The Epic PCS: Vaccinations

Tilly hates shots too. And hugs.

While there is a tropical paradise awaiting my family on the other side of the world, the amount of paperwork that it takes to get my husband, my cat, and myself to Okinawa is astonishing. This is our first PCS, which stands for Permanent Change of Station. The military helps you move to a new location since you will be there for a number of years. I have never arranged a move through the military before, and of course I am starting with the farthest and most complicated PCS possible. This is our epic PCS, and I am documenting my experience in order to help any spouses also attempting to move across the globe by jumping through a seemingly endless number of hoops.

I began the medical screening process for myself this week. I am only allowed to accompany Matt if I can prove that I am healthy enough to not need any major medical care while in Japan. The first step I decided to take was to take care of my vaccinations. There were five that I needed. The navy medical officer told me that I could produce documentation that I had the vaccinations, get the vaccinations again, or take a blood test to prove that I was already immune. I had no idea where my shot records were. Keep in mind that I had moved twice in eight months and had ninety-five percent of my belongings in storage before you judge me. I did not really want five shots, so I asked the sailor in the immunizations office about the blood test. She agreed it was faster than getting the shots since many of the shots had to be given in stages. I was about to sit down for the blood test when I thought to ask how much blood we were talking about. She casually mentioned one vial...per immunization. That would mean I had to give five vials of blood in one sitting! I knew from experience that nurses often had to fight my veins for blood, and I wanted to keep that high quantity of blood inside my body thank you very much. Therefore, I quickly excused myself and did what any twenty-something would do in this situation.

I called my mother and asked her if she knew where my shot records were. Since she is my mother and is also amazing, she had copies of my shot records on file and emailed them to me. The next business day I went right back with my records and was informed I needed two shots to be up to date. Two measly little shots seemed like a fair trade for a tropical paradise, so I sat down to pleasantly chit chat with the nice lady giving me the shots. I am not afraid of shots, but I began to worry just a bit when she mentioned the tetanus shot would cause some soreness and fever. That sounded unpleasant, but I still tried to remain optimistic as she jabbed the needle into my arm. And she kept it there. And wiggled it around. My arm started to hurt! I expressed some concern that I lost feeling in my hand, but her response was to give me a shot in the other arm. I expressed some concern that I was blacking out. I then proceeded to faint. 

I felt all nauseous and had trouble catching my breath. The lady with the shots told me it was lucky I was small because she had to throw me onto the examination table. She had called in her superior who told me I hyperventilated. The lady in charge then called in a junior sailor in order for him to observe what to do when someone faints. I guess I am glad to be a helpful teaching tool for him. I lay on the table sweating and breathing deeply while three people stared at me. Great. 

Nobody worry. I perked back up, and I got a snack and a soda at the hospital cafeteria before I drove home. No more shots before Okinawa! Yay! One more step completed as part of the epic PCS.

The House Hunt

One of the big events that kept Matt and I biting our nails during TBS was MOS selection. MOS stands for military occupation specialty, so basically a MOS is a Marine's job title as a four number code. Marine officers do not get to choose their MOS. They rank their preferences from one to twenty-three, but a mysterious computer algorithm, their class standing, and the opinions of their superiors during a closed-door meeting are the determining factors. I promise I am not making this up. On MOS selection day there is a big party where everybody celebrates finally knowing what they will be doing for the rest of their career. Matt had plenty of reason to celebrate because he was assigned his first choice! Matt is a 1302, Combat Engineer Officer. He gets paid to build some things blow other things up.

Matt was assigned to a five month MOS school at Courthouse Bay which is part of Camp Lejeune, NC. The Marine Corps does not pay to move dependents (me) for any period of time less than six months, so we decided to move ourselves.

Since Matt was still at TBS, my mom agreed to go on a house hunting trip with me around the Sneads Ferry gate of Camp Lejeune. We stayed on base, and we only gave ourselves one full day to see all of our options. I love the show House Hunters, and true to form I had three options. 1. A furnished house 2. A furnished townhome or 3. An unfurnished apartment.

