AMOI Duty

I woke up today happy, because in exactly 1 week, we'll get to actually physically be in the presence of Nick!

I have been thinking about all the things I want to do with him when he gets home, all the catching up we have to do, and all the preparations we have to make before moving to Texas (hopefully sooner rather than later).

I have written many times on my blog about how fond I have grown of our neighbors and friends here in Massachusetts, and I am eternally grateful that they are in our lives.

I am also IN LOVE with our church here, and it's ONE thing that our family will truly miss when we leave here.

But honestly, I am so over this place and this duty, and I think I can speak on behalf of our family when I say that we are SO OVER IT!

When Nick first put in his request for AMOI duty, we talked at great lengths about it, and decided it was best for his career and our family.

We needed a "break" from "fleet life" (deployments, field, training exercises, etc.).

Every Marine we had spoken to that had done AMOI duty had nothing but awesome things to say about it, and how good it was for family life.

We were thrilled, and Nick put his choices in to go somewhere in Texas so that we could be near family.

Of course that OBVIOUSLY did not happen, and we ended up here in Boston.

We figured we'd make the best of it, because regardless of the fact that we weren't in Texas, at least we got accepted for AMOI duty.

Well, Boston AMOI duty is slightly different than any other school because you're not just in charge of one school like most AMOI's.

You end up in charge of multiple schools that are all on different schedules.

I've never seen my husband spread so thin, and it definitely affected our family life.

Texts and emails all hours of the night from college kids wanting/asking random crap....(which eventually he made a policy that no one could text or email him after 1700).

Ceremonies, parades, community events, balls...

What were we on? Recruiting?!

This duty was supposed to be relaxing with lots of family time.

On top of that, he was sent away every Summer to be an instructor at OCS.

The lack of Marines also made it harder.

Our family has always been around a close knit group of friends who shared the common bond of the Marine Corps, and when we came here, that went away.

Reflecting on our last 2 years here, I'm not going to miss this duty.

When Nick put in his MECEP package, part of his driving force was to get away from this duty as soon as possible (of course there are bigger reasons than this, but it was definitely something he mentioned).

I've never seen my husband burnt out in the entire time I've been married to him until we came here.

He was never burnt out on the drill field, he was never burnt out in the fleet after deployments...

So with that, I am SO excited for our next chapter in our life.

I am SO thrilled to be together as a family for at least 2 consecutive years with no deployments or separations looming. 

I am elated.