Korea Update

Ok, long time since the last Korea update...wow. We received official orders at the end of May, moved out of our apartment in Lawton at the end of June, drove to STL, I moved in temporarily with my parents, and a week later (July 2nd) Drew boarded a plane for South Korea.

We had applied for and were granted Command Sponsorship, which means that I am allowed to accompany him to South Korea officially (as in, the Army pays for my plane ticket as well as for his), but in exchange we have to stay 2 years from the date that I arrive, rather than Drew going by himself for one year (or me joining him on our dollar for one year).

Over half of our stuff by weight went into non-temporary storage (NTS) stateside until our return from Korea, and the rest was divided between an Unaccompanied Baggage shipment (UB, approx 1 month from pack-up to delivery in Korea), a Household Goods shipment (HHG, approx 2.5 months from pack-up until delivery in Korea--it travels by boat across the Pacific!), our suitcases, and my parents' house. My parents had graciously agreed to store an assortment of odds and ends that we either didn't want to put in storage or that we knew Korean law wouldn't allow us to take with us (like Drew's 4.5ft battle-ready replica Scottish claymore). So we loaded those things into our little Civic and drove the 9+ hours to STL.

I am still in STL, waiting for the Army to finish their end of the paperwork and issue a plane ticket to me. We expect it will take at least another 3 weeks to a month before I might have a plane ticket in hand, possibly longer, and it's unclear how they'll determine my travel dates. Long story short, I'll be in STL until at least the last week of August. This unfortunately means that Drew and I will be apart for a minimum of 7+ weeks. Ironically, both my 25th birthday (yikes!) and our first wedding anniversary fall within those 7 weeks of separation. Sometimes being a military household stinks. But I knew that was a possibility even before we got married, so I've been preparing emotionally for the possibility of separation during milestones for a long time.  (More thoughts on long-distance marriage in another forthcoming post...)  Fortunately, we got to celebrate our anniversary early with a quick mid-week getaway in the week between arriving in STL and Drew's flight to Korea.

I am missing my husband constantly, but at the same time I'm savoring the extra time with family and friends before moving across the globe.  And I'm getting more excited all the time about new adventures waiting for us in Korea.  In closing:

Dear Army,
  Please hurry up and give me a plane ticket, ok?  I miss my husband.
Love, Emily

Incentive

I'm making this public in hopes that it will inspire me to work even harder to be healthier than I've already been trying...

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