RAD

Return to Active Duty.

 

Life’s been wild. Not only because of recent, and ongoing, (geo)political events – at home and abroad – but in my personal life, too. If you get me going about it, I’ll write a novel. My attempt here will be dissatisfying at best, but brevity is the soul of wit. Or, as we say in Marine aviation: Faster, funnier.

 

Job.

I’m back. Component Code 11. Two-year orders, Tricare Prime, BAH. I even signed (another) DD Form 214 concluding my Reserve work, only to about face a week later and find myself standing in front of my commanding general who delivered my oath of office at my swearing-in ceremony with friends and family watching.

The Marines need officers and my decision to return was good timing. My one year on full-time Reserve orders proved a good probationary period for (re)testing the waters and taught me I liked being back. Yes, there are still things I bristle at and find exasperating on Active Duty, but my ten years in the Reserves also had its frustrations, namely over pay and the ability to ask for more drills (work). In a way, I feel I’ve had the best of both worlds: I’ve split my career nearly in half in each component.

The kicker, and question, is how long I have left. I hit 19 years of service two months ago – how has it been that long?! – and I owe back 24 months with my RAD package, but it would be illogical to retire after that. Technically, I could: end of my payback tour, no obligations left, no school or qualification to complete. But I would have something like 15 or 16 years of Active Duty service under my belt (Reserve years count as partial retirement years if not full-time). As much as I said I wouldn’t stay in the Marines just for the paycheck when I was a midshipmen in college, sacrificing a few more years to guarantee stability before I turn 50 now sounds like a good deal. And 50 no longer sounds so old.

So, while most of my military friends are inviting me to their retirement ceremonies around the country, I’ll be slogging it out for another few years still.

 

Roof.

I bought a house. Well, condo. I’m not a fan of gambling, but I gambled over the last six months. While my RAD package was still making the rounds and my next duty station (Reserve or Active) was uncertain, hubs and I decided to take the risk to go forward with a purchase in our neighborhood. We looked at various options, but realized with the incredibly fast pace of sales around here (like, a week) and our longer-term outlook, buying a new build worked with our schedule the best.

As I never bought a house in flight school or in North Carolina, and moved to England in 2015 when I dropped to the IRR, I haven’t been able to use my VA home loan. Until now. It’s incredibly generous and offers huge flexibility in homeownership. I wanted to have a nest egg to deliver as a down payment, but unless I borrowed from my retirement fund, it wasn’t going to happen. But the VA offers zero down plans and I went that route. Having lived in England with a spouse whose military employer does not have the funds available to offer housing allowance in the range that the U.S. can offer, I felt comfortable knowing my BAH would cover nearly the whole mortgage (at 6.25% interest) and HOA fees. And with the prospect of staying in for the foreseeable future, those benefits would continue, even if we had to rent the condo out if we moved.

We’re still moving into the place; of course we are. The unpacking and organizing (and reorganizing) is relentless. I forgot how much I despise moving, especially with a spouse and two kids in tow. Being single – pack it in a car. But a whole family, plus dog, is just plain work. And I will have technically PCS’d three times in 13 months.

Semper Gumby, us.

 

Spouse.

Can we talk immigration? Can I mention how we’ve now been in contact with one of our senators? Can I say that I’m worried I won’t get to have my husband stay with me when he flies over with our daughter next month? Or, worse, he lands at the airport only to be returned on the very next flight? This is currently our situation despite the fact that we’ve had an application in since November 2024 and are simply waiting for it to be processed. I never dreamed we’d be caught up in immigration drama, but it landed squarely in our laps the last time the hubs came over. Proper ESTA, passport, military spouse ID and all that only barely convinced the Customs and Border Protection officer he was legal to enter. If he, a BBC-speaking Brit and military member, is having this much of a hard time entering the States, I seriously wonder how others are faring.

The silver lining is that his boss is incredibly understanding and flexible, which makes our situation bearable. We’ve had to split the kids across an ocean and two countries, but it’s been working out. The boy is in summer school so I can work and the girl is having copious amounts of glorious cousin and Nanny and Pappy time. Kids are resilient, but the hubs and I both want as much stability in their lives as we can provide. Which is hard to do with dual Active Duty military parents. We all must adapt.

 

Book.

My manuscript is still out there, waiting. My publisher has been patient with me during my life-altering upheavals over the last year, but a new date has been pushed. Early spring 2026. My edits are due in six weeks. There are still so many things I need to do, the biggest of which are reviews. By peers, by people I write about in the book, by the Department of Defense. As this is my first book, it’s all new to me.

It sometimes feels like I’ve had a change of heart. Being on Active Duty at my rank has made me pause and think about what words I’m putting out there. Think about if my stories and opinions on what happened in my life will hurt anyone, even unintentionally. My biggest fear is that the memoir will be taken as “an axe to grind” book. That is not my intention. I have interviewed female military writers, I have read military memoirs, and I have researched writing military memoirs. But I think nothing prepares you for actually doing it. At some point, you need to trust yourself, your account of the facts, and your writing.

My hopes for my book are modest. I wanted to write my story for me, not for others. It would be nice to break even with the publisher so I don’t have to buy back unsold copies. It would be nice to have others read the book and be inspired or warned or even entertained. I doubt I’ll have much time for marketing, even online.

I’m not sure if those around me will view me differently. But I’m also the type of person who stands by her opinion. This is my account and I will defend my presentation. Ultimately, my goal is to have written a book that tells a truthful story about me during one period of my life. Getting the memories down into manuscript form accurately is the hardest part. At some point, a writer just needs to let go.

 

Okay, so this wasn’t exactly brief, but life has been a little busy.