DH left Ft. Bliss for Iraq today.

[DawnCt1]

DH has been at Ft. Bliss for the last ten days preparing for deployment and waiting for a flight to Iraq. Its been a good transition. He had the cell phone, we could talk a lot, I could call him, etc. Yesterday he called at 1 pm before he put the cell phone in the duffle bag and had the army ship it home. He called last night at midnight and the flight was leaving in the wee hours of the morning. I think it will be about two weeks before I hear from him. I told him not to go shopping, that he could get me a tee shirt state side. ;) I am having microwave pop corn for supper and watching movies.

[Longsx3]

:grouphug:

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

I wondered if he had left. Glad the transition is going ok. I hope you hear from him sooner than that. My DH called when he landed and I heard from him in some format everyday. Just depends though, don't count on anything.

Enjoy that movie and popcorn. At least you can watch what you want for awhile, if that is any consolation. :grouphug: You can start your countdown to his return now too. :goodvibes

[jsmith]

Do you have an AKO account? most of the FOB's have yahoo messenger on the computers in the internet cafes but if he has a desk job he will have access to AKO at work-it can be a pain-but it was a blessing for us. You sound like you have a pretty postive attitude-which is a blessing.

[DawnCt1]

Do you have an AKO account? most of the FOB's have yahoo messenger on the computers in the internet cafes but if he has a desk job he will have access to AKO at work-it can be a pain-but it was a blessing for us. You sound like you have a pretty postive attitude-which is a blessing.

He should have access to the web and we have set up google talk. He will be at a Combat Support Hospital.

[tink&pan]

Hi Dawnct1,
I am on the other side of deployment by 2 months. Hubby left out of here in July 2004 and just returned home Christmas Eve 2005. Yup, a whopping 18 months uncle sam had him. Our daughter who was 9 at the time he left was not too happy, pretty sick over the thought of him going actually. He was stationed at an air base about 70 miles north of Bagdad. But he is here now and we are adjusting, just like we had to adjust when he left.
I don't let him forget I was here during 30 snowstorms, by myself, shoveling them all. He is Army Nat'l guard and was ready to retire, he is really ready to retire now,,,,, me too.
Hang in there. My hubby was not one to pick up the phone here, but some how he figured out what one was once he was away from us. He managed to call from the UK while waiting for a flight and called the day after they got to Bagdad. Not to shabby for a guy who would never call to say he was working late etc. He would even stand in line for 2 hours to wait to use the phone for all of his 15 minutes they would allow him!
Anyway, now that he is back, it seems as though he never left, yup, dirty socks on the floor, Sunday paper scattered from one end of the room to the other.
My guy would be the one also asking "what holiday with a tree" :rotfl2:
Keep positive, don't listen to the news, and do your own thing and stay busy, the time will go before you know it.

extra pixie dust pixiedust:
tink

[tink&pan]

Hey Longsx3,
How long has he been gone?
:rotfl2: love that the HK is coming the day before....won't matter though in a few days, if he is like my DH, he brought and or shipped a lot of stuff home.
Enjoy the day, there is none other like it. Take it slow. DH has been home all of 2 months now and is still not really here. Its not like PTS, he just is just not adjust to home life and normal stuff, nor am I adjust to the snoring behind my head again :eek:
Happy thoughts your way!!

tink

[Alice28]

Hi Dawn! I bet you will hear from him sooner than he says- my DH would say the same thing, and then he would be able to call etc. Once he was firmly in country, I did only talk to him about every 2 weeks or so, but we emailed almost daily.

I kind of laughed when you said you were watching movies and having popcorn. TV and the internet became big pasttimes for me. Now that DH is home, I get a bit weird about it- for 18 months I could watch all my reality TV when I wanted and not get made fun of! You know!? I mean, of course I wanted DH home, but it was kind of nice to watch Survivor/Amazing Race/Dancing with the Stars without someone sitting there rolling his eyes the entire time. Or making the kids a decent dinner, but just having cereal for myself and having it be no big deal.

Just take things one week at a time and I promise you will get through it! :hug:

[4nana]

:grouphug:

Godspeed your DH and prayers and best wishes to you and your family.

[Sandcass]

:worship: I don't know how you military families do it. :worship:

[Mickey's sunshine]

{{hugs}} for you Dawn, I hope you hear from him soon. Sending out good thoughts that he will have an uneventful deployment.

My cousin left today for Iraq - first tour and my baby brother will be leaving in about 10 days for his 2nd tour of Iraq. I wont lie, some days will be hard but just know you have a great support system here. You will beam on the days you hear from your hubby.

I will never forget the first email I got my brother on his first deployment. Although it was very short (basically said I am here) it made me cry.

