The land of leis and luaus, of grass skirts and Kamehameha, conjures all sorts of fantasies of beaches and sunshine and happiness. It's where young military couples get excited to be going, but discover soon after settling in that a 600 square mile island doesn't leave much room for escaping a native population that resents you for being there, especially if you have the nerve to take any of "their" jobs; that it costs way more to live there; that an island sounds like an exotic place to live until you realize that you have to get on a plane to go anywhere else; that it's really hard to go visit with your family.
Our son-in-law will soon be stationed there. If he and our daughter are able to connect with their fellow army families as well as they have at Ft. Polk, the first of the aforementioned concerns may not be much of an issue for them, as they have very little interaction with the local populace (such as it is) around Leesville. The second one is probably their biggest worry, and the last one is ours. I'm glad for their sake that they'll at least be stationed with Nic's brother, and am more than a little jealous that Nic's mom will soon have all of her grandchildren near her.
I'm glad they're excited to be going, and hope their experience there is way better than the other people I know who've been stationed on Oahu. But visits with our beloved daughter and grandchildren are going to be rarer, more difficult, less spontaneous, and way more expensive. Schofield Barracks is over 4400 miles from here. At a first glance, we can fly for the bargain basement price of around $700 each, coach class, with two stops. Single stop flights seem to be about $300 more.
If I don't get to see my grandchildren via Skype soon, the expense may be a one-time issue, as I'm likely to kill my daughter when I do see her.
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