Oath and Contract

I took my oath Jan 8th.  My uncle, a retired MAJ, was able to swear me in.  My cousin (picured above on the left) along with lots of family members, friends, and some work colleagues were there, had some cake and soda after and then family and close friends took me to a nice dinner. 

   In the past people took the Oath and signed a Letter of Intent stating they will serve active duty ect. and attend BOLC.  Now they have changed that up a little bit.  So when you take the oath the first time (yup you caught that...) it is to get into the IRR (Individual Ready Reserves)  at this point you sign your contract (was surprisingly simple since I didn't have any incentives, waivers, or tattoo's) and then you are put in the system to receive orders.  So right now that is the next step, to wait until I get orders to BOLC and then the follow on PCS orders.  I've decided I will most likely do a full service army move, so the only things I am packing up are items to take to BOLC, and I will be leaving a few things at my friends house (Jewelry and stuff I wouldn't trust sitting in storage and having others move around for me).  I also have had to figure out where my dogs will stay while i am at training.... Honestly this was the  biggest challenge... So far it looks like a friend can take one of my dogs, and the other will be going into long term boarding....  I found a wonderful place that specializes in this

http://www.dancingcreekfarm.com

I made a reservation and down payment... I like the fact they don't isolate the dogs and allow them to play and interact with people also, and they have a webcam so I can see whats going on.  Well sorry the updates aren't that interesting right now, but I'm just hanging out and waiting.  I've found some interesting things when I get my orders in that will reduce interest on credit cards, student loans, car loans, and is the official way to get out of  lease without penalty.  It is called the "Service members civil relief act" (SCRA)  the site below has a good overview to figure out what (if any) applies to you.

http://www.military.com/benefits/military-legal-matters/scra/servicemembers-civil-relief-act-overview.html


Also found some nice templates of letters to inform whoever of need to break the lease, here is one example:

http://www.dix.army.mil/LegalOffice/files/LEASETERMINATION.pdf

Until things get more interesting, hope everyone is having a good 2016!!

Scroll Pending and Swearing in

So I haven't updated this in a while, pretty much because there was nothing to update.....  Scroll finally went through and this Friday I will be swearing in.  When this happens there will also be contracts and other forms for me to sign, i'll write about that when I get a look a them and know exactly what they are.  Otherwise I managed to purchase most of my uniforms in December (Uniforms are tax deductible, so instead of having to wait an entire year, and probably loosing the receipts or just forgetting about them, purchase as much as you can in December and file it on your upcoming taxes!) They will give a one time $600 stipend, which isn't much considering the number of uniforms you need to purchase for training (think between $1100 to $1800)  depending if you have things you can use already..... Have I mentioned I didn't even own a single pair of regulation socks.... yup had to purchase EVERYTHING... and it was painful.  The $600 will cover your dress ASU, if you get the bare bones quality one, but if you think you will be wearing it a fair amount then you may want to consider an upgrade in material, Marlowe White is a great option.  The other issue I encounters is my height, i'm 5'9" and female, long arms and legs so need to find longs and extra long in almost everything.... PT clothes do not have this option so my long sleeve PT shirt is a medium, and it looks like i'm swimming in it.... but the smalls look like I shrunk the shirt while doing laundry....  That's it for now.  Hope this is helping someone??