YEAH - CAPTAIN CAREER COURSE MOVED

Phil just called stating that he just received an email that his 4187 was approved to move his Captain’s Career Course date from January to May. This is a big deal for us as it means he will be able to be with us for a few of Joshua’s surgeries. We intended to go with him in January, even though it meant Amornthep would suffer a few months without deaf resources. We felt it was more important the family stay together. However, now that Joshua will be with us, as well as Maelynn needing possible surgeries and a cochlear implant, going to Fort Leonard Wood is just not in the cards. Joshua’s medical care is much more severe and will require too many surgeries to move to a base that can not accommodate.


Though the six month separation will not be easy, especially watching six kiddos all by myself running to numerous doctor, hospital and therapy appointments, it can not be helped. The Lord is aware of our circumstance and we are very confident he will help lighten my load during our separation. We are also aware that he will most likely be assigned command of a company that is either deployed or deploying right after Career Course. Therefore, we will be separated another 12 to 15 months. Again, it will not be an easy time, but with faith in our Lord, we will get through these difficult times. For now, we will revel in our 'win' that his career course has been delayed five months. 


Well, a few hours after posting this, Phil contacted me to let me know that he received an email from his Branch stating that he can not go to Fort Leonard Wood (FLW) because it does not have the resources to accommodate our son, Amornthep. We are in the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP), which means that by law, the military has to send you to a base that can accommodate the special needs of your family members. However, this does not mean that you are always guaranteed to stay together as the needs of the Army will always come first.  


FLW definitely does not have resources for the deaf. This we know as I have been battling with the local School Liaison and School Special Education programs at FLW over the past few months. We had always planned to attend Career Course with Phil before our decision to adopt, even knowing that they do not have all the resources for Amornthep, as we felt it was more important that we stay together as a family. Therefore, I have been having discussions with the local school agencies regarding Amornthep and the best they could come up with is having him sit in a room, with a TV monitor, and attend school online with someone that can sign from a school district in another part of the state. NO...I don't think so! Nonetheless, looks like it is a non-issue at this point.


So now they are looking at Phil attending Aviation Career Course at Fort Rucker Alabama, or Maneuver Career Course at Fort Benning Georgia. At this time his Branch needs to investigate which base will best accommodate, if at all, Amornthep's special needs. However, they do not know about the special needs of the children we are adopting and can not research this until they are in the system. Thus, it's a big headache all the way around. We had planned to pretty much stay here while he attends Career Course, but I guess we would have had to submit paperwork to do that anyway. Oh, the joys of being in the military. The disadvantage to this change is that he may not be able to go now until end of year if that, which really puts him behind his peers for Command. The good news is that they are trying to keep us together. Nonetheless, the ups and downs of military life.