I'm at that point..

Cute little flight attendant Sailor Girl

So I joined the Navy a few years ago, with no expectation of the way my life would go..  Where I'd end up, for how long... To a ship for 2-3 years?  To DC for a few years?  An IA billet to the Sandbox?  I had no expectations.  Seriously.  Hell, I planned to spend 3 months in bootcamp, which turned into 2.5 (that few weeks was a blessing) and I didn't plan on spending over 6 months in training.  (Side note for those of you thinking of joining the military, I hope you LOVEEEE training, because its the military's number one priority.)

The first time I picked orders, there were 2 location options for the job I wanted.  Miami, FL or GTMO.  My logic in choosing GTMO?  I didn't want to be in the US, I'd joined the Navy to do something different, and America wasn't different.  So GTMO it was, for 1 year.  It was PCS orders, meaning you are actually stationed there instead of being temporarily assigned (like most of the troops there).  What this means in layman's terms is you're stationed there so you don't get all the extra awesome pays of being temporarily assigned there.  Oh yeah, Navy screw-over-#-who's-counting?  1 year isn't a long time compared to being stationed somewhere for 2+ years.  At least, in my opinion.  But, when you know that something else is looming over the horizon so soon, because your time is limited, it definitely felt like it was a very long year sometimes.

Fast foward from Sept 09 to Apr 10.  Teh Megan got "needs of the Navy" orders..  meaning, I was the Navy's bitch, which isn't really different than normal, it just meant that I didn't really get to pick my choice of places that I wanted to be stationed at next.  The Navy needed me at COMUSNAVCENT, or Bahrain.  I took advantage of those 12 weeks of A school training and built a country brief for my family and friends so they would understand what was happening and where I was going..  to the Middle East, but not THE Middle East that was always in the news... until this year.

Ok, so I haven't had that much rum,
but the sign still holds true.

This was another set of PCS orders, and there are people stationed here IA (Teh Lumberjack) who, again, make more money than me.  Another Navy screw-over-#-who's-counting? event, its good that I don't keep an actual running record of these.  Actually, its not really a screw over.  Being in Bahrain (while it is a desert island, like GTMO was), hasn't been so bad.  I actually have a whole apartment to myself instead of 10x10 tin shed where I shared a bathroom with someone else, which really isn't bad until its 2am and they come home barfing from partying too hard.  I can go to dinner at a real restaurant, even though I still can't understand the waitstaff and they take just as long as the TCNs in GTMO did.. its civilization and there's people that I've never seen in my entire life at the same location...  its an ambiguous feeling, and soo very delightful, until I start missing Filipino bar at the Bayview...

Recently, I've started feeling like time has flown by, yet there is so much more time to go, but not really.  I hit this same "plateau" when I was in GTMO.  I was ready to get off the island, seeing the same faces over and over was making me feel like Groundhog's Day (the movie, not the national day in Feb, which only is important because it means my bday is one day away) was actually happening, which Teh DM (divemaster, who acquires his name because his gills) had said was going to happen.  He hit his 6 year mark in GTMO while I was there.. and that's a long damn time.  

For me, its almost like a depression.  Knowing that you've passed the halfway mark but you aren't done yet..  Its like when I'm doing situps and I tell myself, just 15 more.. after already doing 85..  Its the mentality of just getting through it.  So I set high points for myself.  Teh Bear's visit at month 9.  Ramadan month 10.  Month 11 will mark 1 year in Bahrain (I arrived about a month early to save on leave).  Month 12 will mark the closing of this deployment  (and yes I just called this a deployment).

Its very complicated knowing that 8 months have passed, and there are only 4/5ish more to go.  I feel like time has flown, and at the same time is moving very slowly.  Its the plight of 1 year orders to anywhere.  At the same time, it makes me very nervous for 2 year orders to VX-1 (where I'm headed next), because 2 years will be a VERY long time for me.  

I'm used to moving about every year.  I've been doing it since 2004 actually.. and almost 10 years later, I don't really have a lot of stuff to account for because of my life style (which kinda makes me sound gay, but its whatev).  I've joked said before that I'm a nomad.  And now that I look back for even longer, its true.  I've bitched about living out of suitcases several times.  And yet, I'm ready to do it again to start the next adventure... I think.

Random Tidbit.  

Today, I finished my Army Wives marathon that I've had going on since April.  On my days off, I've been catching up by watching seasons 1-4.  While there are parts of the show that are blatantly wrong (which I know now, because I'm in the military), it was entertaining and got me away from WoW, which was becoming more and more boring by the minute.  I was really only getting online to socialize with my "warcraft homies", because the game play (especially on this speed challenged internet) wasn't really entertaining anymore.

On the other hand, it makes me super depressed to watch the show, and I'm kinda glad I'm caught up so I can watch something else that doesn't make me as depressed.  It makes me sad to think of people that I'm not as close to now as I was because of my military life.  And there isn't really anything significant that goes on in my daily life (thus the plight of 12 hour days and purposely doing absolutely nothing on your days off), so I don't talk to people at home as much as I used to, because I don't really have anything great to talk about.  "Went to work for 12 hours, came home and had video time with Teh Bear, went to bed, woke up early, went back to work for 12 hours, wash, rinse, repeat."

So I'm kinda blaming watching too much Army Wives on the depressingness that is this post about being at the plateau of my deployment, waiting on time to pass, getting through the days to mark them off, and being glad that so many days are behind me and it doesn't seem like it took them that long to pass.