And the drama goes on

A late departure from Ireland meant a late departure from Maine, which meant a late arrival in Seattle. And, lo! Upon disembarking in Seattle, Ed discovered that there was nobody there to meet him. Somebody was there to meet the 100 other soldiers that he flew back with (an active duty battalion actually deployed out of Fort Lewis) but nobody was there for the Oregon Guard guy.

After many twists and turns, he finally made his way to Fort Lewis only to learn that soldiers begin outprocessing on Mondays and Wednesdays. Unfortunately, he arrived too late to get into Wednesday’s queue; he would have to wait to start his paperwork until next Monday.

At that point, not having slept since waking up in Kuwait on Sunday morning, he was tempted to reach across the table and strangle the woman who told him this. Fortunately, a modicum of rationality made it through his sleep-fogged brain, and he refrained from committing assault, or worse.

There is a chance that he will be able to begin paperwork tomorrow, even though it’s not Wednesday. Or, perhaps he’ll start on Monday. Unfortunately, he is but one National Guard soldier. From Oregon. And an entire battalion of soldiers is returning to Fort Lewis right now, too. So, he may have to get in line behind all of them. Which means, it could be another two weeks or so before they begin his paperwork. And this rate, the connex may make it back home before he does.