Destination: Hawaii

We finally got our orders. We are headed to the Warrior Transition Unit in Hawaii. Our report date is May 2nd, but that's really about all we know. Things have become a bit of a mess and a nightmare since we got them. There are some problems with the orders. The biggest being they say we are not authorized to arrive/check in early and they don't mention whether or not we can have our car shipped over. Ben made some phone calls this morning, and both of those are supposed to be authorized, so they are working on getting them fixed. Another problem we are having is with our leave. The plan was to take leave between Japan and Hawaii and go back home for a while. We were also planning on the military paying for it. That's not going to happen. They will pay for our flight to Honolulu, but that's it. We figured because we are going from one overseas assignment to another (Hawaii is considered overseas) we would get COT leave. Makes sense, right? Well because we don't know how long we will be there, we are not eligible for it. Nor are we eligible for the 10 days permissive TDY which is typically used for finding a house and everything. All because we don't know how long we'll be there. It could be anywhere from 3 months to 12 months, if not longer. If we are there at least a year they'll give us the COT leave, but we won't know any of that until we actually get there and meet with the doctors. So then our next plan was we'll have them fly us to Hawaii and then we will either buy our own tickets to Boise or try to get on a Space-A flight back stateside. That plan kind of works, except for the dogs. We figured we would just leave them in Hawaii at the quarantine facility while we go back home. That way we don't have to try to find someone to watch them, and there won't be problems at home with my family's dogs. What we didn't realize with that plan is that the time they spend there, has to be paid for upfront. That will be nearly $2000. We can't afford that, plus tickets home. We may be able to fly them home with us, but we're still trying to figure out how much that will cost. It wouldn't be a problem if the military was paying for our flights home, but since they aren't, that's a lot of money that we don't have budgeted. It's a mess. Hawaii makes it very difficult to take pets there. It's ridiculous. They have a pet quarantine here in Japan, but at least we could do a home quarantine here. Hawaii's is a state run facility. UGH! So frustrating! So that's where we are right now. We are scheduled to leave Japan on March 25th. The movers are coming on the 16th and 22nd to pick up all our stuff. Things are going to happen quickly now, so hopefully we don't have any more issues. I'm very ready to be out of here and back home. A vacation would be wonderful right about now. And one that doesn't involve a bunch of medical appointments. So hopefully we get everything figured out soon.