so my dh came home yesterday and told me he may be leaving for a year tour back to the damn sandbox on an IA:wowsers. I think IAs are such bullshit and unnessessary but for some reason the navy thinks that they need to have them. Hes been gone waaaaaaaay more than hes been home in the last 5 1/2 years and his last deployment was to Iraq..( he was a gunner in a humvee over there). Well, he hasnt even been on shore duty for a year yet! :vent:vent:vent:vent I dont think sending ANYBODY over there for more than 6 months is a good idea.:irked I really dont know how some of yall make it with your dh being gone for 15 to 18 months. Thats bullshit too. All we can do is just hope that he dont have to go. IAs are sporatic and can come at anytime with just a few weeks in advanced notice. sometimes its better to volunteer for one and not be voluntold because usually the volunteers IA is shorter. Also if theres a bunch of rates at the command and they pick someone to go in that rate if someone else in that rate steps up and says they want to go then they can do that.However, my dh is the 1 of the only 2 general billots that the IA is calling for at his little command. Its a seabee shore command. The other commands that are part of his command but on different bases are having a huge problem with thier general billot guys doing extreme shit to keep from going and I think thats so pussified. My dh isnt the type to do something stupid like that to not go.. no he will suck it up and go no matter what and he'll be a man about it. He did say he thinks chief is gettin a little ahead of himself because he dont have anything infront of him yet so that is a little piece of goodnews. :dunno

I am kind of worried that DH will be sent IA when he gets to his next command. I'm trying not to worry,but its hard not too.

Well thats where Im at too. I dont want to get all worked up over it yet but I cant help but wonder. I think its such bullshit because thats why its called SHORE duty and I feel like hes been on sea duty for the last fuckin 5 years and he deserves time at home with his family. I feel like hes earned it. I also think its bullshit because your telling me they cant find a body to fill that position thats already over there??????? Most of them are to support the army. It might be doodeling on paper or something like that so they are going to drag him away from his family for a year or more for that shit? thats why I think they are bullshit. But the big navys priority right now are IAs. I just hope to god it doesnt happen and I hope that his SWCC package gets submitted soon because once he gets orders to coranado he wont be elilgable for an IA.

the reason the navy has the IA drawing is because not enough people were volunteering to do IA tours in Iraq.

Dh is on a IA tour in Iraq right now, so I totally know how you feel. I know there are some other ladies here going through the same thing.

This deployment is only 8 months for us, including the 3 weeks of training in SC.

:goodluck I sure hope that he doesn't have to go!!

I was worried when dh came home and said the same thing. This was just a month after checking in to shore duty. I was pretty freaked about it, but now I have just accepted that it is part of the job and we will deal with it if it comes our way.

DH just put in a volunteer packet for IA duty. I am so not looking forward to this. He was told as soon as he has his passport, he will be on the next trip out. :sigh

They are pulling from the shore billets, especially commands that show monetary and manhour savings. Hubby's last command was the first one they went to every time at Jax for IA's and he was down to 12 people from 30 under him because of IA's.

My dh is currently IA and unfortunately, it seems at one point or another. My dh was in an instructor billet, on shore duty and they took him.. Honestly NO ONE is safe....

yeah Great Lakes they were pulling in from check in. it was part of your check in actually to fill out IA info. they are pulling from ships that are deploying as well. two guys just got yanked off my DH ship weeks before they left on cruise. my DH would be absolutely USELESS on the ground he would be a danger to others around him. but Josie since josh has already gone that is a bunch BS that they can pick him again like that!

My DH volunteered for an IA so he wouldn't be sent on a longer one. Sometimes it is best to volunteer for one of the shorter ones.

my brother did that for the air national guard my DH volunteered for Gitmo but got passed over and his name came up 3 times after that though.

well i wouldnt be so pissy if it was 6 months.. but this shit is like a year or more! he said he most likely wouldnt be doing anything as dangerous as he was last time so that makes me feel better but not really. He would've volunteered probably if they would've had a group of general billot guys wich is non seabee rates since its a seabee shore command and he wasnt submitting his specwar package so soon. But like I said those pussys are breaking thier own legs and stuff to keep from going so it basically leaves it between him and this other dude. chiefs not even positive about it yet. I wish he wouldnt say shit until he was positive all it does is gets people all upset. I dont know how I'll handle another iraq deployment. I thought I did well when he was there and it didnt hit me til he got home at how bad i really took it. I think they should send someone that hasnt had thier turn there yet.. but thats just the selfish side of me not wanting my husband to leave! all we can do is pray that theres not one for him.. and if there is that someone else goes.

Any idea if undermaned rates get sent for IA's? I know his rate isnt currently a loud to to be recruiters or rdc's because they cant do anything out of rate, is there still a possibility that he will be sent on an IA?

