I could have had a similar story but instead I wasnt able to redeem my Nemstake while I was on active duty orders. So now all I have to show for it is NEmStake on NXT that I cant use. Pretty ridiculous
If I remember ok, during my time overseas on active duty with Marine Corps we always had Internet access regardless how remote the deployment was and ample downtime to take advantage of this access. If you had made any real effort to convert a stake during the 6 month NEM redemption window you would have had both the time & opportunity regardless of military obligations. Pretty ridiculous.