On Deportment

We like "deportment" rather than "deployment."

Here's why:

(I could have sworn I've posted this already, but I can't find it, so... if you've already read it, don't bother reading it again!)

Ranger Man's last deployment was actually about a year and a half ago. That's a long time in Ranger-World. At the time that he left, I hadn't even moved to the Island yet (wow, a lot has changed!). I was still in my interim (between undergrad and grad school) job- the one that convinced me that I needed to go to grad schol. This job was actually pretty great, just not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It was a specialty construction company (as opposed to a general contractor)- and construction companies have their share of characters working for them.

One of the other girls (it was construction- I mostly saw crusty old men all day) and I became friends in the sense that we would go out for a drink on fridays after work and chat during work etc. Although her heart was mostly in the right place, she had lived in this tiny hick town (I commuted to the hick town from the reasonably sized hippie-ville city every day) her entire life and therefore had a limited worldview.

Whereas I had done my undergrad work next door to an Army base and an Air Force Base, studied military-media relations, been engaged to a regular Army soldier and was currently dating (or whatever Ranger Man and I were doing during that year, that's a different story for a different time) a Ranger... she didn't have a clue. I guess I can't fault her for not knowing, but still...

One day not too long after Ranger man had 'left,' she was complaining to me about something her boyfriend had said to her (in person), and how she chose to not speak to him for the rest of the night. Note: This particular chain of thought already made me want to punch her as I didn't even know where Ranger Man was at that point. She asked me where he was (This was when we still called him Ranger Boy)- literally, she asked what my plans were with Ranger Boy that weekend. I said he was "away," and her response was...

"oh, that's right, he's gone on deportment..."

what? deportment?

"um, yeah- he's gone." I did not have the heart to correct her, and plus- it's kind of funny. So I told Ranger Man and now we have all sorts of jokes about hopping the fence... and saying that he's getting deported makes me smile, while saying that he's getting deployed- not so much. Obviously- if there were truly immigration issues it wouldn't be funny... but for now it's funny and euphemisms are good. So I say he's deported. At least to myself.