commander announced the beginning of half-days yesterday. You'll believe it when you see it? It's a tradition, you idiot. Show some respect for the Colonel. Believe it or not, that's a tradition, too.

Come to think of it, skepticism is not what a person needs when it comes to the Army, and should be taken completely out of the equation. What a person needs is connections to people in high places, and the knowledge of regulations, to check the validity of things that they hear. People need the ability to check facts for themselves, not skepticism. If you can check facts, then you will be fine. Thak and I have honestly done far better in this Army life than most people we know. (It's funny. We're REALLY good at Army, and we don't want it anymore. Most people who want it so badly, suck at it.) The reason we have done well is because we've made good use of connections, checked claims that seemed far fetched, and didn't believe anything that flew in the face of regulation (because even when people try to push something like that through, it never goes far). By doing these few things, we have no need for skepticism, and the Army really has never screwed us out of anything. And yes, for anyone wondering, we are absolutely enjoying our half day schedule!