How Jeremy seperated from the Air Force earlier than his commitment date...

In May 2009 Jeremy signed a 4 year commitment putting his service member date to May 2013. He served his first 2 years at Sheppard AFB in Texas. Then by accepting an assignment at Ramstein, Germany AFB, he added on another year because oversees assignments are for 3 years if you have dependents. (If no spouse and kids, it's 2 years)

He didn't remember/realize/know that this was the case and thought he could simply not sign up for 2 more years come May 2013 and we could be done and go back home to the good ole' USA in May!

It wasn't until May 2013 that he remembered/realized/discovered that his commitment was extended and we were set to be at Germany regardless until July 2014. SHOCKING! He had already told his SJA that he was planning on separating and would be leaving sometime that summer (2013). The office was already in motion and planning on not having Jeremy around.

This was confusing for Jeremy because he had felt strongly that the time was NOW to get out of the Air Force. He wasn't too excited about having to wait a whole year. He remembered a fellow JAG we were stationed in Texas with that went to Aviano, Italy Air Force base for only 1 year and then separated from the JAG. Wondering how she did it, he called her up a day or two after he realized his commitment wasn't expired for another year. She informed him that there was a "special" reshaping program that she used to end her commitment a year early.

Essentially what it was is that any JAG that wanted to end their commitment early had to go through an application process and request an early separation. For that particular year of 2013, all JAG that chose to apply to separate sooner than their commitment date had to have a new separation date of September 29, 2013, regardless of when you applied, be it in January 2013 or late May 2013 (which is when Jeremy submitted the application). Oh and did I mention that the application takes 8 weeks to be processed and notified if they accept your request to separate early?? Let me tell you, it took exactly that long. We found out in late July that they accepted his request. We patiently (not really) waited to get orders so we could schedule with TMO to have our household goods packed and shipped. We shipped our car as soon as we could. Sold our second vehicle. Jeremy wrapped up at work. We took a planned vacation the first week of August to Ireland and on September 11th moved from Germany to California. Phew, that was a very busy 6 weeks!!!

Air Force ReShaping Program

The Air Force JAG has become more and more competitive ever since Jeremy entered the Air Force in 2009. It was typical for some JAG in years past to serve for a few years and then get out and take a civilian job. However, because the economy hasn't turned around the way we all would prefer, fewer and fewer JAG are separating by their own choice (like Jeremy did last September). As a result the Air Force is retaining more JAG than the demand calls for. The Air Force has gone to their Force Shaping Program. Essentially, its a reduction of military members. Right now the 2009 JAG class is being looked at to reduce their number of Captains. Basically, the Air Force makes a decision off of performance reports etc. and selects a number of Captains to be honorable discharged from the JAG Corps..

They don't just do this to Captain's but it is done all the way up the chain to Colonel's. The benefit to this happening to you after you've served in the Air Force for 6 years is that typically you receive some kind of severance package. At times, they have even asked for volunteers to separate and they will pay out up to 1 and a half the normal severance package. This way they weed out those who are planning and/ or want to separate instead of letting go other members that actually want to stay in.

THEN, there is the reshaping program that Jeremy found out about (kind of last minute if you ask me) that allowed him to get out of his commitment early. To which I will write about in my next post. And this time I PROMISE it will be soon!

Question from a Reader: I thought the commitment is for 4, 8, or 12 years. So 2015-2009 is 6. Why 6?

Your initial commitment is for 4 years. At the 4 year mark you can take a bonus of $20,000 and sign for 2 additional years. Then at 6 years you can sign for 4 more years and receive a bonus of $40,000. Got it?

Where has the time gone...

Wow, where has the time gone? I need to sit down and write a few blog posts. We are now in California missing Germany immensely but moving forward. J did decide to get out of the Air Force JAG and I will write ALL about that soon. It was quite the process seeing that his commitment wasn't in fact up until May 2015!!

Girl #4 is here!

On April 27th our 4th girl made her arrival. All is well and I am doing better than ever. This is the first child I have had on the military's dime and I must say I was impressed. Living in Germany I had the choice to have the baby at a German hospital or the military hospital, both would be 100% paid for. I chose the military hospital and am glad I did. The only downside was that at 24 hours I checked out of there. Usually I like to stay for 48 hours. I left because there was one bathroom  with 3 toilets and 1 shower to share among all the patients. I had to wheel my baby down to the bathroom with me whenever I needed to use it. There was no nursery so the baby had to stay with you at all times.

