Upcoming Changes

So this is just a really quick post to let everyone know that we got a little bit of news this week.  A few months ago we were informed that we would likely be moving this coming summer (2016).  This was a bit of a surprise, since we haven't been here in Aberdeen that long yet. There are various reasons why this is happening, but at this point it's pretty certain that we will be leaving Maryland next summer.

We still don't know exactly where we're going to be going - they had five spots open to chose from, which we ranked in order 1) WA, 2) TX, 3) LA, 4) NC, and 5) Korea. The assignment in Washington is at Ft. Lewis, just south of Seattle, and is our first choice since it's the closest to family. It's kind of a longshot, though, because everyone seems to want to go there. It's much more likely that we'll get sent back to Texas - El Paso this time (not San Antonio). This is still nice in that it's within a day's drive of family (granted, a very long day's drive, but still. . .). We submitted these choices a few weeks ago, and we probably won't know where we'll end up until November.

So the news that we got this week, though, is more to do with time-frame. Moving in the Army is a big deal - you have 10 days to process into the new post, and 10 days to process out of your old post, and travel time, and 10 days to setup your new house, and any personal leave you might want to take between the two assignments.  We heard from a second-hand source that we are currently listed to go to El Paso (again, not surprising). What we hadn't realized, however, is that the person who is currently there is going to have a set date of July 1st that he has to start at his new duty station.  So essentially, it means he's probably going to be leaving in mid-May.

What does that mean for us? If we do end up going to El Paso, Lee will need to get there before the other guy leaves, which means we might have to start out-processing from Aberdeen as early as March!  That means we have about 6 months left here in Maryland.  When we move we are hoping to go see family in Utah while en route to our new duty station.  While we thought that would be summer (July), it is now looking like spring (March or April).  It might still be later if they send us somewhere else, but since El Paso seems that most likely destination, we're going to plan for a springtime move!

We'll keep you all in the loop as we get more info, but we thought you all might like to have that for consideration.