[quote="sidewaydriver"]Thanks for the warm welcome back you guys. As the only online community I have ever been involved with, I think I picked the right one.

SoldierHawk wrote:

Hooah! Glad you're back safe. I hope the tour was a good one, relatively speaking.

It still sucked but definately better than the first time i was there. This was my third deployment, twice to iraq and once to kuwait. have you ever been? what do you do in the army?

I'm not elegible for deployment right now, unfortunately. I'm in the National Guard as a weekend warrior, but I'm also in the ROTC program at the college I attend. Once I get my teaching credential, finish my Arabic language program, and commission, I'll be eligible to deploy. But for now, I'm stuck as an 09R, getting my ass kicked by the fourth years during the week, and playing Cadet Platoon Leader on Guard weekends. Being a platoon leader (well, stand-in platoon leader anyway) is quite cool, except that I don't go to BOLC until after I commission. Which means I'm not MOS-qualified, which means my credibility with my soldiers is not where I'd like it to be. Not that they don't respect me, but I wish I had been fully trained before getting thrown into a leadership role. Hooah Army lol. Its still a great experience, and fortunately I have a great PSG and great soldiers under me.

How about you? I don't even know what service you're in--if you mentioned it before, I missed it.

sidewaydriver wrote:

I thought you would have guessed it when I said I was going for only 6 months. I'm in the Air Force. I'm enlisted myself, been in for 4 years now on active duty.

Well yes. But I didn't want to embarrass you. And actually, the Army *does* do shorter deployments as well, depending on your job. Usually the ones under a year are voluntary (some people from my company just went on a voluntary 3-month support mission to Afghanistan, for example), and I didn't want to assume.


In all seriousness, that's awesome. I almost went AF myself. Since you've done four, is it almost time for you to get out, or are you singing up for more?