Destination unknown....

Published on May 24, 2004 By dharmagrl In Travel

Still no word on where we're going next. We filled out a 'dream sheet' of all the places we'd like to go to...looked at the map and chose places that were within a 12 hour drive of Lonesome's hometown. We want to get closer to family..and if we can't be with mine, we'll be with his.

In no particular order, we chose:

Scott AFB, Illinois

Vance AFB, Oklahoma

McConnell AFB, Kansas

Maxwell AFB, Alabama

Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio

and finally, Columbus AFB Mississippi.

I looked at the web sites for all of them, and my personal preferences at the moment are McConnell and Vance. We're looking to go somewhere smaller...Scott and Wright-Patt are relatively large, but closer to Vincennes, IN, so we'd be willing to deal with that.

According to those who know, we should get orders in a couple of weeks. I've stopped stressing and being upset about it now, I'm just looking forward to having Lonesome home and starting the rest of our lives together.

Dharma the Buddhist wanna-be-hippie in Oklamhoma. Hmm.....d'ya think I'll fit in?!

Comments

JillUser

on May 24, 2004

Dharma, I don't know if this is worth anything to ya, but you sound like someone who could make things work out no matter where your hat lands. I'm sorry for you that you don't get to go to England and be with your family who you've been without for so long. Just focus on tacking a "no more" to the end of Lonesome's name

Best wishes.

dharmagrl

on May 24, 2004

That's worth a hell of a lot, Jill. Thank you....you made me get a lump in my throat!

Yeah...Lonesome Traveler will have to retire and re-emerge as Lonesone-no-more. I like that.

Joe98

on May 24, 2004

Altus AFB ain't so bad, but it's still in Oklahoma!

dharmagrl

on May 24, 2004

To be honest, Oklahoma isn't so bad. Neither is Kansas, or anywhere else we put on our list. Lonesome's a redneck at heart...I'll see if I can persuade him to tell y'all what his nickname up at Thule is. It's pretty funny.

If anyone reading this has any actual experience of the places I've listed, please tell about it!

greywar

on May 24, 2004

In my experience all AF bases seem like the Ritz-Carlton but maybe I am biased:) I am sure you will like Oklahoma or wherever you go.

dharmagrl

on May 24, 2004

In my experience all AF bases seem like the Ritz-Carlton but maybe I am biased:)

Hahaha! You've never been to Ellsworth!!! Or as we like to call it, "Hellsworth".

pseudosoldier

on May 24, 2004

From second hand information, the Air Force spends a bit more on the maintenance of their bases than, say, the Army does. When Air Force personnel stay in Army barracks, they get paid a housing differential to make up for slum-like conditions relative to what they get normally. I also hear that many of the onpost services get more funding than equivalent Army programs.
Not to be all doom and gloom, but does the Air Force look at the dream sheets for assignments? I know I filled one out when I got to FT Leonard Wood for basic. (Hint: I didn't put Texas down as a choice.) Cochise, my squad leader, filled one out for language when he got to DLI. (Hint: He didn't put down Arabic.)
I'm keeping a couple sets of fingers crossed for you. No one deserves to be jerked around like the military does, and they can do it like no one else. (I'll have to post my assignment story on my blog at some point...)

dharmagrl

on May 24, 2004

Not to be all doom and gloom, but does the Air Force look at the dream sheets for assignments?

For us, yes.

Lonesome volunteered to go remote for a year so that we could get follow-on orders out of Ellsworth (been here sonce '95). As a way of compensating him for having to spend a year away from his family, the AF takes into consideration the assignments he requested on his dream sheet. 9 times out of 10 you'll get an assignment at one of the places on your sheet...that's why they have you list so many. Normally, you don't such privileged treatment. We also get pushed straight to the top of the housing list at our next location - another 'perk' of him going off for a year.

Thanks for the crossed fingers...and I want to read your assignment story!

greywar

on May 24, 2004

I toured Ellsworth actually, very nice in comparison. But honestly it is like comparing apples to oranges......

dharmagrl

on May 24, 2004

I toured Ellsworth actually,

When was this? Are you sure you were at Ellsworth, SD?

All joking aside, it's not that bad. They ripped down a bunch of old (1950's) era buildings in 1996 and built new ones, so the base got a face-lift. But, as you know, it's not the buildings that make the base, it's the people. 'Nuff said there.

Pseudo, I meant to tell you: Lonesome was at FT Lost-In-The-Woods for MPI training a couple of years ago. I'll have to ask him if he thought there was a big difference between Army posts and AF bases.

imajinit

on May 25, 2004

come to Seymour!

Poetmom99

on May 25, 2004

Scott and Wright-Patt are relatively large, but closer to Vincennes, IN, so we'd be willing to deal with that.

Don't let the size of Wright-Patt scare you....Fairborn has a real "small town" atmosphere in a lot of ways, and I hear nothing but good things from folks who live on base...a LOT of them choose to come back here at retirement, so we must be doing something right!

dharmagrl

on May 25, 2004

come to Seymour!

We thought about it, and dedided not to. I've lived there before....and whilst the location is nice, y'all's cops deploy a LOT. More than Lonesome would like. So, Seymour didn't make the cut. You know, you can always come visit us wherevere we go to, MJ.

dharmagrl

on May 25, 2004

News just in...by the end of next week, we should have orders.

Lonesome and I are going to celebrate by sitting in our respective places of abode and consuming copious quantities of alcohol...then calling each other to complain about how shitty we feel the next day.

Anyone else care to join us? We could have a JoeU party.

MasonM

on May 31, 2004

Hoping you get a great duty station. I grew up an AF brat so I know what their bases are like. My favorite was Nellis in Nevada.

Perhaps I'll make it out to wherever you end up during my wanderings.

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