1. Have the house stocked with your soldiers favorite food - Joe and I have very different tastes in food. So I made sure that the house was stocked with his favorite foods. It is easy to forget about this and it is a very nice touch to make sure that his favorites is waiting for him when he gets home. They travel for almost a day, so food in the house is a must.
2. Make the perfect Sign - I searched the internet looking for the perfect sign. I looked at everything from random google searches, Pinterest, to Instagram. I invited Mal over (her artistic talents are amazing) and we made the best sign ever! It even made the front page of the Ft. Carson paper. Having a sign is a great and easy way for your soldier to find you in the crowd.
3. Find a great outfit - It always shocks me that you go to re-deployments and no one is dressed up. Your soldier has been gone for 9months to a year, you would think you would want to look good for him. It's also a place that you might meet his boss and his co-workers. I searched a ton of websites looking for a dress and ended up going with a Loft dress that I found on clearance for less then $30.
4. Bring someone with you to take pictures - I hired a photographer, but you can also just bring a friend to take some pictures! This is a special day and you will want to remember it. You can see some of the photos here.
5. Let your soldier sleep - Joe traveled for over 24 hours and he was tired. This is normal. It's going to be tough to sit there as he sleeps but it will be worth it to give him some time to rest. I was able to adjust my schedule to work really early in the morning so that by the time the redeployment ceremony was over I was exhausted as well.
Re-Deployment is a very exciting and stressful time. Be flexible and just go with the flow.
Do you have any re-deployment tips?
