life's reset button

Just a few days ago, I passed 12 months in the U.S., which in my AF experience usually means something is about to massively change.

I generally find it takes at least a year to get to know a new town; learn some streets, get to know the people and neighborhoods a little, get used to my work schedule, make friends with neighbors and people at work, etc. It's nice when you get to that point. There's a sense of familiarity to your home and neighborhood, you can make plans for vacation or social engagements, or find some friends if you unexpectedly get some time off. Things fit.

Before you get to this point, everything is inefficient. Everything you do, you are doing for the first time, so you make mistakes, forget what time the drug store closes and get there too late. You don't know the local slang, what places are busy or slow when, rush hour and the good streets or bad; you have to go exploring a lot and ask a lot of questions. As you can imagine, if you move often enough, you never get to the familiarity point. The town and the people remain strange to you all the time, and the phone book (whether physical or internet) remains a constant companion. Everything has to be planned carefully in advance. Deployments have the same effect.

When you have a deployment or a move coming up, it really changes your priorities. Who's going to spend time buying furniture when you are about to deploy, or move all your crap across country? (Thus my continuing lack of a kitchen / dining room table.) Why buy a new car to let it sit unused and pick up a car payment? Why bother trying to get a date with that woman you just met? You're leaving and she'll be gone when you get back.

As you may have inferred, the Air Force is moving me again. New Mexico this time, my eighth city in nine years. I don't have orders yet, but we (the squadron and I ) are pretty sure I'll have to be there in August. I am so tired of getting good at something and then abandoning it to move and start again at nothing, and of having everything to do with work be last minute, improvisational, and sloppy. I can handle this for a year, or three, but as it's going, I would imagine I could do a full 20 year career and have it be this way the whole time...which I don't want.

Anyway, here begins a series of entries on PCSing.