That's why it is called fine print

This blog is my way of documenting my transition from my normal civilian life to active duty military life in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of folks have done this since Sept 2001, but this is intended for my friends and family who probably do not know a lot of military folks.

As a Navy reservist, we have always been told to be ready for recall, though as a submarine officer one may think I would have really no use in places like the Middle East. Ha! Turns out, we fit rather nicely in a variety of roles doing typical staff officer work. Indeed, a good buddy - submarine officer turned attorney - spent his year training the Afghan Army. And it is not a bad thing - if one of us gets called every 5-6 years to take one for the team so some Army or USMC guy / gal gets to avoid a third tour in four years, it is a good thing.

The title of the blog does not reflect a 'surprise' at getting called up - that was always a possibility. It refers to a VERY recent Navy Reserve policy - instead of having folks like me on pins and needles all the time, they decided to publish a list. If you were on it, you were on the short list to go for the next year. If not, you could relax for the next year. The list came out about two weeks ago, I was not on it, so I thought I was clear and even told the wife... The fine print was that the list process does not start just yet... As an aside, there are already some issues with this policy - not sure how it will actually work - and frankly I would hate to be on a close leash for a year. Imagine trying to plan anything for that year... and if you were called up at the end, it would mean pretty much two years affected.

How does one get called up?
Simple. Your cell phone rings when you happen to be on the toilet at work - 12.04pm on Thursday, Jan 29th. You don't answer it - one place the phone is a no-no. Once I am done and washed, check the phone expecting it to be a call from Leslie (the spouse). Instead, it is an UNLISTED number, and the voice mail is from a YN1 (Yeoman Petty Office First Class) from my Reserve Center in Fort Worth and I am supposed to call back. So I do... and he was presumably at lunch for the next hour. However, from his voice mail I know pretty much I have been called as his voice mail states his is 'Mobilization Desk'.

I waited very impatiently for the next 50 minutes, tapped a few e-mails, and attempted to engage in conversation but pretty much I was in a 'holy f^*k' fog. But, at 12:55 or so, YN1 answers the phone and yes indeed, I am mobilized, leaving in two months, but he has no idea where. So I log in to the Navy web and find my orders and they say 'Operation Enduring Freedom' and list a billet (job) number. I call a couple of points of contacts on my orders, and get some limited idea where I am going, but until I actually have a better handle I will just not say since I still am not sure, other than it is the Middle East and not Iraq specifically.

That is step ONE of the process. I will cover the notification process in a follow on post.