Summer has come to West Texas.

Oh yes it has! We're over 100 degrees every day by early afternoon, and we finally got our air conditioner turned on. (These swamp coolers they have here work pretty good, but they're a lot different than regular air conditioners! It took three days and several repair visits before the thing actually worked like it's supposed to.)

What's more, it's so hot outside that all anyone wants to do is get into the nearest body of water and stay there. Well, we may not have any bodies of water here, and Army pools don't open until Memorial Day (that's Army wide), but Thak did get home from work early yesterday (a first since being here!) and got out the kiddie pool. Erin put on her swimsuit, and I let Orren put his feet in the water. He liked it a lot, so we let him get in, too. He had a lot of fun as long as he had toys to play with. Both the monkeys enjoyed their first swim of the year (Orren's first ever!!)

Of course we took pics.

2 Army things

1) New Sergeant Major

We found out yesterday that the battalion's new Sergeant Major will be here soon, and that it's a female whose nickname is The Beast. In and of itself, that doesn't scare me, even though I don't tend to like females above the rank of Staff Sergeant very much (just the ones I've met have been pretty horrible as a rule, and I've met a lot.) At the same time, though, the ONLY decent Sergeant Major Thak or I have had in recent years was CSM Beattie when we were in 62nd Engineers. She was a little bit crazy, but a damn good Sergeant Major, and one of the TWO females above the rank of Staff Sergeant whom I have actually liked. It's a shame that she was relieved of cause after being arrested for DUI, but she was a good Sergeant Major, and had her priorities straight where soldiers were concerned, so nothing will change my opinion of her over all. We can only hope that this new Sergeant Major is kind of like her rather than like the acting Sergeant Major who is the typical female senior NCO, with a huge chip on her shoulder, total ball buster attitude, and everything to prove. Let's hope CSM Beattie has a little sister, and that's who they've sent.

2) We found out why they've been treating the NCO's so badly. It's because over 50% of the unit will be comprised of brand new Privates right out of training. I could seriously just have a fit over that. Privates are so stupid. I can say that because I totally admit that I was when I was a Private. I know I made my squad leader's life hell, and he had to work his ass off to get me settled in, and all that. I wasn't even THAT bad of a Private, as far as Privates go (ask Thak. He was one of my NCO's). There were far worse, in fact, I'd say maybe 40% of Privates were worse than me, and that's 8 years ago. Soldiers are ALL worse now, especially Privates.

The reason they've been so mean to the NCO's is because they're going to have to step up their game immensely to keep these new Privates in check. They're going to have to do the job of a regular NCO of their respective positions within the unit, while acting about half a notch below a Drill Sergeant where these Privates are concerned. Thak doesn't like to yell at soldiers. That's why he was my favorite NCO in our unit when I was in, because he treated people well, even Privates, and got great results from everyone like that. In this unit, he won't be able to do that. The unit level leadership will not allow it. He has to yell at the soldiers, punish them harshly, and use a far heavier handed approach than he's used to. In a way, I'm glad, though, because it'll keep their wives from wanting to befriend me. I try so hard to avoid befriending wives of subordinates. It's just awkward.

Oh, that's the other thing. Privates these days are almost always married since the age of enlistment has gone up so much lately. When I enlisted, almost no Privates were married. You could issue them a barracks room, tell them what time to show up in the morning, and be done with it. Now we're not only going to have THOUSANDS of brand new Privates coming in, but THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of Privates' dependents coming in. These people make no money. How will they afford security deposits? Nobody here gives military deposit waivers. Post housing has a three year waiting list for lower-enlisteds.

Sergeant Major said, "They're going to have pay problems. They're going to have family problems. Most won't have vehicles, so you're going to be using your own gas to drive them around. Get ready for it, Sergeants. They're going to need everything from you." I mean, she's right, but when Thak came home from work (at 7:30 pm, as usual these days) with that news, I seriously wished we'd chosen Korea instead of Ft. Bliss.

We could be living the good life in Seoul right now, but instead, we're sitting in the desert, waiting for the biggest influx of brand new Privates to any single unit since Vietnam. Why, oh why, did we not choose Korea???!!!!!!!!!

Below the 2 year mark!

If everything goes as it should, we have less than two more years with the Army! We're both very excited about it, although we are well aware that a lot of things could throw a wrench in it, but we're trying not to think about that. If everything goes the way it's supposed to, this time two years from now, Uncle Sam won't be able to touch either of us ever again as long as we live. (Although isn't it weird how the VA always knows our new address even though we never give it to them? We both receive correspondence from them on various things from time to time, and they always send it to the right address. It's the microchips. It's gotta be. Just kidding.)

Last night, I pointed this out to Thak, that we've got less than two years to go, and he mentioned something that I hadn't thought of. In 2005, when he reenlisted, he signed a 6 year reenlistment contract. That's why he's still in. Had he signed a 4 year contract or a 2 year contract, he'd be out by now. We came to the conclusion that signing that 6 year contract wasn't a mistake, even though it does make us stick with this for longer, even though we're so ready to be done with it. These are the reasons it is good he signed those 6 years:

1) We bought the truck in cash with the reenlistment bonus. Had he signed less years, we wouldn't have been able to do that, and might even have two car payments, which is feasible on E-6 pay, but not something anyone wants to get out of the Army with.

