REFRAD

Well, I have officially been released from active duty and am now sitting in the Philadelphia International Airport, waiting for my flight home. As is common with the military, there have been some serious catches to my leaving here and going home for a little while.
First, and most obviously, since I'm no longer working for the Army during this time, I'm not being paid by them. Moreover, at this point they are not providing me with the free health insurance that I need in order to go to the doctors they are telling me to see and getting the lab work done that they say I need to have in order to get back on active duty and do this deployment. Really?
The fickle beast of rationality has once again escaped the Army bureaucracy and so my family is being forced to jump through a series of hoops to get this situation resolved, or we will have to fork out the money needed to get back on Tricare Reserve health care program.
One of the advantages to doing this deployment was it's ability to help increase the cushion of our reserve funds; however, it looks like we're going to have to deplete some of it before getting a return on our investment. On the bright side, I'll gladly pay whatever price to be home with my family and friends. You can't put a price tag on these relationships!
Can't wait to see many of you.
JC