In July 2003 I was verbally informed that my unit had been put on alert to go to Iraq. In the second week of September (about two months later) I was given a "warning order" that we would be activated on September 29. With little more than two weeks until a deployment date, soldiers were expected to get their lives in order and prepare to deploy without so much as a single official document to give to employers, family etc., regarding this imminent departure. On September 23, another warning order came down that stated we "will enter active federal status on a date in October, which has not yet been determined." Six days out and suddenly the Army turns into an indecisive prom date? Everyone told they were being deployed had quit their jobs, planned going away parties, etc. and now they were being told to sit tight until... whenever.
On Sunday, September 28 I get a phone call letting me know that the deployment date was Wednesday, October 1 at which time I should report to my armory. Well, they did say it would be a "date in October". Super job guys.
I feel like an infant where the National Guard Bureau (or whoever is in charge of the dissemination of information) is some avuncular stranger playing peek-a-boo with me while my mother is taking me for a walk around the block in a stroller. One minute I'm playing with my toes, the next minute some guy has me half-excited/half-scared shitless saying "Peek-a-boo!" then covering his face. And just when I'm thinking "where'd he go?" he startles me again right at the very last moment with "PEEK-A-BOO!!" I can't decide if I want to cheer ecstatically or cry hysterically from the sheer shock of this absurd and stupid man.
I should mention before you start thinking I'm a whiner something very important: bitching is the only truly inalienable right of the soldier. I love the Army and I love my country. But that doesn't mean I have to enjoy the taste of horseshit. There are many axiomatic truths I will share with you from time to time in regards to soldiering. The principle of bitching is an excellent one to start with.
Oh, and by the way, I still don’t have an actual mobilization order. Yes, that's right. I'll be on Title 10 Federal Duty for the Army on Wednesday and I still don't have any actual orders for it yet. Like I said, absurd and stupid.
