THAT Spouse

Friends, family and distinguished guests:

PLEASE do not let me be "that spouse". You know the one, or maybe if you are not familiar with the military you do not know the one. Let me explain...

There are actually several I am currently dealing with. They are:

--Completely dependent. She speaks very little English, has no drivers license, and expects someone to pick her and her 3 children up and find some car seats for them, and transport them to the welcome home ceremony. What?!

Know-it-all. She leaves these kinds of comments on the facebook page:
--OK can someone please explain, just got a call saying Main Body 3 is coming at 0530 hrs Monday, now this says 1200 hrs? Can someone please let me know which is correct!!
--I sure wish they would make up their mind, too many different times going around!!
--no my husband is on MB3 and it hasn't happend yet, they just keep tellin different people different times, just talked to my frg leader and she said 530 monday morning for MB3
--Well, just want to say, the hotline says 1200 hrs for mb3 so same as here but I sure hope that they clarify and have people call people back cause with this much misinformation going around someone is going to miss the ceremony. My question is, If I went by what I was told on my phone call and didn't have facebook, how would I know? Technology is great, but we can not rely on facebook for something this important!!!
--OK, its either 1200 hrs or 1230 hrs. and i am sure it will change fourteen times between now and then!!! Just want it over and them home. I know that everyone on Rear D!, and Karin and FRG people are crazy, just know we are venting and going crazy too!!
Someone else says:
--That is why we have the hotline number for people who dont have Facebook...
**Back to Know it all**
--This is not my first deployment its my fourth and I am not fussing at anyone particularly. I just personally feel that although initially the hotline sounded like a good idea at first and this sounded good at first that i much rather they wait till 24 hours ahead till when they are pretty definate about the time and day and call. Call me old school but regardless of what the hotline says or what it says on here, until I get a call I might as well be clueless.
**Little bit of redeeming posting**
William, Thank you for working hard. I do know how often it changes.
--I dont know for sure about mB5 but since 4 comes tomorrow 5 wont be far behind i would say wed or thurs at the latest
(and just so you know, this was ALL posted over 24 hrs prior to the arrival of MB 3 or MB4. So it isn't as though it was all changing at the last minute!)

Then, there is the "Always-Gotta-Be-Bitching-About-Something one:
--Whoo hoo can't wait for MB3. The ceremony was great but I thought at the end you say dismissed not released. The Soldiers don't know what to do when u say release. Please say "dismissed" so the Soldiers know. Thanks. Welcome Home everyone.
**Really? Because they don't know what to do?!?!? *eye roll*

and same one...
--Jaime I am with you. I received my phone call on Thursday and he is not coming home until Monday. I would of rather had a phone call 24-30 hours prior then this 4 days ahead of time stuff and then you sit and wait and then it changes again and again. At least when its 24 hours prior it is pretty much set in stone. This is ridiculous!!!

She meant "would HAVE, not would of..." Well, honey, some people come in from out of town and need to know as best we can speculate, understanding that things may change.

**and regarding the small space that the ceremony is in:
If you are looking at these pictures on FB, they do not do it justice. There is not a lot of room in here, so please bring as little as possible to the ceremony. I have been to all of them **all two that had been there before this message was posted** so far and the flights are going to get bigger (not true, many will be smaller than the one Monday) and there will be wall to wall people. At the last ceremony on Monday morning, we had 230 Soldiers and all their families and we had people sitting on the floor,standing behind the flags that are behind the Soldiers so please be courteous and leave strollers at home, just bring the bare minimum. So this is just a suggestion coming from someone who has been to all the ceremonies so far. **all TWO** Strollers are a safety hazard. People might trip on them or drop something or fall on them. So please just bring what you need that way there is more seating for everyone. Thank you.

** back pedal since someone checked with the command and was assured that strollers were fine!**
Bringing strollers is fine, because you will have to walk to the building from across the street and stuff, but I would leave them outside so it is not such a hazard to everyone. When they release the Soldiers, everyone races down on the floor and we don't want people to trip over strollers and stuff. We do need a bigger building.
Its ok to bring strollers, I was just making a suggestion due to safety. Lots of people bring them in. I was just making a suggestion because the building is small, and when they release the Soldiers and people come flying off of the bleechers and stuff, thats all. I would just bring in as little as possible or what works for you like Kirsten said above. I am just glad that they are coming home and this will all be over very soon.

----

Sorry, I got carried away with the facebook ridiculousness. I just don't understand why people have to get all freaked out and spun up when this should be a happy occasion!

Also...I won't copy and paste them all, but when you are moving nearly 3,000 people across the planet, there WILL be changes in arrivals, there WILL be odd times of the morning, and there WILL be some hiccups. Don't be that spouse. The one who wants to know WHY IS MY HUSBAND's arrival ceremony in the middle of the night?!? The next time I see that I am going to make a fake FB identity and post "because, it is ALL about you and we know you don't want to deal with a middle of the night ceremony so the entire brigade conspired against YOU!" I can't understand these people. Also, don't be the "wth" person or the "1015? That BLOWS!" person. Really? 1015 is midmorning! That's the BEST TIME GOING!
OR, the FRG leaders or others who "just go to all the ceremonies to support the unit" and then bitch the entire time about this, that or the other. Then DON'T GO! You aren't being supportive!

I guess it's okay to be the one who bitches about everyone else. Apparently, I am THAT spouse!

:)