The first place was filthy! There was a rusted out microwave under the stairs, hair all over the floor, and trash thrown into the closets. Yuck! The second home was clean, tastefully decorated, and fully furnished will all necessary items. The last option was clean with nice upgrades, but unfurnished so we would have to pay for a truck in order to move all of our furniture when we really just wanted to send it straight to Japan from Virginia. I called Matt that night so I could sign a lease the next morning before heading home.

We decided on...

The furnished townhome! 

I am so grateful that my Mom was here with me. House hunting in real life is very tiring and somehow makes you really hungry. So we ate out a lot and found an amazing place. My favorite part about my new home is what is directly across the street....

The beach!

Matt and I on North Topsail Beach. Our new home!

The Graduation

Graduation day came to us in a week full of packing tape and boxes. We were halfway through packing for our move when we had to stop, breathe, and put on our nice clothes to celebrate Matt's accomplishment. We did not pack a thing that day! 

TBS stands for The Basic School. All newly commissioned officers in the Marine Corps attend this school together. After TBS everyone heads their separate ways to complete training in their field, but for a few months you have pilots, lawyers, infantrymen, and even engineers like Matt all suffering (I mean working) and learning together. TBS is still training. Matt worked an average of thirteen hours a day, and afterwards he worked at home to complete assignments that were due the next day. Every few weeks he would go into the field and not come home for days. I would not even hug him when he came home from the field due to the lack of showers in that time. Matt's company was called Arctic Alpha since the majority of their training spanned the winter months. Matt had to sleep and hike and shoot in cold rain or snow. I am not describing all of this to complain for Matt, but rather to explain why TBS graduation was such an accomplishment. He worked so hard. I am very proud of him. 

We started off the day at the Marine Corps Museum. We visited the museum for Matt's birthday in August, but it looked different filled with hundreds of Marines and their families.

I found my friend Emily among the Marines! We matched!

The graduation ceremony was later that afternoon in Little Hall. Luckily my friend Kristine saved me a seat because it was packed!

Matt looking very sharp in his dress whites. 

The next day we continued packing. We were done with our TBS adventure and ready to move on to MOS school!

The News

We had been waiting for this day for months. The day we learned where Matt's first duty station would be. We had settled into our Virginia apartment, but we knew it was only temporary. We would only live there for a few months while Matt attended TBS. We would live for years at a duty station, and I had favorites among the military bases. The Marines Corps even had Matt rank his preferences, so I had hopes we would be stationed somewhere near the top of our list. My phone rang that evening. It was Matt! I picked up ready to hear the location of our new home. What I heard instead was...

"Do you know my password?"

"What are you talking about?"

"My password. I forgot my password to this site, and I can't see my assignment." 

"Are you serious?"

"Yep. And now I'm locked out."

That's right. We were locked out from trying too many incorrect passwords. We had to wait an hour for the website to reset so we could log on. While we were waiting I had text messages and Facebook announcements from all of our TBS friends with their new duty station locations. I just wanted to know! Especially when some of our good friends got their last choice...Okinawa. 

We were on the website! We read the location of our new home...in a cryptic combination of letters and numbers. The Marine Corps listed locations in code. Matt called multiple people until he found one who had downloaded an app that could translate the code. I was not screaming in frustration by this point, but it was close. So the app told the friend who told Matt who told me that our new home was in (drum roll please) Okinawa!

Okinawa, Japan. As in the military base that is on the other side of the world. As in the military base that cannot be any farther from home because then it would be closer. 

Matt had already researched his new unit. 

"Amanda," he almost screamed. "My unit is called the Iron Fist! How awesome is that!?"

I was less enthusiastic. However, I realized I knew nothing about this island so I turned to google and found this...

www.japan-guide.com

And this...

wikitravel.org

And realized I am moving to a tropical paradise!

Today I am so excited. I can neither confirm nor deny that a few tears were shed at the news, but now I realize the opportunities that Matt and I are afforded by this move. We will travel to countries I never thought I would see in my lifetime. We will have friends already on the island when we arrive. Did I mention tropical paradise?