Military Nesties
Smudges*Mom
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
PSA: Reach out to newcomers
Being new at a duty station sucks. If you hear of a couple or family new to your or your DH's unit, reach out to them. Knowing that somebody has bothered to acknowledge them will make their day, and take little effort on your part. Hell, you might even make a cool, new friend.
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Re: PSA: Reach out to newcomers
Amen.
Thank you.
DH and I have been at our base for 8 months and not a single person has welcomed us, it's really depressing to see how people have been treating us. It's like we have leprosy or something, everyone hasn't been welcoming and we can't wait to get off this base!
We need more people to take a stand and be welcoming, it's ridiculous.
Did the Army even bother to set you up with a sponsor?
I'm sorry things are crappy right now.
I keep hearing about this elusive thing called a "sponsor". Still haven't seen one, after three PCS moves... Maybe on the next one.
Sorry, yes, DH was assigned a sponsor. The first one disappeared, and DH was assigned a new sponsor. All he did was get us our APO box and pick us up at the Welcome Center. I have not heard from his wife (and he does have one), and when DH asked him questions, he was unable to provide any info of worth. I'm more than disappointed. I've told DH that if/when he hears of new folks, he must get me in touch with them. I will NOT allow another family to feel like I do. I'm hoping it will get better once DH is done with in-processing, especially since the unit is deploying.
I'm frustrated because things are more difficult than they have to be. We are relatively isolated in the new hotel, which is lovely, but farther from the city (restaurants and other goings on) and uphill from the commissary. We are not allowed to drive yet because we have not passed our military drivers exam. Yet, the shuttle bus does not run on weekends. We ended up taking a taxi. I'm not sure what car seat laws in taxis is here in this country, but the driver took us where we wanted to go.
As I mentioned in another post, we went to get cell phones. Evidently, DH will receive a briefing this coming week about cell phone options--more than a week after our arrival. Really? That's piss poor scheduling. We tried to but my phone, but did not know we needed DH's orders AND a local bank account. No phone for me. DH did get a phone since he's just using a pay as you go until he deploys. Here I thought I was getting my first iPhone. . . No phone for me.
Housing? Our contact person at the off post housing office seems to find her job a chore. Evidently helping service members and their family actually find housing is much more difficult than I would imagine. When I could not provide exact property codes, she acted offended. Sorry, how 'bout you use that computer to sort through the available properties on the newly updated database and offer suggestions. One property that I'm very interested in, she tried to dismiss out of hand. It's downtown. She said the word downtown like it tasted bad! Ugh.
I know things will get better. I'm just feeling the effects of living in hotels for three weeks (and counting), jet lag, (PMS), and wanting to feel more settled. I wish we could be even one month farther down this road. Oh well. As I said to my dear, dear husband, nobody ever died from moving (in current times).
That sucks for you both. I can't imagine moving to a new city without some guidance let alone another country.
Stupid Army.
The second someone relevant asks you how the acclamation process is going I'd read them back your reply to me, Smudges.
I don't know if it's an Army thing but I do know that when H (AF) got here his sponsor (AF) spent some time helping him figure out the base and different things and all the guys in sponsor's office (Army) were giving him crap about hand-holding and babying... Sponsor guy got in a couple fights about how the Army doesn't care as much about their people (not my opinion, I don't know enough about it, don't jump on me)
That was nice to be acknowledged and welcomed!
I changed my name
Been there. 5 long weeks in TLF. I'm sorry it's so rough for you. All it can do is improve, though.
I will say that our sponsor was quite good. They got us lots of food to start off. And they even lent us a car until we could get our licenses (a week or two later). We didn't click really as friends, but that wasn't their fault.
I like to think we were decent sponsors, too. We really appreciated the food thing and did the same for them. And we had them over for dinner with some of the other people in the squadron. The hard part is the divide between singles, couples, and couples with kids. If you tell me, as a child free couple, to sponsor a family with 3 kids, there's going to be a limit to my helpfulness.
I hope that things get better when DH is done in-processing. Though, the unit is away for several weeks at training, so, I think that I will be waiting for a while. Fortunately, I know it's up to me to build a life here. I'm just frustrated because it's proving to be more difficult than it has to be. But, soon enough, we'll have our licenses and get our vehicle. That will help tremendously.
We've been in hotels for nearly three weeks (two weeks in VA and almost a week here). The length of time here at Lodging depends upon how quickly I can find us a place to rent. There aren't many options for what we want and where we want. We want a 3 bedroom/1.5+ bathroom ten mile or less from post, but for the right location, we'd take a 2 bedroom/1.5+ place.
Ladies, thanks for reading and responding. I know we'll be fine, but there are difficult days. Today was one of those. Tomorrow will be better!