This may not come as a huge surprise to people who know me, but I hate change. Why would this be a surprise to those who don’t? I’m in the US Military - our lives are all about change. But what I hate most about change is when I can’t control it.
I love getting to live in new places but I HATE moving to new places. I’m not a fan of finding a new place to live, a new place to go to church and having to make new friends. Of course, I do love exploring the new place I live once I actually settle down, but I still would prefer not to move. Then again, not many people can say that they got to live in England for free for 3 years… the military does have its perks.
I have just found out the official list of places I could be stationed next… I could go to Idaho (not high on my “wants” list - this base has a pretty high suicide rate), or two bases in Florida (one of which I’ve already been to). I don’t want to be int he AF for just over 7 years and say that I’ve only been assigned to two different bases (not counting Technical Training).
Why don’t I want to go to Idaho? Well… I received an email from someone I worked with (who is now stationed there) who said that, if I get orders there, I should just consider getting out of the Air Force. Pretty bad, huh? I mean, I could get there and absolutely love it (apparently Boise is considered the safest city in the country). I could probably tough it out for the year I will be there, but I’d rather not find out. That brings me to another issue with Idaho: I will move to one side of the country (at the Air Force’s expense) to live there a year and then drive back to the East Coast (hopefully also at the Air Force’s expense). One thing I didn’t really consider when extended my enlistment was this: who will give me an 11-month or so lease? That was pretty stupid of me.
Anyway, on to Florida. I’ve been to Tyndall AFB (near Panama City, FL - the Spring Break capital of the US). I lived there for approximately 30 months. It’s not called the “Redneck Riviera” for nothing. The friends I made there were great and I loved my church there. I’m just not a huge fan of hurricanes. I think I lived through something like 7 hurricanes - and I came out completely unscathed (and with a little more money in my pockets). I’m just ready to see someplace new.
Eglin AFB is my other choice (not that I have a choice - I will be put where they want to put me). It’s a GINORMOUS base. I think it’s the largest Air Force Base in the world (as far as land-mass is concerned). It’s definitely in a nicer area than Tyndall and it has its own airport. I pretty much know the area. Plus they have an Electronic Warfare facility (it’s what I work on right now) that works on everything I love working on (using the equipment I currently use).
So those are my options. I wish I had some sort of control over where I was going. But such is the life of a member of the US Military. I’ve been very blessed with my assignments so far, I guess I could try to find the best in a potentially bad assignment for a year.
Then the countdown to being an almost-civilian begins.
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