Billeting....Homeless Once Again.

I HATE billeting.  There is that strong feeling of belonging NO WHERE when we have to stay in Billeting.  Oh, I am sorry...for all the non-military out there...billeting is a glorified hotel room where military have to stay when they are made homeless due to a PCS.  Trust me, there is NOTHING glorious about billeting.

Our first billeting experience was on our outbound journey after our assignment to the Great White North.  I had never stayed in billeting before.  All I knew was that it had a kitchenette in it due to the fact that people often have to stay there for weeks at a time.  Every single location has a different definition of what appropriate billeting is.  This is further morphed by whatever branch happens to manage the billeting you are assigned.

The Great White North's billeting was a hotel room with a kitchenette in the hall and a bedroom  in the back.  At first, this doesn't sound too bad...if you don't have kids.  But throw a toddler in the mix, and you are going to have an AWESOME time!  Her porta-crib was INSIDE the closet, blocking the walking space around the foot of the bed.  Add to that the fact that she inherited her mother's very light sleeping habits, it made for a nightmare situation.  Middle of the night bathroom runs ALWAYS ran the risk of waking her up.  While we considered having her sleep in the front room, that was immediately ruled out because my engineer had to get ready for work somewhere.  As you can tell, it is with great dread that I think about billeting.

I have many memories about our time in billeting in the Great White North.  During the time we were in lodging, it was the middle of winter, first week of December to be exact.  I was still recovering from C-Diff and was harboring some very ill feelings toward the two military docs who I had my unforgettable encounter with.  I think things wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been -50F outside without windchill.  Being on our way out, we only had one car at the time.  Without argument, my engineer needed it to get to work during his final days in the squadron.  Unfortunately, that mental understanding didn't help the trapped feeling that I had between those four walls.

My Angel and I played, paced, read, played, paced, read some more...  Sometimes she and I would watch some useless television.  To this day, I marvel at the crud that Disney feels our children should be watching!  I have no clue how many times I saw children's shows with random nothingness.  They were the very definition of bizarre.  I actually started feeling really guilty when I would give in to the urge for peace and turn that stupid thing on.  But after hours and hours of entertaining a little one in a single room, the brain HAS to escape for a little bit...or it will BURST!!!

Other times we would both find ourselves seated at the window...watching the snow whirl by.  Honestly, I think the Great White North got all of its snow from neighboring states.  The snow there hardly ever fell beautifully and calmly.  It always came down with a vengeance on a wicked wind from who knows where!  During those seven days in billeting, my Angel and I watched a lot of snow blow in.  The more snow that came down, the more concerned I became that our Nutmeg wouldn't be able to get on the plane.

The temperatures kept dropping while we were in billeting.  The lower they got, the more anxious I became over getting ALL of us on that plane.  Both my engineer and I were worried sick.  There was NO WAY we were going to leave her behind.  We had made the decision do the best we could to get her in the cabin with us on the flight...despite her weighing in at 12lbs (the weight limit is 8lbs).  We searched high and low for a carrier that could fit under the seat in front of us.  Watching the winter weather forecasts made us curse the wait in billeting.  The passing days only brought fouler weather world wide.

It was with a mixture of hope and dread that we checked out of billeting that eighth day.  Loading all we had into the car, we went to Nutmeg's Foster Home and picked her up.  Our journey would be very long...and we were running the risk of not being able to take her all the way through to the Orient due to the severe winter weather forecasts around the globe.  My engineer and I were a bit scared, to say the least.  Though we had done everything that needed to be done for her to clear all the check points, if one flight attendant decided Nutmeg needed to fly in the hold, Nutmeg wouldn't be allowed to fly due to the winter storms that were covering the globe.  With a lot of prayer...we began our journey out of the Great White North to the Orient.