"IF YOUR WIFE IS COMING HOME FROM BAGHDAD IN MARCH, RAISE YOUR HAND"

"Not so fast there, Tim".

Gulp! The Stop Loss/Stop Movement (SL/SM) is official.

CPT Patti will NOT be coming home in March. She might be home in late April or sometime in May.

And we are not returning to the USA in April. Now it looks as if it will be sometime in July or August.

I've spent much of the day reading the Army message that announces all of this, then doing some interpretation...swapping email with CPT Patti...and just now she called.

The new plan...she will still relinquish command on 1 March. She's not so wild about that...but I am. From her point of view, if she's got to be there, well, it's good to be in Command. From my point of view, she suffered the stress of moving the unit from here to there. Someone else can be the DBC (Designated Basket Case) to get them from there to here.

She will be reassigned a position on the Providers staff as of March 2d.

Sorry I've been away from the postings today. I've been out in search of silver linings.

You may be happy to know that I've found several.

(You can read the official Army message here.)