Time was when I told La Taureau I wanted to join the Army, she thought I was joking, going so far as to comment most men who go through a mid-life crisis tend to purchase sports cars, not enlist in the military. Then she was mildly panicked, afraid if I would be stationed somewhere in Texas, to which she said if I were, I would be going alone. She was calmed somewhat by the revelation I was only joining the Reserves, which would allow me to keep my day-job, we could continue living in our current apartment, would only have to report in one weekend a month and two weeks a year, and as fate would have it, I would be attached to a brand new unit that isn't scheduled to be deployed until 2014. By the time I was getting ready to ship out to Basic Training, La Taureau actually said she was proud of me and what I was doing.
Fast forward to now: a few weekends ago was our unit's "Family Day". We could wear civilian clothes and we were encouraged to invite our families to our "drill", which turned out to be a day at the beach, complete with hamburgers, hotdogs, and a tug-of-war contest. La Taureau was excited to meet my fellow soldiers and see my unit, and I was excited to show off my beautiful family. I soon found out how beautiful when, after a few briefings at the unit and we all headed down to the beach, the lieutenant of my company, a mom herself, made a beeline for La Taureau and La Cognilia and gushed about how gorgeous La Cognilia is and how much she adored her chubby thighs. (I don't know what it is, but at least three different women have stated how much they adore La Cognilia's chubby thighs. ??) Even though I was standing right there, for all the notice that was paid to me I could have been a lamppost...
Among other things that day, was a call for volunteers for the Family Readiness Group (a.k.a. FRG). The FRG is made of people, usually family members of soldiers in the unit, who provide a support network for the families ranging from answering questions on deployment, to keeping loved ones in the loop on what the unit is doing, to helping with issues that may arise when the unit is deployed, to raising money and organizing our holiday parties and Family Days like the one we just had. La Taureau, who had long ago decided that it wasn't just me who joined up, but we as a family did, quickly sought out the woman taking the names of volunteers and put her name on the list.
Soon after, she was invited to the first meeting, at which she met the Battalion Commander, the Sergeant Major, my First Sergeant, my Lieutenant (again) and my old squad leader. When I came home that evening, she filled me in on all they talked about, how nice everyone was (Her: "Tom is a really nice guy." Me: "Tom? That's LIEUTENANT COLONEL to me!") and she told me that for the next two drill weekends, she was coming along to help with the snack sales they do to raise money. I will be the only soldier in my unit who gets to bring his family to drill weekend!
Now it's my turn to be proud.
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