The Second Sojourn

The next day I went to the Hospital to have my ankle checked out by a Podiatrist. He sent me for an X-ray and a CT scan, which revealed that my ankle had a fracture right inside the joint. Apparently this particular type of fracture may never heal on its own, and it's also a possibility that I may never be able to run again. He consulted with another doctor, and they both decided to see if it could be healed by Casting in lieu of Surgery. So he had a cast put on my leg, which was supposed to stay on for 6 weeks. I had never had a cast on before, I had NO idea how annoying it was going to be.

So that was it. I was getting restarted for sure. My doctor kinda saw how I was down, so he asked me
"Have you ever heard anything about Convalescent Leave?" I looked at him and said
"No, what is it?"
"It's where you go home for 30 days to heal following an injury, you need a doctor's recommendation, and approval from your Company Commander, I'm recommending you."

Thirty days of free, paid leave back at my home, over a thousand miles away from Fort Benning. Why not? The only two catches were that I had to get approval from my CO, and I had to pay for the plane ticket. Money was no problem, I had enough. The biggest Hurtle was getting my CO to sign the leave form, he was always busy with training the Company, and didn't have alot of time to spend on Medical Holdovers like me. He had already proven that by waiting two weeks just to act on another soldiers Con Leave paperwork, and those two weeks came out of his 30 days.

So I left the hospital and went back to my unit. My Drill Sergeants took my paperwork and submitted it, and two days later I had my leave approved, I guess having two cases on his desk put alittle more power behind the paper.

I went online to US Airways, selected a flight from Atlanta to Buffalo, put my Credit card number in, and clicked submit.

It told me my credit card was denied.

This being the first time I had ever used the damn thing, I was kinda annoyed. I went to the ATM to check my funds, and it told me my Credit Card was "Invalid". I got the Con Leave recommended by a doctor, submitted to my Drill Sergeants, and approved by my Commander, I had contacted my Mom and I had a place to stay, I was sure I had the money to buy the ticket, but, I had no means to access it. You couldn't possibly believe how frustrated I was. I Called up my bank, and when I told them the ATM said my card was Invalid, they looked up my account and told me that I never had a Debit Card. I said that was kinda hard to believe, as I was holding it in my right hand. I was told to go to the Bank's branch the next day, which I did.

The Drill Sergeants Drove me back to 30th AG, so I could visit the Personal Affairs Office (which is ironically where I now work until further notice) and go to the bank inside of it. They said my card was never "loaded" when they gave it to me, in other words, they handed me a useless piece of plastic with no purpose or value. So I had them "load" it, which was a chore all of itself as they had to look up my account number, contact various people, go through several breaks, etc, etc.

Phew, SO, I walked out with a "Working" Debit card. Great! I got back to my unit, hopped on the Drill Sergeant's Computer, and clicked "submit" one more time. Your account has been locked, please try again. WTF. I seriously felt like I was being asked to jump through hoops of fire just to get a working Debit Card.

So I called them back up, talked to a customer service guy, and had them Unlock my card..... What else could POSSIBLY go wrong? Thankfully, nothing did, I bought my ticket online without further trouble...

So the next day a Shuttle Bus picked me up from Sand Hill (The BCT area of Ft. Benning) and took me to the Atlanta Airport, roughly 6 hours later I stepped off of a plane at Buffalo.

I told everyone I was coming back, except my Girlfriend, I wanted it to be a surprise so I just told her a "Big Package" was coming in the mail, well my mom and her boyfriend picked me up from the Airport, and took me to her house (which is also where my best friend, her brother, lives). Her parents had her go into this little TV room with her back to the door, I walked in, we had her turn around with her eyes closed, and I hugged the crap out of her :D . My friend's Birthday was only a few days prior, so we combined it into a big Welcome Home - Birthday Party. I was kinda sick with Laryngitis at the time, and didn't eat much, but even so...

It was one of the best days in my life.

Mark, Autumn, Everyone, Thankyou...