ASK-EM All the Questions

My husband and I love watching shows and movies. I remember this being one of the things we even discussed in pre-martial sessions—how we liked uncovering the “story” together. But the longer we’re together, we also notice and poke fun at each other for little habits, and eventually, our habits overlap.

One classic example is that throughout every movie or show, I ask him questions about the plot. Not like I am making predictions and asking if he thinks such and such will happen or not, but rather questions he cannot possibly answer, to which he always replies, “I know as much as you do, Wife…I have seen just as much of the movie as you have.” Yet, I still ask. And, the more it happens the funnier it is, especially since earlier this week our roles reversed, and he was asking me about a show we were caught up in. I didn’t know any more than he did, and I was sure to tease him about it by stealing his own classic response.

“I know as much as you do.”

Turns out that this little “sincerely asking for more information that you cannot provide” game does not only apply to fictional stories. I do it for our regular everyday life, especially when it comes to anything Army related. All the questions, all the time.

“When is your shift changing?”

“Why did they put this very distracting flashing light here next to the actual stop light?”

“Are you on Panama schedule until we PCS or just for six months?”

“Am I supposed to be somewhere for this [fill in an event of your choosing]?”

And finally, whatever he says and whatever I’m asking, it usually ends up with the most comical of all…

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

To which, the standard reply comes. “I told you everything I know. You know as much as I do about it now.” And I, of course, keep asking questions that he can’t answer.

Happens all the time.

All of that being said, I find it quite hilarious that the new assignment system he will get to participate in for the first time this month forms an acronym of ASK-EM. You better believe I will be asking ‘em all the questions when he comes home to tell me about the 25 choices that populate for him to rank in the Assignment Satisfaction Key-Enlisted Module.

But guess what?

I know as much as he does right now, because he’s already told me what he knows.

It’s happening this month. (And I am not ready for it, no matter how excited he is…) There are going to be 25 places to rank in a system he’s never used before. And that’s what we know. Other than sharing that I found a few articles online about ASK-EM, all I can really say about it is that he’s excited to find out where we’re heading next.

For me, I am sure I will get excited at some point, but I am not there yet at all. I’m not ready to write another PCS story. All too aware of common threads it will share with our other PCS stories—stress, unemployment for me, logistics for our kitties, and giant to-do lists—I am totally fine with this one hanging out in the to-be-read pile a little longer. That’s not quite accurate of a place for this PCS story though. A big part of me believes the PCS story never really stops, so it’s never really done. It just gets rewritten and revised and divided into more and more chapters.

I have all of these things I still want to see, do, and experience because we got to PCS to Okinawa, yet we’ve already taken first steps into the next place. I emailed to ask what, if anything, I need to do for my EFMP status. He’s contacted someone he has worked with before who is now working within “Branch.” We’ve told friends and family some dream places we’d like to go. I’ve counted how many more months I might get to work here (because, dang, I really don’t want to leave this job). And, I’ve allowed myself to start day-dreaming about seeing family again. So, rather than to-be-read, we’re more in the first-draft of the next chapter of the PCS story, I suppose. It’s messy, far from finished, and something to prod at here and there to see how it takes shape.

And, for now…you know as much as we know.

If you enjoyed this piece, you might also enjoy Ten Years Have Really Gone By and Don’t Trick Me—Milspouse Edition.