A lot of changes, and soon

[Tprspouse]

Great. We just got THE CALL we've been dreading for the past year. So long to the state police and hello to being activated from USCG reserves to USCG active duty. Good thing...only 2 months. Bad thing...less paychecks and less money to be able to pay bills. Thank God I have a very helpful and generous family to get me through until we get our tax returns back this year and can re-pay them.

Out with the badge, the gun, the cruiser. He has to turn them in and report for active duty just after Thanksgiving until the end of January. We have to change our health insurance around for 2 measly months. So much for Christmas and for getting a job. I'll have the kids home during vacations with nobody to watch them for free so I could actually make some money.

One fortunate thing is that he's not in combat and gone for 6 months at a time. It could be worse. It just stinks after getting used to a non-military lifestyle for the last 4 years.

Today is not a good day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

[Oregon Mike]

God bless your husband for his service, and you for standing by him.

Mike

[Snoopy1]

That's for the birds. They couldn't have picked a worse time. He will miss Christmas with the family.

I should probably shut up. I'm probably making you feel worse. I could delete the message entirely, but I won't.

[OfcMikey]

My best wishes to you and yours. It is not easy.
My Sgt just got activated for a year, but he is a Major so the money is good for him, but being away from the family is tough.
Hang in there, we can keep you company somewhat.

[KenM]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tprspouse:
less paychecks and less money to be able to pay bills.

---

This is the part that really bothers me. It's not bad enough to take someone away from their loved ones, but to put them in a financial bind is unforgiveable. IMHO we really need to compensate our guys/gals a lot better.

[wonderwoman]

In trying to keep your spirits up may I just say how proud you all must be of him as he serves his country in a time of need.
God bless.

[OfcMikey]

Our city council did a very nice and righteous thing for all city employees called to active duty.
They agreed to make up the difference in pay between the military pay and the employees city pay, as long as the military pay was less.
A very nice thing to do, to show the military folks how much they truly matter.

[Underdog]

I sympathize with the problem. I also appreciate the sacrifice that you are both making on behalf of your country.

[Piper]

I understand what you're going through. My family has been through that many times during my dad's 28 years in the Army. Sometimes he was gone a year at a time.

Blessings to you and your family.

[209]

Thanks to your whole family. I know it's not easy, after doing the reserve thing for 16 years.

[p01ic3m4n]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tprspouse:
Out with the badge, the gun, the cruiser. He has to turn them in and report for active duty just after Thanksgiving until the end of January.

---

so is he not kept on some type of inactive status until he returns?

[Tprspouse]

Thank you everyone for your support. I still get teary-eyed when I think of that phonecall. It's pretty selfish to complain of paychecks when there are many military members out there risking their lives and away from their families even more than my husband, but it's reality. I am getting a loan from my Mom to pay the mortgage for 2 months so I'll still be able to keep my children in Catholic school. I don't want to rip them out when they just got adjusted to it and have made friends.

I was just telling my husband that I hope that I wake up tomorrow and this is just a big mistake, that perhaps they got his name messed up with someone else. Your right Ken, it does seem unforgiveable. We were having a hard time making ends meet on trooper pay because I wasn't working and had to pay tuition for the kids (one huge bill we didn't have last year). Now that my Son is in Kindergarten, I was going to work and even had a few interviews last week. Now, all of a sudden I have to be a stay at home mom again and put the job on the back burner. With the state police, we were getting a paycheck every other Thursday. Now, it'll be the 1st and the 15th of every month, and anywhere from $300-$400 less per paycheck. We knew this could happen, but thought and still think the retirement from the reserves will benefit us in the long run. It just sux and the timing couldn't be worse with the holidays coming up.

P01-He retains his job and his seniority THANK GOD! I was kind of hoping the cruiser would be left behind in the driveway since I'll be all by myself with no protection. That thing seems to ward off burglars and muggers. ha ha

ps. Actually, he keeps the badge. LOL He's earned it, possibly even the gun. They're short on cruisers so he'll have to give it up, since Vermont is too cheap to pay for cruisers to get fixed if they're broken. That's a whole other story.

[ 11-17-2002, 10:53 PM: Message edited by: Tprspouse ]

[Pigskin]

Hate to hear about the problems this is causing. My son is USCG & he's been saying for some time now that they are really busy & being assigned to a lot of extra duty but he hasn't said anything about calling in the reserves. It is good that their active duty is still stateside. Hope things work out for y'all.