Are you being medically retired? Do you feel like you’re being tossed to the curb? Me too.

After two spinal surgeries, and possibly more to come, my husband is facing a medical evaluation board and could be retired due to his injuries. We had planned on returning to civilian life in four to six years, not one. But, I figured it was ok; that the military takes care of its wounded veterans.

So far, it doesn’t feel like it. 

My husband started the medical board evaluation process after Christmas. They told him then that it would be about 300 days before he would don his uniform for the last time.

Great, I thought. We have time to pack, make plans for the kids’ school and get our life in order.

Probably not.

Now, his caseworker has announced that we could be done in six weeks or less. She said it with absolutely no care, as if we were planning to order a pizza, not completely reconfigure our lives and move 4,000 miles.

I went into panic mode.

We have a household to move, two toddlers, two more children with special needs and five kids total. He is having difficulty finding a job, not because he’s unqualified, but because employers tend to want to know when you can start. We can’t even begin to guess.

Not to mention, we will be without a vehicle for two to three months with such short notice. Being stationed in Hawaii might be heaven, but waiting for your things to arrive after the move home is hell.

Last week, we were sent to a military lawyer to look over the paperwork.

He could see the absolute terror in my expression and said so.

Then he told me, we didn’t just feel rushed, we were in fact, being rushed.

In years past, he said, the medical board process could take two to three years. Military families began to complain. So, the process was re-vamped and now families are moved through at a breakneck pace.

In essence, they are trying to get us out of the way and on our way as fast as possible.

While I appreciate the info, it didn’t make me feel any better.

So, like a well-trained military family, we are adjusting.

We have begun packing the house and making what plans we have with the undefined timeframe.

We are taking care of us, not the military. And I have a feeling that with the pending budget cuts by Congress, military families all over the world are going to need to start doing the same.

So, while I kicked and screamed at the unfairness of it all for a day or two, it’s time to pack up and move out.

This military life has been an adventure for sure, but it’s time for a new one. And this time our adventures will be set according to our schedule, not the military’s. Finally, I am already starting to feel relieved.