Hang in there and if you need to talk, PM me. :goodvibes :grouphug:

[SplshMtn99]

Hugs Dawn!!! :grouphug:

from another military wife here (full time & part time Army National Guard)

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

my son in law has been in iraq since around christmas. they left from texas, oh yeah hes in the army. my dd who is 25 is due to have our 1st GRANDCHILD around April 23. he is supposed to be home around the middle of the month for 2 weeks. of course travel time is in his 2 weeks . we are so excited over the baby. shes been sick alot. som we are praying that he gets his leave to come see the baby. oh yeah , they know its a BOY.. . but we just hope and pray for everyone who is over there...........

[LovingCinderella]

I hope your DH will be safe. Mine came home from Iraq in June 2005 and is leaving again for another Iraq deployment June 2006. Its hard, and it sucks but honestly, I think it makes our marriage stronger. But having a 3 yr old DD and 2yr old DS is the worst part. When my DH left the first time my DD was not even a year and I was 7 mths prego with my DS. My DH missed DD's 1st b-day, my DS birth, first xmas and that fun stuff. I'm so glad I don't have to go through another *first year* by myself again. I think this deployment will be much easier since the kids are a little older. But then they are also old enough to ask "where's daddy?" breaks my heart everytime! :hug:

[jsmith]

He should have access to the web and we have set up google talk. He will be at a Combat Support Hospital.

Good luck with that-im a Gov contractor as well as a military spouse-most of the chat programs are blocked from gov PCs-but it depends-hubby had yahoo on his computer for part of his deployment but not all of it-my friends there now dont have it at all-i would have died with out chat so i hope Google is not on the banned list!

[powellrj]

:grouphug: :grouphug:

[DawnCt1]

Wow, Thanks everyone for all of these good thoughts!! The first thing I did was to pack away all of his winter clothes. He won't need them when he gets home. I arranged all of his summer stuff. The closet looks great. Shirts are arranged from white to light to dark. :rotfl: Now you don't think that they will stay that way do you. Same for the tee shirts and polo shirts on his shelves. I could do a closet commercial. If I get really ambitious I might tackle his tool room. Arrange tools alphabetically? ;) I had the pick up truck tuned up, the ball joints replaced. I am on a home improvement binge. He was on the ground in Germany for 30 minutes on Sunday and called. We talked for a couple of minutes. I had to take DS #1 to work today. His car didn't start. When I got home, I had a "calling card" number on the caller ID. Bummer! I know I missed a call from him. At least I know he is okay...right? Again, thank you all for your prayers and pixie dust!

[LovingCinderella]

haha, sounds like me. First few days after the mine left the first time, I packed away everything of his :hyper: I was afraid I would get melancholy if I saw all his stuff lying around. But in truth, the house never looked cleaner! Definitely kept my mind from constantly worrying. (sry, spelling was never my best subject!) You know, I heard now that they can get internet set up in their rooms. A couple of the husbands around here who are deployed had to pay like $300 but their own internet but it was a one time fee. So if your honey has a laptop with him it should be really easy to chat. Mine is taking his laptop with him this go around and we've already set aside the money for the fee in case he gets that option. I may have only talked to him a handful of times the whole year he was gone, but we yahoo messengered almost every day. And with the webcam he was able to see me and the kids and that was a great moral booster for him. :grouphug:

[DawnCt1]

He definately took the lap top so I hope he is hooked up soon!

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

He definately took the lap top so I hope he is hooked up soon!

I hope he is too! :sunny:

DH was issued a laptop, landphone, cellphone, and had internet in his office and his hootch (no charge, part of job). Poor man could not escape me! :lmao: Webcam is great, hope your DH has all this. :) I think AKO also has some instant messenger type program if all else fails.

:grouphug: to you, you will soon know all the answers to what his life will be like for awhile.

ETA!!!! Tell your DH to hang up and try your cell next time he fails getting you at home. That was the #1 rule for my DH! :thumbsup2

[LovingCinderella]

:grouphug: good night everyone!

[Jynohn]

I'll be keeping you and your DH in my thoughts Dawn. Hope you hear from him soon! :)

Jynohn

[LovingCinderella]

yay! hubby comes home today from airborne school....he'll be home for 10 days then leaves again for 2 mths for BNOC school...then home a month...then deployed for a year. Don't cha just love the military life :rolleyes:

[DawnCt1]

I'll be keeping you and your DH in my thoughts Dawn. Hope you hear from him soon! :)

Jynohn

Well I got my first four minute phone call last night! Yippee!! He is fine. Not where he was supposed to be but down in Southern Iraq for two months. At a combined Army/AFB base. The DSN number he had was wrong so I had to call to find out what the right number was so we could have longer phone calls. He doesn't have an outlet for his computer but he can use the computer that is there for Email, etc. He just can't set up google talk on it. Hopefully, next time he calls I will get his address. Thanks for the good thoughts!!!

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

My DH's assignment was changed too, several times. I am familiar with some of the southern camps, I just Pm'd you. :)

[JennyMominRI]

I saw this..I hope you Dh comes home sfe. G-d Bless

[DisneyDotty]

Dawn: Wishing you and your DH all the best. And thank him for me, will ya? :sunny: