Where in the World...

...are Courtney and Austin going to be stationed?

No - don't get too excited, we still don't know either (which puts a serious cramp on my job search), BUT we have more information on our time line!

Apparently next Wednesday, Austin will go through his OLQs, aptly nicknamed 'murder boards'. He will stand in front of a board of instructors who will quiz him on different scenarios and then rip apart his answers. They will also review his answers of questions like, "Why do you deserve to be an officer in the Supply Corps?" and they will review his extracurricular activities since being in Supply school (volunteer activities, leadership positions, etc). His final score will be factored in, like a test, to his overall grade, thereby affecting his ranking in the class.

These rankings are super competitive. The lowest grade Austin has ever gotten on a test was a 93...not bad, right? Wrong. He fell approximately 20 spots in the class, after this test even though he averaged between a 96 and 97 before that. Rankings here at the end are coming down to tenths of a point.

The reason that these rankings are so important is that when the billet list comes out, the Wednesday night of the OLQs or the Thursday morning after, the ensigns are asked to rank their top six choices, and are then matched based on their rank in the class. (For those sorority women out there - it is kind of like Preference round)

In any case, we will be getting the list next Wednesday or Thursday and then Austin will turn in his top six choices on Monday the 13th of April and then we should know where we are headed by the end of the week! Eek!

It is really exciting that this moment is finally upon us after months of not knowing, but I think we are both a little nervous and anxious for everything to work out the way we hope. There are a lot of variables that depend on this location and ship schedule, so the implications are huge. (You know, besides determining what our life will look like for the next two years or so)

Anywho, we just found this all out yesterday, so I thought I would keep inquiring minds informed! We will keep you updated through the process!

In the meantime, I am going to take to wearing my red trench coat and invest in a hat...kinda like this one: