now is not my time
30 May 2004 @ 14:16
Today I watched everyone that was up for promotion get promoted. Coy got his Sergeant stripes and Keith got his Staff Sergeant rocker. Normally, this would be something that would make me happy. My friends in the unit are moving up the ranks, which is always cause for celebration.
Until you remember that I've been waiting for my promotion since, oh, November or December.
I'm very grateful that I have a great working relationship with my squad leader. Just as we were dismissed from the formation he went and talked to the higher-ups in my chain of command. As of the bus ride over to Bob Evans for lunch chow, I am officially a Specialist -- but on paper only. There was talk of a ceremony tomorrow, but it looks like I'll be pinned next month.
I better get back pay, dammit.
Tomorrow is the big Memorial Day parade. It's weird to think of it as work when I've been required to participate in parades on Memorial Day for so many years without getting paid. It's also going to be strange to participate in the ceremony in a whole different part of the state than in the past.
This is all in the job description, though. Save yourself from being sent over to the sandbox but work every possible holiday. Participate in depressing ceremonies. Watch soldiers -- both male and female -- who are no older than you are go off to war. Welcome back the returning troops and listen to the war stories and lists of war-related injuries.
It makes me feel a bit guilty, knowing that I'm in a fairly safe position and will probably never see Iraq from a soldier's point of view. Meanwhile, the rotations keep going and the list of dead keeps growing. My cousin -- who is fresh out of training -- is on alert to deploy. She wants to go. My family has a hard time understanding this. I don't.
There's so much I want to get done here, in the civilian world, without interruption. And a paid vacation to the Middle East won't exactly help that.
Now is not my time.
--Annie