Military move less stressful when shared

Local columnist

link Kitsana Dounglomchan

I asked my sponsor at the embassy in India what consumables we should ship with our household goods.

“Make sure you bring toilet paper,” she said.

“Is the curry that spicy?” I replied.

“It’s not for that,” she said, not acknowledging my attempt at humor. “Toilet paper is expensive here in Delhi.”

She listed off other items, and said that everything we don’t buy in the United States we’d have to purchase in the local economy, where the prices are often triple what they’d be back home.

It’s things like this that are making this move to India stressful.

If a military member gets stationed at a normal overseas base, there’s a commissary and BX nearby.

But because Cassandra and I are moving to India, this isn’t an option. So we decided to take a trip to Costco, and stock up on the items we’d need.

I’ve never tried to buy three years worth of toilet paper all at once, but we had to figure out how much we needed in order to last the duration of our assignment.

After using a highly scientific method, we calculated we’d need 450 rolls of toilet paper. We’d also have to buy many other miscellaneous items, all of which would have to fit in the trunk of my Prius.

With our long shopping list in hand, we set off for our supply run to Lubbock. Two hours later, we arrived in the Costco parking lot. I got a flat bed cart and we started walking through the aisles.

We created a teepee base on the flat bed, and then stacked everything on top of that. Razors, shave gel, soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, pasta noodles, and beef jerky.

It felt like we were preparing for what would be the modern-day equivalent of traversing the Oregon Trail back in the 1800s.

After we paid our whopping bill at the cash register, we stuffed everything inside the car.

I couldn’t see out the rear view mirror, but Cassandra served as a spotter and checked my blind spots on the drive back to Clovis.

This was the first time I was thankful for her backseat driving.

We unloaded the supplies in our garage, and are now awaiting the movers to come by and pick everything up.

Every military move — whether it be on a battlefield or on highway 60/84 — requires a chain of command. And Cassandra is like the colonel who’s focused on the strategic objectives, while I’m the sergeant who executes her orders in the field.

Her strengths are my weaknesses, her weaknesses are my strengths. She excels at planning and organizing; I’m good at getting the job done, and together we form a balanced team.

Sure there’s the occasional argument where I try and buck the chain of command, but moving in the military is always stressful.

But it’s a heck of a lot easier when you can share that stress with someone who complements you so well.

Kitsana Dounglomchan, a 12-year Air Force veteran, writes about his life and times for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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