Any idea if undermaned rates get sent for IA's? I know his rate isnt currently a loud to to be recruiters or rdc's because they cant do anything out of rate, is there still a possibility that he will be sent on an IA?

I would say the chances are smaller, but nothing is set in stone :dunno

Needs of the Navy :wink

That is one of the many reasons why my DH got out of the military. I really hope your DH doesn't have to go! Lots of :goodvibes

I would say the chances are smaller, but nothing is set in stone :dunno

Needs of the Navy :wink

Hrm well maybe that will be ONE plus of my husbands rate, since i cant find many other reasons to like it lol :arg

My fiance is going to be IA..but I think it's a little different. He is a navy corpsman fleet marine force (FMF), so if he deploys, it's most likely going to be with marines. He volunteered for it.

I'm sorry he's been gone so much. Keep us updated :hugs

My dh is currently IA and unfortunately, it seems at one point or another. My dh was in an instructor billet, on shore duty and they took him.. Honestly NO ONE is safe....

DH is on shore duty and an instructor billet also and has only been at this command for 8 months and for the past 3 months has been told to be ready cause IA was coming. Well about 3 weeks ago, he came home and it is official that he is going IA. It will be 11 months but that is including 3 months training in Texas. So it is anyone who they need!!!

Any idea if undermaned rates get sent for IA's? I know his rate isnt currently a loud to to be recruiters or rdc's because they cant do anything out of rate, is there still a possibility that he will be sent on an IA?

at this point anyone can be pulled for an IA tour. it's the luck of the draw so to speak. also things can change in a few months they might start getting more recruits in with that rate so the undermanned become less undermanned.

I think it's bullshit too. My dh narrowly missed going over there for 18 months on an IA a few years back.

I can't wait for my dh to retire soon. Shore duty is gone and that is bullshit!!

My dh is over in Iraq right now.. IA all the way baby!! He has spent the last five years plus on sea duty but it doesnt matter. Things are going well... it isnt the funnest thing to have happen.. but what can you do?

My DH is taking a IA to Iraq this spring. It's 6 - 7 months. I'm not overly thrilled, but we will deal I guess. I'm trying not to think about it at this point. We will be going to Virginia Beach, buying a house, and then off he goes.

this was another factor in our decision to get out, they are pulling them off ships as well so its not just shore duty. a few guys from my DH's division got pulled before cruise how insane is that?? i mean they were going on cruise anyway but now they are in the sandbox i guess when we joined the navy we thought water not dirt! his rate is very sea intense he is absolutely useless on the ground and 3 months of training isn't enough to get him ready for any type of battle. i just hope that we can finish out our sea time and get out and be done with it unscaffed.

Oh i hear you there Taressa. Joshs first tour with the bees and he got picked up for TMT wich is the convoy team he was on and he only had 2 weeks of training.

My DH's been IA and it's not too bad, except the command didn't know what to do with me lol. He's where? is what I got a lot.

Well, it just depends on the IA on to how great it is. If its a 6 month IA .. I could deal with that.. just another deployment right?? but when you start talkin 12 or more months..thats where it gets uneasy to me. But as of right now my dh says we dont have anything to worry about so thats good. I mean if it ends up happening then it ends up happening and we'll just have to deal with it but I sure as hell aint gonna be smilin about it.

My dh is planning on volunteering for IA after his time is up at this command. According to him they are planning on making it mando for all Navy to do IA atleast once while they are in so he wants to get it over and done with before they tell him to go.......ofcourse he knows that they may not be the only time, but then again you just never know.

Also, if your SO's have yet to go IA or are being told they may have to go IA does not mean they will go to Iraq or another place like that. One guy at dh's command just finished a year(I think it was)IA in Germany and apparently there are some that are doing their IA in other not so hostile places.

yeah they had a whole thing on it in the navy times, lots of people are going to africa right now too. my brother is going some where near s.america.

Well, it just depends on the IA on to how great it is. If its a 6 month IA .. I could deal with that.. just another deployment right?? but when you start talkin 12 or more months..thats where it gets uneasy to me. But as of right now my dh says we dont have anything to worry about so thats good. I mean if it ends up happening then it ends up happening and we'll just have to deal with it but I sure as hell aint gonna be smilin about it.

I smiled about it cause I had kids that had never been through a deployment. I didn't want them to be scared. And I didn't want to drive myself crazy. Yeah I cried. Husband going to the sandbox will do that but it's honestly not that bad. We have our guys back after 12-15 months. Lefty didn't see her dh for 2 years.

