The situation with Japan just got scarier.

Yesterday Mark came home with great news! Turns out the reason we keep hearing about Okinawa in our future is because there is a Master Sergeant there who HAND-PICKED him for the position after going through his file. Mark was requested by name by this guy. That is really cool news. Also there is a Gunny here at the Marine Corps Detachment who told Mark that his first duty station in this line of work was in Okinawa too, and since then he's been promoted twice in pretty much record time. Going to Japan reflects positively in your record because it shows diversity.

But that is the extent of the good news. The rest was all scary and bad and left me sitting on the couch crying for a good 20 minutes.

My suspicions were right, and despite being told otherwise TWICE, it turns out that the trip to Yuma would be unaccompanied. This means a lot of things for us - big decisions to make - and none of them are favorable. It quite honestly changes everything.

Our options are as follows:

1. Mark travels to Yuma for his JSTARS course without me. I stay here in San Angelo, alone with Amaris, for 4-5 months. With no car. And the only places in walking distance are Sonic, Wal Mart, and the new Jack in the Box. Not to mention that I don't know anyone here.
2. Same as above, only Mark leaves me the car. I could either drive him and leave him in Yuma, or he could Greyhound his way there and hope for the best. He'd have to hoof it around base and/or rely on his classmates to get him around. I am still all alone in San Angelo. Miserably.
   
3. Mark first checks in at the unit in Okinawa and takes me with him. Amaris and I stay in Okinawa while he flies back to his JSTARS course in Yuma for 4-5 months. This means that Amaris and I would be alone in a foreign country with no reliable means of transportation, and would not be able to attend his course graduation. (I've attended every graduation thus far).
4. We pay out of pocket to move Amaris and I to Arizona with Mark. We would have to charge this move to a credit card. We'd also have to find a moderately priced apartment within a reasonable distance from the base that would allow us to have a month-to-month lease. We would probably sell or donate a good portion of our belongings beforehand and live with just the bare essentials, since upon our move to Okinawa, a huge amount of our things would have to go into NTS anyways (Non-Temporary Storage, at the government's expense).
5. We plead our case to the Master Sergeant, the monitor, the Platoon Sergeant, and anybody else who will listen and pray that they will have a little mercy.

And by the way, we need an answer in by tomorrow (which is now today), since the Master Sergeant who requested Mark by name will be visiting the area and this will be the Platoon Sergeant's opportunity to discuss with him what can be done about the situation.

So, I sat on the couch crying and feeling completely helpless for a good while after this all became clear in my head, and then it was time for movie night and a bunch of Mark's classmates showed up. And then after they left, we struggled to get Amaris to sleep for a while and then went to sleep without further discussion. This morning he left for work and I laid in bed and realized that we at least ought to be on the same page. We didn't really reach any final agreement. So I called him and asked what his plan was. Option #5 and then option #4.


Only he just came home and said option #5 is out. So I guess I'll be running up my credit card in a few months. Sometimes the military can just SUCK.