Birth Certificate

I think I'm starting to get a tiny glimpse of the famous phrase "hurry up and wait" that is used to describe the military at times. Night before last my hubby came and asked me where my birth certificate was and I told him that my parents have it. I've been trying to get it from them for a while now but whenever we are together we always forget to ask them for it. Upon hearing this news my hubby didn't look super thrilled and told me that his recruiting officer had just asked for a copy of it along with a bunch of other documents and they wanted it, like, yesterday. Sigh... Couldn't they have asked for it like a week before they absolutely needed it? At least my parents live in the state so we can get it fairly quickly :)
The  next morning we planned on heading out bright and early to make the 200 mile trip to get my birth certificate. Between my kids being up all night and my hubby needing to submit some homework before we left, it was closer to early-ish when we left.
After a beautiful drive, we made it to my parents house and picked up the oh so needed birth certificate and after giving our girls some time to play with their grandparents and get some wiggles out we headed home so I could make it to my dental appointment on time.

Since we got a late start and had a hard time prying our girls away from their grandparents (who can blame them?) we ended up all going to the dentist appointment! If you've never had a cranky 3 year old and 1 year old waiting in the reception area with your hubby while you have an exam and talk to the dentist about a root canal, you will just have to imagine the chaos!

The aftermath of a crazy morning without a normal schedule and normal naps....

(thing 1)

(thing 2)

The birth certificate has been submitted and now who knows how long it will before they get around to needing it :) I'm not quite sure how I managed to survive 9 years of living out on my own without needing my birth certificate but I imagine that now we are involved with the military it will be one of those things that will be used often so I plan to keep it close by!

Timeline questions for recruiter

Yesterday Scott met with his Recruiter to sign some paperwork and so I jumped at the chance to slip a few of the million questions I have into the meeting. I narrowed it down to 3 questions and Scott agreed to ask the Recruiter about them.

Question #1: what are the guidelines for having a blog about the Military? I would hate to do something that would jeopardize Scott's position or military operations in any way or anything else.
Answer: Having a blog is fine as long as you are very mindful of what to post and are careful about you say. You never know who will be reading your blog. Basically, if you are questioning if you should say something, then DON"T. I also found this guideline online: OPSEC rules

Questions #2: at what point during training will we know where and when our first PCS (Permanent Change of Station) will be?
Answer: The recruiter actually wasn't sure what the answer to this was. He is an enlisted airman and so when he went through training it was slightly different than it will be for an officer. But, never fear I will find that out one of these days and share what I learn. I just downloaded this guide which seems EXTREMELY extensive and I hope it can answer more questions about PCS.

Question#3:  If we sell our house, put our things in storage and I take my girls and go live with family either before or while Scott is gone for training will they still pay to move us to our first base? (I had heard that they will only move you from the address that is on the application for the Air Force).
Answer: If the things are in storage in the same town that we applied from then it shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately I will have done all the work of packing up the house and moving everything into a storage unit. But, I won't have a load it onto a truck for a long haul, they will do that and unload it and move us in when it gets there.

One things that the recruiter did tell my hubby was that once they have moved you into your new housing and unpacked you, you need to remind them to come back the next day and pick up all the empty boxes and packing materials for you.

Overall, I've been impressed with the recruiters willingness and ability to answer my questions however trivial they may seem!

Selection

We submitted our application for OTS last fall and were told that the application would be included in the next round of reviews by the Selection Board which wasn't until Spring. The last few months have been nail biters to be sure!! They don't give you exact date to expect to hear back about whether or not you were selected. They give you a window of dates to expect to hear something, ours was about 4 weeks. Thankfully the recruiting officer called a little over a week into the 4 week time period to let us know that Scott had been selected for the Delayed Entry Program (DEP)! My hubby definitely rocks, he is AMAZING!! The selection process is pretty rigorous and they take a very select few of those who apply. The program that he was selected for has an even higher set of standards that applicants have to meet. It is such a great feeling to see that the United States Air Force recognizes what an awesome man I married! (I knew all along that I had great taste!) I have been super excited and super nervous at the same time as we contemplate this shift in our plans for the future of our family.
Soon we will know exactly what dates he will report for BOT(Basic Officer Training) which is a part of OTS. In the months before then I will be trying to get our house ready to sell, (which will be quite the project, for me mostly, with how busy Scott is with school and work) and become super organized so that when we move, eventually, it will be a smooth transition for everyone and I will be able to focus on settling into and adjusting to a new life and not worrying about where the popcorn popper is, or the girls immunization records, or my favorite books or anything else.

Application Process

The application process was long and a bit grueling for my husband. He needed more documents and information about his past than I thought even existed. Thankfully he had a good Recruiting Officer who walked him through the whole process, so I can't tell you much about that except that there were many long nights filling out paperwork. If you have any questions about what paperwork you will need and what testing your spouse will have to go through, my advice would be to keep in close contact with your recruiting officer and they can answer those questions for you.
One thing to know is that you can apply for OTS (Officer Training School) BEFORE you graduate from college. You have to graduate within 12 months of when your application goes in and you have to provide documentation from the school of what classes you have left, which semesters you will be taking them and the expected date of graduation. This is called the Delayed Entry Program (DEP). delayedentryprogram
As part of the application process my husband did change his major to have a better chance of being accepted into OTS. He only had one semester left before graduating with an accounting degree and on the advice of the recruiting officer he changed his major to a STEM degree. STEM_fields  I don't know if they would have accepted him with the accounting degree, and I guess we will never know. My husband really enjoys the classes for his new degree, so even though it added a few semesters I think it was probably a good switch in the long run.
My hubby did go through several phone interviews as part of the application process and yours will too. My husband made sure he dressed as though he were having the interview in person and went somewhere he could have peace and quiet and focus on the interview. (meaning he definitely couldn't do it at home with our two crazy fun kiddos)

Inspiration

After my hubby and I decided to apply for an officer spot in the Air Force I searched high and low online to find out more information for someone in my position and had no luck. I found some great information from and for wives of enlisted airmen but no luck finding someone who's husband applied to be an officer either toward the end of college or after graduation. I decided to start this blog and document our journey into the Air Force to help out others who find themselves in the same situation. For clarification purposes, I sometimes say we or you and usually I am referring to my husband. For example: "We submitted our application last fall..." I am not the one applying to the Air Force so "we" and "our" really refers my husband.