Hello?

[prettyinpink]

Guys its so dead here! Lets post weekend plans.

Dh is at class and I'm cleaning, doing laundry, and should attempt lesson planning for next week. We are thinking of going to a pumpkin patch this afternoon.

[amaristella]

My husband is leaving the country for a little bit and I'm watching a tropical storm veer out to sea in between DH leaving and my mom getting here. And I'm afraid to dope myself up on wine because I don't want to trip on the stairs or something while taking care of A.

Edit: So I'm probably going to practice some online retail therapy in between trying to figure out what weird shit my son just ate off the floor and spotting him while he crawls up the stairs.

[maebyfunke]

We're hanging around the house watching college football. I'm making enchilada pie for dinner.

H bought nutella, so my guess is that I'll be eating it off the spoon at some point today.

[blueshirt2003]

I'm at the dr getting checked out bc I had a wreck 2 nights ago and I'm feeling the ache now. Fun times!

[blueshirt2003]

Oct 18, 2014 16:47:27 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oct 18, 2014 16:22:42 GMT -5 blueshirt2003 said:

I'm at the dr getting checked out bc I had a wreck 2 nights ago and I'm feeling the ache now. Fun times!

Oh no! Not too much damage I hope!

I feel alright. Got an inflammation shot and waiting on X-ray results.
My car may be totaled. She t-boned my in my driver door. 86 year old woman driving at night.

[maebyfunke]

Oct 18, 2014 16:50:06 GMT -5 blueshirt2003 said:

Oct 18, 2014 16:47:27 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oh no! Not too much damage I hope!

I feel alright. Got an inflammation shot and waiting on X-ray results.
My car may be totaled. She t-boned my in my driver door. 86 year old woman driving at night.

Whoa! Glad you're mostly okay.

[amaristella]

Oct 18, 2014 16:50:06 GMT -5 blueshirt2003 said:

Oct 18, 2014 16:47:27 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oh no! Not too much damage I hope!

I feel alright. Got an inflammation shot and waiting on X-ray results.
My car may be totaled. She t-boned my in my driver door. 86 year old woman driving at night.

Sucks about your car. Glad you're okay. This is why I'm so pushy about families watching after their senior relatives and making sure that when the time comes they are restricted or stop driving entirely. It sucks to have to do that to someone but safety always comes first.

[prettyinpink]

Oct 18, 2014 16:50:06 GMT -5 blueshirt2003 said:

Oct 18, 2014 16:47:27 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oh no! Not too much damage I hope!

I feel alright. Got an inflammation shot and waiting on X-ray results.
My car may be totaled. She t-boned my in my driver door. 86 year old woman driving at night.

Oh no. I'm glad your mostly okay.

[maebyfunke]

Oct 18, 2014 17:26:59 GMT -5 amaristella said:

Oct 18, 2014 16:50:06 GMT -5 blueshirt2003 said:

I feel alright. Got an inflammation shot and waiting on X-ray results.
My car may be totaled. She t-boned my in my driver door. 86 year old woman driving at night.

Sucks about your car. Glad you're okay. This is why I'm so pushy about families watching after their senior relatives and making sure that when the time comes they are restricted or stop driving entirely. It sucks to have to do that to someone but safety always comes first.

I think my 83 year old grandma is still pissed that my mom and her siblings moved her into assisted living earlier this year.

Before that, they pretty much had to disconnect her car battery to keep her from driving. It's so hard to see her lose independence and self-sufficiency, but it's such a relief that we don't have to worry about her hurting others or getting hurt herself anymore.

[ilovecandy]

Oct 18, 2014 14:23:18 GMT -5 amaristella said:

.

Edit: So I'm probably going to practice some online retail therapy in between trying to figure out what weird shit my son just ate off the floor and spotting him while he crawls up the stairs.

I need to scale back my retail therapy but so many cute clothes and shoes.   Happy shopping.  I bought some black boots tonight on amazon.

[ilovecandy]

H got back from deployment a couple weeks ago. And I am super happy he is home, it was probably our hardest deployment to date (this was his third). But holy crap I feel like he is smothering me. I really missed him and all that but he is all up my butt and it is starting to get annoying. People from his work keep inviting us to stuff but we are boycotting because they mishandled something that happened to H and I just can't deal with the people who mishandled it so i am avoiding and H is too. H is working on getting pcs orders and we are just waiting on confirmation right now for the place we picked out of our options.