I notice it says gulfport by your name. We just came from gulfport. I am also from the coast. I guess it would depend on where he was at also on how I took it. 2 years!!! thats some fuckin bullshit right there. my friends husband went blue to green recently and he just got sent over on a 15 month tour. I dont think anybody should have to do that long in the desert. Anything over a year is just absolutly un nessessary to me. IAs are to anywhere but honestly the majority of them are to the desert and that sucks ass. and they are making them mandatory to where you go on one enroute to your next seacommand.

Yeah it sucks but what can you do? We actually live an hour and half north, you couldnt pay me to live in Gulfport right now. I'm from here and I'm partial to my target lol.

oh so you live in the burg area. Gulfport is okay..theres a target in Slidell. Only takes about 30 minutes to get to. Oh and Olive Garden in Slidell too ;-) If we get to come back to MS if my husband gets stationed at SB22 we'll live more towards Slidell..preferably north of 1-10 out in the country but not too far from civilization LOL. yeah.. parts of Gulfport are so nasty and it was nasty before Katrina.

yeah we thought about slidell but it's cheaper up here. Schools are better too. And I was going to USM so it was easier to live up here.

DH is due to call for orders early next year. He has already been told that he is more than likely going to get sent IA before he gets his next orders. He was told all IA billets will be filled before regular orders are given out- Navy wide, until April (I think) of next year. He's looking at a year if sent to Iraq or Afghanistan but he can also volunteer prior to being assigned and choose his location so he is aiming for one that will require only 6 months.

DH is on his 2nd since 2005. Said something like...honey, its better to pick the time then to be picked by others. Yea, yea. Deployment is 6 monhts, yet you got that few months before an a few weeks after to bump it to 10 months.

I did read that they are going to attempt to reduce Army deployment to 12 months....bet that is some great news for a few of you ladies.

aint that the truth. I was lucky when I met my dh his ship was falling apart and just about to decomission so i only had to deal with that one deployment and just a few short work ups... like the most a week. but before I met him that damn ship stayed gone so long it would come home the day before they wouldve got the sea service ribbon stay in a week or two and leave again!! and thats how it is on most ships and then they pull in for a week or two and go on a damn 6 monther! so yea that shit adds up. With the bees it was alot nicer because when he was home he was home til FEX ( field excersise) wich lasted 2weeks to a month and that was it til he deployed. They are 6 gone and 10 home. He didnt have any other special schools to go to.theyd go to the range and make a day of it and be home by 5 when they needed to qual with the M-16s and AR-15s etc.. so I couldnt complain there. I got spoiled there. I guess i just think its bullshit because I feel like he earned his shore duty you know? He put in alot of away time and he finished his sea tour and I think that hes deserving of some time home. Not just for me but for him too you know? But o well fuck it. There aint nothin I can do to change the way it works. My dh said the same thing though .. better to volunteer than be voluntold!

It is crazy. We just got orders here to Bangor WA from Yorktown VA. We were really worried about an IA. But just one day the new orders came for WA. When DH told me I didn't believe him. I thought for sure he was going to do an IA. Go figure?

Yeah, I think Navy IA's are the biggest bunch of bullshit. My husband is fixing to come off of 5 years of sea duty. He has been in the Navy for a little over 10 1/2years, and 8 of them will have been at sea, and his 3 year shore duty was recruiting which as any recruiters wife or SO will tell you, recruiting is NOT shore duty, and they are saying he will porbably have to go IA if he does, ummmmm :bs not happening. He will get out and lose his 11 years if they make him do that. He has MORE than sacrificed for the Navy, that is one place he refuses to go... so we will see what happens :sigh

my DH is a Seabee too. Hes up for renlistment with two more years actually at his current command. He is negotiating if he stays in to come back down here to SD to finish out his sea duty. But he too said he would have to probably go IA when he goes to shore. I swear I would never ask him to get out, but he even said hes seriously thinking it.Also have u heard the latest about their deployments for bees? DH said that cause they are on deployment now, when he gets back instead of 12 months home like they said it will be 9 months in and 5 months out...then after that 12 months in! I swear.

yeah they had a whole thing on it in the navy times, lots of people are going to africa right now too. my brother is going some where near s.america.

:truesign My DH is there right now on an IA. He left on New Years. His IA was only supposed to be for about 4-5 weeks. Now they're saying he won't be back until the middle of March. Now I know it's no where nearly as bad as a 12 month deployment, but try telling that to my 3 year old DD that tells me about 10 times everyday how much she misses her daddy.:tears

Cheryl

my DH is on the list to go IA...:sigh when he told me they asked i got so mad not at him just mad in general he is on a list and i guess they draw to see who goes or something like that:confuzzle i don't know IF he is going or not. his contract is up in 09...he WANTS to go though!!! the only reason he never volunteer is because he gave me his word that he wouldn't when we were dating, now we are married and he didn't volunteer, he was asked and he said yes- what else could he say??? i hope he doesn't go i know it's selfish but i just want him safer....

