FRG (Family Readiness Group)

FRG(Family Readiness Group). We had a mandatory FRG meeting the other night, the final one before we deploy. It was basically two and a half hours of wasted time. Two and a half hours I could have spent at home with my wife. Oh, the Army and their wonderful programs. How nice it would be to join the army and do nothing except fight. Unfortunately we have to endure what seems like hundreds of unnecessary meetings and programs. I wonder if the suicide bomber or masked terrorist in Iraq is required to attend a FRG meeting before he heads off to blow himself up. He might not have the time if he also had a equal opportunity meeting to attend, or an alcohol and drug awareness class, or a sexual harassment class, or a class on how to prevent a DUI, or a weekly safety briefing, or a personally owned vehicle inspection, or a drug test, or a risk assessment worksheet to fill out. I know what the ulterior motive is for all of this b.s. It's to piss us off so bad that we can't wait to go off to war. Their efforts are wasted on me, I'm already pissed off enough, I don't need any motivation in that department. I just want to go hang out with my brothers, in all of wars glorious misery, fight the bad guys, and experience an adventure. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so, since my wife and I sat through two and a half hours of useless information that we were already aware of. Do I really need my wife to listen to my CO talk about WIA and KIA procedures and how she will be contacted. I don't know about other guys, but I dont plan on getting killed or wounded anytime soon. It's not like these topics were just touched on either, no, they had to talk in great detail and length about it. If you see two guys walk up to your house dressed in their Class A's, your husband is dead, if you just get a guy in his BDU's, well then, your husband is just wounded, rest easy. Another little bit of information I found to be funny- the person notifying you if your husband is wounded has to be at least the rank of the person wounded. That's nice. I have a lot of privates that are close friends, but if I was a private and got my leg blown off, the last thing I would want is some non-deployable private prick, knocking on my wifes door and telling her I was wounded. Not that I expect a damn four star to do the honors but show a little more respect for the spouse. The CO also told the spouses not to expect their husbands back for at least a year, maybe 18 months. Just what my wife wanted to hear. She's already emotional enough, being that she's pregnant and her husband is about to take off to Iraq, the same Iraq that the media seems so eager to report as a nightmare. Hell, if you watch enough news on TV, you would think the the entire country of Iraq is on fire. I don't need somebody telling her I might not be home for a year and a half. She's well aware of that possibility and dealing with it the only way she knows how, with grace and beauty. They didn't even have enought seats for everyone to sit in. We had to sit on a dirty, rusty cot. The same kind I'm going to sleep on for that year to a year and a half. The same kind I've already slept on for almost a year in Iraq and Kuwait. Thankfully my wife has a good sense of humor, since the meeting provided us with some unique if not twisted entertainment. Nothing quite as funny as listening to some wife ask the CO how long it will take to get the $12000 death gratuity if her husband is killed. Maybe she has some shopping to do. I wish the Army would leave the family readiness to me.