ETA: His unit does individual deployments so there was like 1-2 other people from H's section out with him but everyone else was back stateside.

[G22]

blueshirt2003 I'm glad your not seriously hurt! I hope you start feeling back to normal soon!

We're going up to Seattle to do some sightseeing tomorrow and I'm also meeting a GBCNer for coffee!

[audette]

Oct 18, 2014 16:50:06 GMT -5 blueshirt2003 said:

Oct 18, 2014 16:47:27 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oh no! Not too much damage I hope!

I feel alright. Got an inflammation shot and waiting on X-ray results.
My car may be totaled. She t-boned my in my driver door. 86 year old woman driving at night.

Yikes!   I hope the x-rays are clear and you heal up quickly.

[audette]

We have a laid back weekend going on. Yesterday we went out on a drive to check out the fall colours, and then had a yummy supper out with some friends.

Today (it's sunday here), I'm baking some brownies for a friend's FRG fundraiser tomorrow, and making two different pasta sauces for the freezer. DH _was_ talking about doing some sewing, but is now feeling a bit lazy, and is thinking about asking someone else to sew for him. I don't have time to sew for him right now, so it's on him to figure out.

[audette]

Oh, I'm also planning an FRG mutiny this weekend...


Whee!

[meltoine]

I spent yesterday parenting solo for the 3rd Saturday in a row because H had stuff to do. Then I got the spend the evening in the ER with him because he has a really bad case of strep that was causing uncontrollable vomiting.

And we got some crazy news about his work that I can't share either, lol

[Dory1988]

We've been riding the Harley with our military "family" all weekend. The rest of today will be spent hydrating and resting because I have my PRT tomorrow morning.

[killercupcake]

Oct 19, 2014 0:34:24 GMT -5 audette said:

Oh, I'm also planning an FRG mutiny this weekend...


Whee!

You know I want the details.

[audette]

Oct 19, 2014 19:09:23 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

Oct 19, 2014 0:34:24 GMT -5 audette said:

Oh, I'm also planning an FRG mutiny this weekend...


Whee!

You know I want the details.

Well, crap. I had a big long novel describing the whole situation, and the err bear ate it.

Basically, we have very few families here, due to the location of the unit. Prior to the current battalion commander (BC), we had a single battalion-level FRG that everyone supported and was part of, and it mostly worked - we could support stuff on base, organize events, etc. Then the new BC came in, and announced we would move it down to the company level. So, suddenly, instead of being a point of contact and forwarding emails and helping with events as I could, I suddenly became an FRG leader. Of a group too small to do anything (or to fully staff an FRG according to the regs).

I'm not the only new "FRG Leader" who is unhappy about this - about 2/3 of us are unhappy with how it has worked out. So, at the next steering committee meeting, we are going to express our displeasure at this, and let the BC know that his decision isn't working.

I don't really expect it to be successful, because the BC is an asshole who doesn't give a shit about the families or what we might want, but I would at least like to try.

ETA: I am trying to find relevant army regs that support my position - the new BC is big on doctrine, and used it (with bright yellow highlighter) to demonstrate why we should move the FRG to the company level...  So far, I'm looking at 600-20, and 608-1.  If anyone else knows of any relevant docs, I'd love to hear it.

[amaristella]

Oct 19, 2014 20:32:16 GMT -5 audette said:

Oct 19, 2014 19:09:23 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

You know I want the details.

Well, crap. I had a big long novel describing the whole situation, and the err bear ate it.

Basically, we have very few families here, due to the location of the unit. Prior to the current battalion commander (BC), we had a single battalion-level FRG that everyone supported and was part of, and it mostly worked - we could support stuff on base, organize events, etc. Then the new BC came in, and announced we would move it down to the company level. So, suddenly, instead of being a point of contact and forwarding emails and helping with events as I could, I suddenly became an FRG leader. Of a group too small to do anything (or to fully staff an FRG according to the regs).

