His ship, the HMCS Vancouver is leaving today for Libya where it will relieve the HMCS Charlottetown. As soon as my boyfriend Gio learned that there was even a possibility that he could take part in a NATO mission he became very excited about the prospect. This was why he joined the navy, to sail the world and gain combat experiences. There is also a financial incentive for sailors to sail into war zones, which was a dangling carrot in front of his face. Essentially his income would be doubled and he would not have to pay any taxes on this pile of cash. For us, two people saving up to purchase our first house, it would have opened up a better class of options. Also my little metal-chaser would have satisfied his need to be close to combat, before settling down and starting the next phase of his training. Though I will never be in favour of my boyfriend sailing for over six months , especially with the remote chance that he might get hurt, I understood his enthusiasm and knew that everything would be okay.
Unfortunately, Gio has been a hot potato between his superiors and his career manager, and his fellow sailors will be leaving him behind on the jetty today. Instead of sailing across the world to confront a crazed, power-hungry dictator, he will be starting a two-year engineering course in order to further his career. According to the zealous career manager that pushed for him to go down this path, he has been hand-picked as one of the rising stars. Gio could not be more disappointed that he has been singled out. I try my best to be sympathetic and am genuinely sad that he is upset. But he and I both know that I am happy that he will be on solid ground rather than dodging missiles and taking leave in Sicily.
To my mind, whatever home we buy will be fine and there will always be another insane dictator looking to shake things up. One of the few things that we can count on in life is new challenges, whether they be in the form of a course, an aggressive regime, or a house hunt.
I agree!!!
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