You don't get much individualized care at your weekly checkups unless you choose to see the same doctor or mid wife at each appointment (Yes, the Air Force has mid wives!). Seeing that there were a dozen doctor's I tried to see a different one as much as I could so that on delivery day I didn't have one I never met, which is exactly what happened. You get whoever is on duty. It was completely fine though because he did a fabulous job and I was extremely pleased with the whole experience.

As far as whether J is getting out of the military...it's looking more and more like YES. Now the question is when? I'll save that for another post when I find some time between nursing, changing yet another diaper, and snagging a few minutes of sleep!

J's 4 years are up

This winter marked the darkest number of days in Germany in over 60 years according to Yahoo News :) I believe it. We have made the best of it and took some weekend trips to cities nearby. I'm glad Germany has finally allowed spring to show up.

I'm 38 weeks pregnant and expecting our 4th little girl anytime now. I'm not eager for this little ones arrival. Life has been busy and I feel like I have much to do before she makes her debut. To add to my stresses J has thrown me a complete curve ball!

In May J's commitment will be up. He'll have served in the Air Force for 4 years. We can sign up for another 2 years in May and get a $20,000 bonus. OR, he could not resign but continue to work for the JAG through next summer when we're set to PSC (move) and then get out of the AF. OR, we could wait til next summer to accept an assignment to PSC to a new base but then we would gain another 2 year commitment and have forfeited the $20,000 bonus. If we want the bonus we have to say yes, NOW. Even if we say we want to stay in for 2 more years next summer we would have lost out on the bonus.

As of 4 months ago J and I both told people our "plan" was to make a career in the Air Force. J enjoys everything he does at work. There is not one good reason he can give as to why he is feeling like maybe he should get out but yet the feeling persists. When we talk about the pros and cons the only thing we can come up with is, if he were to get out he could specialize in a specific area and we wouldn't have to move around so often. Except, the moving around part we also view as a pro, at least I do. I like seeing new places, meeting new people, experiencing different cultures etc.

So it's decision time. I am grateful for prayer. It was prayer that changed my heart over 4 years ago from NOT wanting J to be a JAG to desiring no other job BUT the JAG. I have LOVED every minute and have been the HAPPIEST I have ever been in my life these past 4 years! With that said, I know the Lord has a plan for my family and if He tells us there is another path for us then we'll follow it because we trust Him.

It is scary because J has ZERO prospects. He hasn't been job hunting and we live overseas which makes that process even more difficult.

Maybe we won't get out of the Air Force (I'm crossing my fingers that we won't ;). Maybe these feelings J's having are just the natural course one takes when it's time to make a decision....to ponder other possibilities. We will see.

The Mrs Claus Affair

On Saturday and Sunday my little family delivered Christmas cheer to 9 women whose husbands are deployed right now. The Mrs Claus Affair raised $1200 and provided Christmas gifts to 17 women.  It was such a wonderful experience for my family as we delivered gifts to these women who had no idea we were coming. Many tears were shed and much gratitude was exchanged. We thanked THEM for their sacrifice and their husbands service to our beloved country. Here are just a few responses women left us. (Some women weren't home so we left their gifts on the doorstep.

"My name is Jen. I live in Germany and just received some gifts on my door step. I want to apologize for not being able to get to the door. I was talking through skype with my husband who is deployed right now. I googled "Mrs. Clause Affair" and found who you guys are and your mission. It made me cry. :) Thank you for the thoughtfulness you guys bring. I am still very unsure how you got my name and address, but I am going to guess it was from my husband. :) I don't think there is anyone else that knows my address here. I didn't get to tell you thank you when you were here and I am sorry. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. "

"I came home today to find mystery packages in my driveway from Mrs. Claus Affair… So I googled it..." This is really touching!! Thank you thank you for making my day today by having mystery packages waiting for me!! So very excited to open them on Christmas Day! Very sweet!"

"You delivered gifts to my daughter and I today. I want to say a million thank-yous! This has been one rough week in particular, and you really put a smile on my face. I’m not used to anyone showing they care like this. We have been in the military 17 years and this has been the most caring squadron and group of people here in Germany we have ever been around. You are so sweet and thoughtful."

My friend Annie and her family delivered gifts to the other 8 women and I'm so grateful I have her as my friend and that we were able to pull this off. I'm grateful to each person who helped us raise money and wish each one of them could have seen the women as we embraced them with love and gifts.

This is what the Christmas Spirit is about. Seeking those who need to feel Christ love for them. Happy Holidays to each of you!