I called it the Red Death lol. I'm cynical like that I suppose... I was a bit lucky cause the second I introduced T into my system it stopped (Well sort of, I started on T one day before the Red Death so I did have to deal with it once...). Nothing sucks more than having to go buy stuff for your period though... Want my advice? Go super early in the morning, like right after the stores opens, grab the biggest friggin bag you can find and buy that. There are less people shopping at like 8am and there are less people at the cash register, also they are so tired they don't care! This is what I did, now I have a stock of the stuff under my sink 'just in case' but now I never have to do that again and I iz happy.
As for the pain I can offer you no advice because I know for a fact nothing works. I took a really bad kick to the ovary area from my horse about 7 years ago and since then (or up until I start T) the pain was crippling. I would just lay in a ball on the couch and miss school because I couldn't move. So I can't suggest anything for that... Eat a lot lol, that's what I did and drink lots of T. Try not to move.... yeah. Sorry, we all know what your going through but it will pass.
Sorry didn't see the military stuff, I can offer no advice on this though =(