DH starts his new job, dealing with IA's on Monday. He's basically the one who gets a call saying we need this many people for billets.. then he has to go to each shop within the command and request personnel. Each shopmaster then makes a decision on who'll go, or asks for volunteers.. It's no longer a lottery deal at this command.

I hate the whole idea of IA...

My dh just got orders to be deployed to Djibouti, Africa very soon. I don't quite understand how they can take a sailor, who's specifically trained for submarines and sea duty, and send him to the middle of the desert. He's also on shore duty... he spent nearly 5 years on a sub, of those 5 years he was only home maybe not even a total of 6 months thanks to numerous underways and deployments. IAs aren't fair, but this is military life... expect the unexpected. Since he's on shore duty, we thought we were clear of deployments, which is why we started having kids... now I'm due a month after he leaves. Thanks Navy, I appreciate you taking my husband while I stay home to have a baby by myself and then somehow take care of a toddler and newborn by myself :vent. But whatever... thank God my dh gets out within a few months after coming home. It still sucks though. PLUS since he's an IA, that means he's not with a boat or anything so I have no family support groups or ombudsman or anything.... anyways, I just joined this group, and I glad I found it, it's hard finding Navy IAs in my area.

My dh just got orders to be deployed to Djibouti, Africa very soon. I don't quite understand how they can take a sailor, who's specifically trained for submarines and sea duty, and send him to the middle of the desert. He's also on shore duty... he spent nearly 5 years on a sub, of those 5 years he was only home maybe not even a total of 6 months thanks to numerous underways and deployments. IAs aren't fair, but this is military life... expect the unexpected. Since he's on shore duty, we thought we were clear of deployments, which is why we started having kids... now I'm due a month after he leaves. Thanks Navy, I appreciate you taking my husband while I stay home to have a baby by myself and then somehow take care of a toddler and newborn by myself :vent. But whatever... thank God my dh gets out within a few months after coming home. It still sucks though. PLUS since he's an IA, that means he's not with a boat or anything so I have no family support groups or ombudsman or anything.... anyways, I just joined this group, and I glad I found it, it's hard finding Navy IAs in my area.


First of all, welcome to the group! I'm so sorry that you're going through this. Please know that you're not alone. My DH is IA right now in Africa, although he's not in Djibouti. I agree that it does suck when you don't have a family support group that's going through the deployment with you. You should still have the same ombudsman, I think. There are a lot of great ladies on here that will give you TONS of support.

PM me if you ever need to talk!

Cheryl

First of all, welcome to the group! I'm so sorry that you're going through this. Please know that you're not alone. My DH is IA right now in Africa, although he's not in Djibouti. I agree that it does suck when you don't have a family support group that's going through the deployment with you. You should still have the same ombudsman, I think. There are a lot of great ladies on here that will give you TONS of support.

PM me if you ever need to talk!

Cheryl

Thanks for the welcome :) My dh is currently on shore duty and doesn't even have a family support group through his office (there's only about 10 guys in his office, most of them aren't even married), so we don't have an ombudsman. I heard that our base is starting up IA meetings for wives, so I have to look into that... I need some sort of local support, you know?

I'm really sorry :( It's a hard thing to deal with, all the way around. I don't envy anyone whose significant other is deployed at all, but especially over there. It's just the hardest and crappiest part of this life... the worry and everything that comes with the IA's and deployments.

Thanks for the welcome :) My dh is currently on shore duty and doesn't even have a family support group through his office (there's only about 10 guys in his office, most of them aren't even married), so we don't have an ombudsman. I heard that our base is starting up IA meetings for wives, so I have to look into that... I need some sort of local support, you know?

I would definitely go to the IA meetings. :yes You could probably meet some others that are feeling the same way that you are. You could start your own support group.

My hubby volunteered for an I.A. rather than retire....after 25 years of service with 18 years of sea duty and 11 deployments....but it's something he felt he was obligated to do, take a turn, that sort of thing....and no it didn't make it better and it still stinks but you have to make the best of it. His I.A. started with 5 months of training then 1 year in the box. His training was at Fort Bragg, 3.5 hours from our home. He only made it home about 6 weekends in all. I'll be happy when the Fall comes....

AS FAR AS I.A. SUPPORT! I too was in the barrel of fish, navy wife with no support group. SO...I got on the phone, called around, started my own Yahoo Group...got all the names of the other I.A. navy wives. I learned alot and I have ALOT of info I would love to share with anyone intersted. So PM IF YOU WANT this info.....

:hugs