Last Drill

I just got back from Texas and have decided to request transfer to the IRR.  That basically means I still have my rank and would be available to the Navy, but that I would no longer be a drilling reservist.  For all intents and purposes, it ends my military career. 

This last trip was really a decision point for me.  I had really hoped to try and keep serving, but I just don't see how I could do it. 

The first issue, of course, is Law School.  It is a time sink.  It's hard to get all the work done, best-case, and taking a weekend out of town once a month or so takes too much time away from what I should be doing studying.

Next issue, and probably the bigger one, is that Logan's mom has a job at the hospital and when I'm away, if she has to work, there's nobody to watch him.  That puts a burden on her and him, and in some cases, it's darned near impossible to work something out.  Try finding a teenage babysitter who can stay with him until 11:30 on a Sunday night, for instance.  I've missed out on a few things here and there, but whenever I leave town, I always feel terrible about it.  It feels like I'm abandoning him.

The unit has been gutted, too.  We went from about 9 officers to 3.  I am the admin officer and that's a part-time job in and of itself.  You're working all month, here and there, on various issues.  The saying in the Navy is that you don't stop working when the weekend is over.  They just stop paying you.  Ever since I started in the Navy Reserve, it's probably been a 5 to 10 hour a week committment.  The unit deserves somebody who can devote sufficient attention to their duties and right now, I just can't.

The other factor is that it has always cost me money to drill.  It's always cost me more to participate in the reserves than I made.  We pay for our own uniforms, our own travel, etc.  I did get great health insurance at a low cost, but frankly, when the total cost of drilling is factored in, I could probably have just bought insurance with all the money I spend.  So, if I were making some money at this, that'd be one thing.  I'm not, though.  It's hard to justify time away from the family for an expensive diversion, even one as meaningful and important as military service.

I'm just tired of travelling.  I don't like it under any circumstances.  I'm tired of buying plane tickets, renting cars and paying for parking in order to earn a paycheck that's less than the travel expenses I incur.  COs are very accomodating at letting travelling officers schedule drills so that you can, for instance, do two drill periods at once, instead of showing up every month.  That way, you get two drills worth of pay for one set of travel expenses.  Trouble is, as Admin Officer, I'd need to show up to a lot more drills.  Really, I should be showing up to all of them.  Plus, even if I were allowed to double up on drills, that means 4 days of trying to find a way to care for Logan, instead of just 3. 

I'm also ticked off at some little things.  The Navy was supposed to re-jigger their funding for berthing (our rooms during drill) so that all officers got single rooms this year.  Instead, they fell short on their budget, but decided to provide single rooms to E-8s and E-9s, with the only officers getting single rooms being O-5s and O-6s.  I paid for my own hotel this last drill and got to walk right past a bunch of E-8s who were having their rooms paid for by the Navy.  Hey, I'm all for respecting enlisted ranks.  I spent a lot of time enlisted, but it's just insane that somebody decided that E-8s should get better treatment than, say, O-4s and O-3s.  That's just nuts. 

There are also minor annoyances with military service.  That's why I got out back in 1987.  Those things never change.  The minor annoyances are easy to write off as a cost of serving.  However, on top of everything else, they really tick a person off. 

All in all, it just stopped being fun, and it was keeping me from both my son and my schooling.  Something had to give.

I am not familiar with the process, but I guess I'll know, soon, what's involved and how smooth this will be.  It will be a relief not to have this looming in the background all the time.

Even so, I'm eternally grateful to the US Navy for allowing me to achieve a lifelong dream of being a commissioned officer.  Likewise, the fellow officers I served with were just fantastic people.  It was truly an honor, priviledge and pleasure.  It's just time to move on.