I'm not the only new "FRG Leader" who is unhappy about this - about 2/3 of us are unhappy with how it has worked out. So, at the next steering committee meeting, we are going to express our displeasure at this, and let the BC know that his decision isn't working.

I don't really expect it to be successful, because the BC is an asshole who doesn't give a shit about the families or what we might want, but I would at least like to try.

ETA: I am trying to find relevant army regs that support my position - the new BC is big on doctrine, and used it (with bright yellow highlighter) to demonstrate why we should move the FRG to the company level...  So far, I'm looking at 600-20, and 608-1.  If anyone else knows of any relevant docs, I'd love to hear it.

There's got to be a way to skirt around it. Even if it's unofficial. Like, just happen to have all the new groups share resources and coordinate events together, etc. I say this because no matter what the regs say, the families are not in the military so they can't really tell you what to dooooooo. They're not your momma. Haha.

[audette]

Oct 19, 2014 21:21:21 GMT -5 amaristella said:

Oct 19, 2014 20:32:16 GMT -5 audette said:

Well, crap. I had a big long novel describing the whole situation, and the err bear ate it.

Basically, we have very few families here, due to the location of the unit. Prior to the current battalion commander (BC), we had a single battalion-level FRG that everyone supported and was part of, and it mostly worked - we could support stuff on base, organize events, etc. Then the new BC came in, and announced we would move it down to the company level. So, suddenly, instead of being a point of contact and forwarding emails and helping with events as I could, I suddenly became an FRG leader. Of a group too small to do anything (or to fully staff an FRG according to the regs).

I'm not the only new "FRG Leader" who is unhappy about this - about 2/3 of us are unhappy with how it has worked out. So, at the next steering committee meeting, we are going to express our displeasure at this, and let the BC know that his decision isn't working.

I don't really expect it to be successful, because the BC is an asshole who doesn't give a shit about the families or what we might want, but I would at least like to try.

ETA: I am trying to find relevant army regs that support my position - the new BC is big on doctrine, and used it (with bright yellow highlighter) to demonstrate why we should move the FRG to the company level...  So far, I'm looking at 600-20, and 608-1.  If anyone else knows of any relevant docs, I'd love to hear it.

There's got to be a way to skirt around it. Even if it's unofficial. Like, just happen to have all the new groups share resources and coordinate events together, etc. I say this because no matter what the regs say, the families are not in the military so they can't really tell you what to dooooooo. They're not your momma. Haha.

We'll probably end up doing that if the BC shoots down our proposal.  Right now, we have one unit in the battalion that has an FRG of one.  Literally - she is the _only_ dependant here for that entire unit...  All together, the battalion has about 40-50 families here.  This is not a large pool to draw volunteers from to start with.  To then split things up down to company level is just insane...  So much useless redundancy, just a wasted effort.

[audette]

And the fun part - DH's job is currently one where a functional FRG is part of his eval. If it wasn't for that fact, I'd have washed my hands of the whole mess ages ago...

[audette]

Oct 20, 2014 0:40:16 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oh my God audette. Nothing like a BC who hides behind doctrine to be a shit. I would not know anything about that. At all.











Anyway. I unfortunately am not up on manuals regarding FRG stuff. Good luck!

I was pretty well blown away by the printing out of regs, and then highlighting the relevant sentences with yellow highlighter.  He gave each of us a copy at the meeting where he revamped the FRG to being at the company level...

I'm thinking of making a powerpoint presentation.  That could be entertaining...

[audette]

Oct 20, 2014 0:57:45 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oct 20, 2014 0:51:14 GMT -5 audette said:

I was pretty well blown away by the printing out of regs, and then highlighting the relevant sentences with yellow highlighter.  He gave each of us a copy at the meeting where he revamped the FRG to being at the company level...

I'm thinking of making a powerpoint presentation.  That could be entertaining...

If there's anything a doctrine loving fool will respond to, it's a ppt. Yeesh.

Do things that make sense Sir. The point of doctrine is not to make things harder. Gahhhhhh.

Actually, I think a ppt may be the best way to summarize my thinking on this. Sad, but true.

Gah, I'm a geek...

At the very least, hopefully it will make it possible to bring all the elements of the argument to the table, and not let them get derailed. At the last meeting he kept interrupting me in mid-argument to shoot down the argument, and it was very frustrating.

