Today is a red letter day, or in a more military color scheme a purple letter day. Purple is the color of jointness, and jointness is the military equivalent of invoking "because I'm the dad, that's why." Jointness ends all discussions by the grandeur of its loftiness. So purple might be an appropriate color because purple is also the color of royalty, another high mark on the totem pole. So I am now a little more joint because today I filled out an Army leave form. Exactly how far down the river have I been sold by the Navy? Farther every day I find out. Army uniforms, Army training, and now Army forms. There is nothing intrinsically bad about filling out an Army leave form (it is a leave form, after all), but it is just one more reminder that the Navy didn't love me enough to keep me. The Navy also insists I fill out one of their (our) leave forms so being joint just means doing extra.
Leave here is a very complex, but desirable, beast. There are several dates of importance. The first is the day you leave your FOB. I imagine that will be a few days before the next important day, the day I fly out of Baghdad. That will be June 23 which is one month from today. But Baghdad international is only international on the scale that Tulsa International is: one country foreign country only. I will arrive in Kuwait, Lord willing, on the 23 and then fly out... later. There are horror stories of being stuck in Kuwait up to five days, but that is not common. I get home and will have 14 days starting the first day for which I am home before noon. So if I get a flight that comes in at 12:01, I get a whole extra day more than if I got in at 11:59.
So there are several days that matter, and I know one of them. I have to fill out forms for services to which I do not belong. But I am still smiling because I am one month away from a day that will mean I only have one more unknown quantity of days before I get to see my girls :)
