Billet Roulette

Well, folks, it’s that time again. Brian and I have lived in Hawaii for a little over a year, which means it’s now time for us to determine where we’ll be living this time next year.

Brian is approaching his fourth year in the Navy and the end of his second sea tour. This February, he will be moving to a shore duty assignment, a two-year gig that actually means what the name implies: he will have a job on shore, not attached to a ship, not deploying, not leaving several times a month to go underway. This means we will get to live together all of the time like normal adult married humans. This is good news.

Now we just have to figure out where we’re going to live.

Photo courtesy of stromo’s Flickr photostream

For the last year or two, we’ve been dreaming of the awesome choices we could have. Anything in Western Europe would be ideal since we are both itchin’ to live abroad again, and there are sometimes opportunities in Italy, France, Germany, Spain… it all depends on what’s available at the time. Hawaii is also amazing, and it would not be a punishment to stay here another two years. We’ve been eagerly waiting for Brian’s slate, the list of possible billets and their locations, for months now, and it finally arrived last week. And… it’s OK.

It’s a pretty sparse selection of places we are excited about. There are only two jobs in Hawaii, and it turns out the odds of getting a good international billet are much higher if you sign a piece of paper vowing to stay in for a ship’s department head tour after shore duty (which Brian is not prepared to do). We can still put a few of those options (in Italy, France, Chile and Germany! WANT.) down on our list of top 10 preferences, but who knows what our chances are.

There are still a few other domestic choices we would be fine with– San Diego, Monterey, Bremerton (near Seattle)– but it’s hard not to be a bit disappointed with the idea of returning to the West Coast when Italy and France have been sneaking into my dreams lately. I feel spoiled and guilty even being picky when we’ve been so lucky with our location so far, but Navy life has been a bumpy ride at times. The Navy could try to make it up to me by buying me some flowers, a nice bottle of cabernet and paying for me to live in Europe for two years. Is that really so much to ask?

I also feel a little insane because, throughout all of this, I get really sad when I think about leaving Hawaii. I’m happy here. I love our friends, I love our town, I love being able to swim in the ocean in the dead of winter. Two more years of this would be incredible. We could settle in more, and we wouldn’t have to start from scratch making new friends in a new place. But… if we had the chance, I couldn’t resist the temptation of moving to another country and potentially learning a new language. That clever north wind is always trying to lure me to the next adventure.

Ultimately, the final decision isn’t up to us anyway. We put in our preferences, roll the dice and see what the Navy decides to give us. It’s crazy to think that this list will determine the next two years of our lives, but maybe it’s a good thing we don’t have to make the tough decision ourselves. Our final list is due at the end of the month, and we should have our answer by the middle of July. Fingers crossed, let the billet roulette begin…