The other big, important day while in flight school is the day you receive your orders for your follow-on duty station! The aviators are allowed to maintain a list of the Top 3 places that they would like to go, and the Army (most of the time) attempts to grant it to you and your family. As with anything in the Army, nothing is guaranteed, and it’s both exciting and nerve-wracking waiting for these to come through!
“They say” can often get you into trouble and for us it did. We were told an average of 4-6 weeks from selection he’d receive the draft of his orders telling him where we’d be sent next. 4-6 weeks turned into 7, then 8….then the rest of his class (all but Ryan and 1 other) received their orders. I’ll admit, I didn’t handle this frustration in the most graceful way! I’ve moved around my entire life as an Army Brat turned federal contractor, turned Army wife. Literally my first passport had my hospital birth picture. However, we’ve been trying to get back up North for 7 years. Ryan’s first duty station was supposed to be Alaska…then those were pulled for Ft. Bragg. Ugh! Our family is in Maine and New England will always be HOME, so we were so anxious to find out if our hopes would come true!
FINALLY, 9 weeks from selection and halfway through his advanced airframe training his orders came through!!
And our next duty station is….
FT DRUM, NEW YORK!!!!!!!!
Ft. Drum was our #1 choice and we were praying so hard that Ryan would get selected to go!!!!! We are beyond excited for the next chapter of our story and to FINALLY be back closer to home. It’s about 7 hours back to our home town in Maine which is the closest we can get. We are so thankful for snow…and 4 seasons!
FLY TO GLORY!!!!!
~Happily Grim~ 