Saturday, October 28, 2006

In other big news...

Darrell was asked yesterday if he wants to be an instructor at the drill sergeant school. If he accepts, it's adding another year to our time here. He'd finish up the cycle he's on right now (they graduate in about a week and a half) and go there for a probationary cycle (for them to see if he's a good fit). I asked if he was able to go there for that probationary cycle and have HIM choose whether he stays or not, but he didn't know.

PRO:
- less hassle with the soldiers. He'd be dealing with other sergeants rather than privates.
- much more time off. Saturdays off by 1pm, every Sunday off. (Except for occasional 24-hour duty). Plus, they have 10 days 'off' between cycles where they'd only have to go in for half-days. Right now, they get about a day and a half 'off', but they're working like mad during that time.
- when he has 24 hour duty, he doesn't have to BE there, he's just on call. He only has to check in on the barracks twice a night, rather than stay there awake all night.
- it looks good for promotion (but then so does leaving here and having him be a platoon sergeant back in a regular unit)
- more time to make money on the house
- another year not deployed overseas

CON:
- it's very political at the DSS for some reason. He's not good at playing those kind of games
- he'd REALLY have to watch his mouth and attitude more than he does now
- he'd have to pitch modules (memorized blocks of instruction) twice a cycle. He hates that. But like I reminded him, it wouldn't be like it was when he was going through it. He'd only have to do two and he would not only know what they are ahead of time, but he'd have the same two every cycle. When he was going through it, they'd find out the night before which one they'd have to do. That was HARD.
- he's comfortable where he is now. Change is uncertain.

He has to decide by today. The sergeant major who asked him was hoping he'd be able to give an answer on the spot! He says, "most people would love this chance and would grab it up immediately." Well, duh, Darrell wanted to talk with me about it first! And take time to think through it all. Geez.

So my take on it? I don't know. Here's my pro/con list:

PRO:
- another year of him not being shot at overseas
- more time off!!
- more time to pay off bills (he gets drill sergeant pay)
- more equity in the house when we leave

CON:
- I'm really getting fed up with Justin's school. They have a meeting on November 2nd, showing off their school choice program. In this school district, you can pretty much choose which school your child will attend (although I think there are limits? I'll find out at the meeting if he chooses to stay). The catch is that the school district only provides transportation to the 'home' school. But, we could leave home a little early and I could drop him off on my way to work... It's just the after-school thing we'd have to figure out. Definitely worth looking into if we stay here. April (and Britne and husband) is for sure leaving after this school year.
- I'm already antsy to leave here. And Sam isn't here, but her mother is... I was hoping somehow we'd move closer to wherever she is. Of course, she doesn't even know what is happening with them, so that was up in the air anyway
- I'm worried that Darrell will hate it there. And if he does, his stress level will go up, which is not good for his newly discovered blood pressure problems. But then again, all the time off will help with that...

I told Darrell it's up to him. It really is. My life won't be that different, but his will change quite a bit. HE'S the one that will have to deal with it, so I told him I'll back up whichever choice he made, told him my thoughts on the pros/cons, and left it up to him.

I just sent a text asking him if he's decided. He hasn't responded yet. If he accepts, and all goes well with that probationary cycle, we won't be leaving here until either the summer of '08 or possibly around Christmas/New Year's '08/'09. If he declines, we're outta here this coming summer.

Edited to add: he called me a bit later, telling me he's leaning against the idea, but he hasn't decided yet.

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