2) He'll get his schooling done. Having this requirement of getting away from Ft. Stewart because of his promotion (Stewart had only one slot for an E-6 generator mechanic. It was full.) we came here to Ft. Bliss, and with his unit just setting up, he's got the opportunity to go to school, become ASE certified, and his graduation will coincide almost exactly with his ETS date, so he will be ready to be placed in a job upon graduation.

3) A little theory of mine. I think that anyone who's been in the Army for as long as Thak has, kind of needs to hate it a little if they're going to get out and actually make a go of being out. He's been a soldier since he was 17 years old. It's the only thing he's ever been any good at. He's put his entire life into this. Yeah, he's said he wants to get out for a long time now, but it was never in him to actually do it. Why do you think he kept on reenlisting, and not actually readying himself to get out? He just wasn't ready. This reenlistment being as long as it is, gave him the time he needed, to begin to really hate it, and get really tired of it, and actually take steps to become ready to get out.

No, at this point, the only thing that will make Thak sign the indefinite reenlistment, which is his only option at this point, is if two supremely unlikely things both happen. He must make the next Sergeant First Class promotion list, and he must receive orders to Letterkenny Army Depot. Both of these things are slightly less likely than hell freezing over, so for all intents and purposes, we are now below the two year mark!

Ah, the perks of desert life...

Thak built us a clothesline. We'll save a lot of money drying the dipes (and wipes, and wet bag, and covers) this way, and prolong the useful life of the dipes themselves.

Why use a dryer when there's a desert sun and constant wind outside for free?

Finally better!

Yesterday, Orren was finally better. In the morning, he was still pretty whiny and tired, but by afternoon, he was his usual happy and playful self. He did wake up one time last night for a feeding, but we had no barfs all day, which is great after four days of him being just so sick.

By coincidence, he got sick during a time when we had a lot of things to go to, and I had to bow out of no fewer than three functions over the past four days, but we still have the rest of the week, and I'm SO looking forward to Friday coffee and Saturday park day. After the way this week has gone, I just want to hang out with my girls and forget the first half of this week. Thak said he'd get up with Orren tonight if he wants a feeding in the middle of the night again, and that's good. If I don't get some uninterrupted sleep soon, I'm going to keel over. At least Orren is better and life is back to normal. That's what really matters.

Still sick.

On Monday, we took Orren to the doctor because he'd been unable to keep much of anything down for three days by then. Every time he'd improve, he'd just get worse again right when we thought he was finally getting better. His doctor prescribed an anti-nausea drug, and told us that if it didn't work, to come back on Tuesday so Orren could be hooked up to an IV, so he wouldn't get too dehydrated.

He'd already lost 2 pounds, which is a lot considering he was 18 pounds and some change to begin with, so we were hopeful about the medicine. It did help him, and he was able to keep most things down Monday night and Tuesday. He also developed a low grade fever, which was a hopeful sign to me, because maybe that's what he needed to cook the bug out of his system.

Last night was rough. We're pretty sure he threw up his medicine, because he was not keeping anything down, and we barely got him to sleep at all. Today seems better, though. Knock on wood. We haven't given him any medicine at all, and he's kept down everything so far. Granted, we fed him minimally for most of the day, but he had 6 ounces before going down for a nap, and kept all of it down. His fever is also gone today. Hopefully this means he's on his way back to being his usual healthy self. This would be the 5th day that he's sick, if he's actually not better. If he's still sick on Friday, we'll take him back to the doctor and see what he recommends. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, though.

Sick boy

Yesterday, Orren wasn't himself. Even my friend noticed it when we went to the park that afternoon. Orren was just laying in his stroller, not interacting with anyone, and just staring out into space. That's not like him. He's usually talking to everyone, giving big smiles, and being his charming self. Not yesterday, though.

Thak had been called into the office for an impromptu Staff Duty shift because another NCO in his platoon had left on Emergency Leave, and they needed Thak to cover down for him, so Thak got put on the desk for 24 hours on about 5 minutes' notice. Because of that, it was a hectic day, and I didn't think much of Orren's lethargic mood.

Then at about 6 pm, I fed him his dinner, and it came right back up. He'd been eating fine for the rest of the day, but after that, he just couldn't keep anything down. Before I put him to bed, I gave him 2 ounces of water, just so he wouldn't get too dehydrated, and he did keep that down. He woke up again at 2 am, hungry, and I gave him 2 ounces of formula, which he kept down, but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted more. Half an hour later, he was inconsolable because he was so hungry, so I made him another 2 ounce bottle, and he did not keep that down. This went on for the rest of the night. I lost count of how many times I got puked on. Remember, Thak was on Staff Duty, so this was all mine. He couldn't help because he wasn't here. It's Murphy's Law of the Army, I think.

So this morning, Orren was a lot more like his usual happy self. He was talking, and rolling around, and playing with the cat, and just acting like himself again. I gave him a little bit of rice cereal for breakfast, and he kept that down. He wasn't satisfied with it, though, so I made him a 2 ounce bottle, and he didn't keep that down. He was so hungry even after he threw up that he wanted to finish the bottle, so I let him. He kept down the remaining ounce or so. Just half an hour ago, I gave him 2 ounces of water, and he's kept that down so far. (He's sleeping despite still being really hungry. I'm not giving him anything else for another hour or so.)

It just sucks because he has the same enormous appetite he always does, but he just CAN'T eat that much right now. Hopefully by tonight, he'll be able to eat normally again. If not, we may take him into his pediatrician on Monday.