The Wheel of Where

^^Little Will gazes out over the St. Louis skyscrape, pondering where the Air Force will send us next. Kidding. I think he was taking a break from running around in circles around the steel poles separating areas of the stadium. You know. The ones sprouting out of the concrete. Everyone in the vicinity suffered multiple heart attacks that day. … 

Unlike last time, I haven't been obsessing over the imminent news of where the Air Force will send us next. My brain has just been too busy with other things, which, in my case, is good, because I will obsess and overanalyze amidst all the uncertainty. 

For the record, last time we got the call on a Wednesday afternoon, soooo don't mind me nervously checking my phone every Wednesday. See. I'm doing it again already.

We think we'll PCS again in July 2016. Little Will will be 2.5 and Zelie will be 8 months old. For a while we thought we might be going in January, right around the two-year mark since we've been in St. Louis, but as September came and passed without any news, we are thinking that's pretty unlikely. Three months just isn't enough notice, but—it's the military—I guess you never know. 

When we found out we were moving to St. Louis, it was not on our radar at all. We had never heard of Scott Air Force Base, nor did we really even know where St. Louis was. The entire Midwest was just a big blob to the left in the map in our minds. I'm sorry to admit it. We were geo-centric East Coasters all the way. The Air Force lets you submit a "preference list" of bases or geographical areas where you'd like to go. Obviously, it's just a list of "suggestions" for the higher-ups, and we didn't get assigned a base from our list the first time around. Nevertheless, many of Will's JAG friends have gotten assignments from their lists for their second assignments, so we are allowing ourselves to be a teensy bit hopeful. Our preference list is as follows (and if any of these bases suck, keep it to yourself because it's obviously too late to change anything):

1 - Andrews - ADC (DC Area)

2 - MacDill - ADC (Tampa, FL)

3 - Fort Meade - ADC (DC Area)

4 - Charleston - ADC 

5 - That one base in NC - ADC 

6 - That other base in NC  - ADC 

7 - Dover - ADC (Delaware) 

8 - Langley Eustis - ADC (Virginia)

9 - England/Germany 

10 - England/Germany 

This list is the result of brainstorming from both of us. Not very impressive as we clearly can't remember the details. BUT, we are definitely vying for East Coast near family where we could possibly buy a house, or, you know, a little European jaunt. Why not. 

Will hopes to switch from prosecution to defense counsel (i.e., Area Defense Counsel or "ADC") at his next assignment. They put the more experienced attorneys on the defense side because it's a bigger deal if they screw it up. His hope to be ADC I think narrows down the possibilities (largely based on rumors … all rumors with PCS-news season … all the time), including Tampa and Charleston. 

The rumors that we've heard regarding PCSing include: "a friend of a friend of a girl I knew at JAG School tried to request an additional year at his base and was told everything was 'already penciled in'", "a coworker heard that so-and-so talked with JAX [the headquarters making assignments] but nothing official yet", and "so-and-so heard that JAX called to 'verify" whether so-and-so would take this assignment." 

So basically I know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.  

With both of us preparing for upcoming trials, taking care of the toddler, and the impending birth of our second baby, we are more than a little preoccupied, but it's still exciting knowing that news of where we'll be living next could be coming any day now. That we are still excited about the prospect of packing up all our possessions and starting over in a new house is a good sign, I think. 

And despite our initial "WTF!??!" last time … 

St. Louis has been good to us. 

I will keep you apprised of any developments!