Maria, how was your surgery? Mine is scheduled for 8/22. We are at Travis and I too am a civilian employee on base (GS). My hubby has 25 in and is hot for Korea right now. If he leaves me he will come back to half the wife he left. That helps me deal with the possibility. Hope you are doing well. Jan

I am mad this morning and shocked. Yesterday my 16 year old daughter who is only 87 pounds soaking wet was walking my 19 month old Jack Russell Terrier and the little girl she is watching (along with her dog, a bulldog) in base housing and the American Pitbull that my neighbors are dog sitting broke his collar and leash and ran after my dog. He pummeled my dog and then pounced on him and was trying to get to his neck but my dog is a squirmer and he got out of his grips and took off running (he can run like an olympic track star) and the dog kept chasing him until my dog got him in the house. Well, the neighbors came over and began apologizing profusely and asking if my dog was okay and I told them he was shaken up but he seemed okay. After they left and I was comforting him that is when I saw all the cuts he had on his front and hind paws and he had a bruise in his groin area that looked like someone balled up their fist and punched him! Well, I got in my car and went over to talk to them and get their info and that is when they told me it wasn't their dog and they are just dog sitting. The wife tells me she doesn't even like the dog, and she has a chihuahua that they won't let near the dog. She said the dog has all of his shots and is nice to people but aggressive with animals. I told them that I tried calling my regular vet and they were closing and couldn't see my dog so we have to take him to the emergency room (which I knew would not be cheap), so they told me to keep them posted. I took him in, they ran test checked his bruises and cleaned him up and said he was lucky and that he had no internal injuries. They gave him shots for pain and antibiotics and when I left their I felt violated...the bill was $191.45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so now money I had other plans for is gone. The neighbors came by after we got back to see how my doggie is doing and they were happy he is okay but they didn't offer to help pay any of the vet bill...they just LEFT!!!! I didn't ask for any money last night, but I need some QUESTION: Is it wrong for me to ask them to pay his vet bill since they weren't outside with the dog (even if they couldn't have stopped him from attacking) and it's not their dog they were just sitting?

Hi Iris, Congrats on the weight loss. We were stationed up at Columbus AFB for just over 3 years. I've been up here at Eielson AFB in the Fairbanks, AK area since Oct 2003. My husband did a year in Korea at Osan AB and joined me in AK in Jan 2005. Our base is on the list to be "realigned"; but it's a major realignment - losing 95% of all active duty, losing all active duty aircraft, and losing all civilians (I'm one of the civilians). With my upcoming WLS on 5 July and the uncertainty of the base, the next few months will be very interesting. Good luck on getting orders, Maria

I've also seen some posts that they consider WLS as not acceptable for active duty. One guy had been active duty, got out, had surgery, and was trying to get back in. He was told because of having to stay hydrated in combat, eating MREs, etc. that his surgery made him ineligible.

They will - you may need a restriction on the kind of abdominal work you can do. My dh was in Korea with a girl that had WLS and joined and was good to go - just had restrictions on ab work outs. michele