Necessary Evil

Being the spouse of retired military has some responsibilities. Responsibilities that I am supposed to remember.

Not A Grampy retired in 2003 and at that time we were issued a "retiree ID". Not A Grampy's expires in 2025, mine expired September 30, 2007. Yup, mine is expired, not good.

Now, I knew it was coming up, but things have just been too crazy. I know not a good excuse, but it is the only one I have.

So today, Not A Grampy and I got up bright and early (5:30 am) to make the trek to the local Air Force Base (45 miles away, one way). Through rush hour traffic heading into a major city here in Florida. They opened at 7:30 am, we left the house at 6:30 am, got there at 7:45 am.

Getting a military ID, whether you are renewing Active Duty, Spouse, Children or Retired, is a pain in the ass. Active Duty Military in uniform have priority, then comes spouses and children. Then retirees. Past experiences have included waiting about 4 1/2 hours for ID cards. Time enough to be able to go and do some shopping in the Commissary. In fact, last time we were there, they had this wonderful clock thing that told you at what time approximately you could expect to be called.

Imagine our surprise today when we walked in, checked in with the nice lady, sat down and were called within 5 minutes. Imagine my shock and amazement when at 8:15 I was out of there with a new ID card and we were on our way back!

Hell, I didn't even get to take that much time off from work. Thanks a lot Air Force!!