[audette]

Oct 20, 2014 1:51:23 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oct 20, 2014 1:38:49 GMT -5 audette said:

Actually, I think a ppt may be the best way to summarize my thinking on this. Sad, but true.

Gah, I'm a geek...

At the very least, hopefully it will make it possible to bring all the elements of the argument to the table, and not let them get derailed. At the last meeting he kept interrupting me in mid-argument to shoot down the argument, and it was very frustrating.

Hey, ppts are our bread and butter, I'm not knocking it. I can't believe he'd be so unprofessional with dependents. How disheartening. Let us know how it turns out!

Oh, yeah. I left the last meeting literally shaking, because I was so angry, insulted, and belittled.

Seriously, if it wouldn't have caused problems for DH, I would have told the guy to F-off. I'm still tempted to do it...

Hence the powerpoint - I think it'll make it easier for me to avoid getting emotional. Because I hate this commander with the fire of a thousand suns right now. I don't really expect that to improve tomorrow... I've got the roughed out ppt done now. Just need to review and revise once or twice, and maybe toss a nice style onto it, and print out a bunch of copies for tomorrow...

[amaristella]

I wonder if this is why Navy restructured FRGs to be under the umbrella of Fleet & Family services instead of being officially related to individual commands. Under the new rules commands have no influence over the FRG but the FRG can invite members of the command to attend meetings if they please. Usually to provide information or answer questions that families might have.

[audette]

Oct 20, 2014 15:49:11 GMT -5 amaristella said:

I wonder if this is why Navy restructured FRGs to be under the umbrella of Fleet & Family services instead of being officially related to individual commands. Under the new rules commands have no influence over the FRG but the FRG can invite members of the command to attend meetings if they please. Usually to provide information or answer questions that families might have.

Could be.

I'll admit, the more I learn about FRGs in the Army, the more I think they are fucking nutbar.  They are officially part of the whole command stuff, but entirely staffed by volunteers.  So, if your volunteer options are crap, then you're SOL.  Volunteers are _never_ as accountable as a paid employee, and with something that, in theory, is as important as an FRG, you should have some damn good accountability - it's intended as a mouthpiece for the command during deployments (and at other times).  Come on...  you want accountability for that stuff...

[Dory1988]

Oct 19, 2014 17:22:24 GMT -5 Stan said:

Oct 19, 2014 13:23:22 GMT -5 Dory1988 said:

We've been riding the Harley with our military "family" all weekend. The rest of today will be spent hydrating and resting because I have my PRT tomorrow morning.

Dehydration is a true enemy!

I'm pretty sure that's like the Corpsman mantra, "take ibuprofen, hydrate, and change your socks." If only I had changed my socks maybe my knee wouldn't be so jacked up! Lol.

[audette]

Well, if anyone was curious, the FRG mutiny was about as successful as I thought it would be. I had a nifty powerpoint, and I think that _shocked_ the battalion commander. A couple folks were impressed that I was able to back up my argument with references to SOP and AR regs. But, in the end, it was shot down.

A couple of my friends ended up backtracking on the support they said they'd give my argument at the meeting, and that was _really_ frustrating.

I've decided I just don't give a damn anymore. I'll do what I can. But, I've mentally checked out.


The part that really sucks - the FRG is part of DH's evaluation. So by me checking out, it'll impact that. I am so fucking over FRG-shit.

[amaristella]

Oct 21, 2014 1:05:27 GMT -5 audette said:

Well, if anyone was curious, the FRG mutiny was about as successful as I thought it would be. I had a nifty powerpoint, and I think that _shocked_ the battalion commander. A couple folks were impressed that I was able to back up my argument with references to SOP and AR regs. But, in the end, it was shot down.

A couple of my friends ended up backtracking on the support they said they'd give my argument at the meeting, and that was _really_ frustrating.

I've decided I just don't give a damn anymore. I'll do what I can. But, I've mentally checked out.


The part that really sucks - the FRG is part of DH's evaluation. So by me checking out, it'll impact that. I am so fucking over FRG-shit.

I'm really sorry. And one of the things that bothers me the most is the people who should have backed you up but didn't.