After untold years of paper processing, waiting, and resubmitting, Erik the Younger’s military retirement is finally about over.\u00a0 According to Tiffany, the official date for it to start is December 13th of this year, or about a month away.\u00a0 I say it took untold years, because he started the process so many times, and then had to start again.\u00a0 So to be fair, let’s say it took 3 years, because it was in process when he deployed for the last time in 2010.\u00a0 He went even when it was medically wrong.\u00a0 He went back even after he nearly died of pneumonia in the spring of 2011, a few scant months after his arrival in the treacherous mountains of the Hindu Kush.<\/p>\n
So we should be grateful to the military for finally getting its act together, after this momentous effort on Erik’s part.\u00a0 We should be grateful that they’ll give him a monthly stipend in exchange for all he endured, physically and emotionally, in those horrific places.\u00a0 So are we grateful?\u00a0 I suppose we are.<\/p>\n
But Erik’s story has a happy ending because he has a wife that is a magnificant combination of attributes that buoyed him in the lows, chided him when it was needed,and\u00a0 kicked ASS when the army treated him shabbily after his return from Kunar Province.\u00a0 So I give credit where it’s due: to Tiffany Drewniak Cloud Olson – my heroine of the millenium.\u00a0 And – to his credit – that wonderful son of mine knows he has a jewel in that woman, and treasures her beyond the spoken word.\u00a0 So thank you, Tiffany D.C. Olson.\u00a0 You are the best daughter in law a mom could ever wish for.<\/p>\n
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After untold years of paper processing, waiting, and resubmitting, Erik the Younger’s military retirement is finally about over.\u00a0 According to Tiffany, the official date for it to start is December 13th of this year, or about a month away.\u00a0 I … Continue reading