Dream of Waking Ne Cede Malis

Getting Out

I suppose this is as good a time as any to announce that I have my early Army release date set. As of January 22nd, I'll be officially out of the Army. That's 90 days early and I start my terminal leave (using up some vacation days) on January 8th. I could've started terminal leave a lot earlier but I've been telling everyone in my unit January 8th and if I spent all my leave time, I wouldn't have any to sell. Selling leave isn't a great trade but I'd rather have a big bundle of cash right before I start school than two months of not working and still getting paid.

So if I wasn't doing much work before I'm definitely not doing much now! I start the out-processing rigmarole on December 15th, which will either be super easy because not a lot of guys are getting out the same time I am or absolutely impossible because everyone will be on Christmas vacation.

In case you don't know me at all, I am super excited about getting out of the Army and finally moving on with my life. Ever since the beginning of my last deployment (November 2007) I've felt like I've been stuck in an enormous rut; unable to progress in my career with nowhere to go and no help to look to. I've been doing the same goddamned job for my entire enlistment in the same unit on the same post. I've gone nowhere and seen nothing but 1-32 CAV and Iraq. It is well past-time that I start something new.

Of course I've been told for years that there's plenty of other jobs and places in the Army but I never saw any of them and even if I were to stay in I wouldn't have seen any change until at least 2011. I showed a few people I knew a few things early on and they held on to me as long as they could and then handed me off to the next guys who did the same thing, my own career be damned. I think it's safe to say that, like all soldiers, I've been used up and abused and now I'm ready to be cast aside.

So what the hell am I doing anyway? I'm going to school! Southern Illinois University Carbondale! I'll be studying aviation flight for two years before moving on to finish out the two years for a bachelor of science degree in aviation management, and since I have so many existing credits anyway, I may take a minor in computer science. In four years I'll be flying planes for a living. I really couldn't be more excited!