Even better than math news...

...is Army news! Or not. I joined the Army on 8 Sept 2003. For three years. Which means I'm done...well, heck, I was done 7 Sept. Now, depending on the 90-days-post-deployment stop-loss counts from, that could have been pushed back as late as maybe 16 Sept. Whatever - the date has passed.

So I got a letter in the mail on Saturday.



In case it's not clear, that's a letter from the US Army command to which I belong, explaining that since I'm not qualified for the position in which my unit currently has me slotted, they've administratively transferred me to some "holding pool" so I can be sent to school and, as the letter cheerfully points out, cleared for deployment.

[insert sound of me pounding my head against the wall]

OK, here we go:
1. I am out of the Army
2. I am a fully qualified Civil Affairs Specialist. I was one of our goddam class honor graduates. Just because I've submitted no fewer than (3) and possibly as many as (5) official "request for award of MOS" forms and the Army has IGNORED them all...well, not my problem. It certainly didn't seem to be a problem when I did the job for a year in IRAQ.

This, of course, required a phone call. I talked to a very nice civilian at Ft. Bragg, who understood and agreed to transfer me back to my most recent unit, with a notice that I need to be processed OUT, not sent to a school I've already completed.

As I pointed out to Mr. Abby, I may very well have enough time to RETIRE by the time I get these people sorted out.