A few random people have mentioned how helpful my blog has been as they've been getting ready to move their family to Korea, and to help them find things to do here. To those people, I share this helpful tip as you are getting ready to leave Korea.

You will go to the transportation office to set up your flight arrangments to go home. Any date they tell you will be exciting to you. However if they offer you a date that is more than 4 days from your DEROS date, however tempting it may be, do not take it. No one will tell you then, and no one from transportation will even know of their mistake, it will be your batallion who will realize once you're outprocessing that your flight is too early, even if by one day. They will then say you cannot fly on that day, but there will be no space A flights left in 4 days before or after your DEROS date. You will then have to jump through hoops to get an exception to policy to fly commercially and hope that the O-6 who ends up with it on his desk will sign it, or who knows when you'll be leaving.

Never mind that you have movers scheduled to come in 4 days, and there's a federal holiday coming up where no one will want to look at your papers, and that you have all your hotels already arranged in Korea and America.

True story. This is how it goes in the Army. They tell you one thing is okay and then turn around and tell you it's not.

So my countdown to flying to America is most likely wrong. Not sure when we're leaving, but somewhere closer his DEROS which is July 17th. At this point we are just planning on having our movers come on the 5th still, moving into the Dragon Hill Lodge on the 6th, and instead of staying there 5 days, we hope to stay there until our new flight date is decided. That would be the easiest, but they could disapprove our request to stay in the dragon that long... but I don't want to think about that right now...  happy thoughts!