13 Jul
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| It either says "Sink Navy" or "Stink Navy"... |
The Army has a funny way of performing C2 (Command and Control) operations...they come in the form of a “fragmentary order” or FRAGO. Now these FRAGO’s are no joke; the Army breathes and lives by FRAGO’s...if there’s no FRAGO, there’s no action....You want to go to the bathroom at 2pm everyday...yep, put out a FRAGO! There have been a lot of changes made to our processes over the last month, and with changes comes FRAGO’s. Now, I will say that FRAGO’s are generated more as an ultimatum...when you can’t get someone to do something by just saying please. Fortunately for our shop, we work with some pretty compliant organizations, which means we can relay a request and it is usually followed. I think a lot of the compliance comes because they fear the FRAGO.
Today I attended a memorial service for two folks that were killed by an explosively formed projectile (EFP). Back in Alabama we would walk our students through simulated IED lanes and we would always tell the students about the EFP concept. It’s a little different than an IED in that they use metal (usually copper) to cut through metal, so these things can penetrate HUMVEE doors, convoy trucks, etc. They are very deadly and quite popular right now. In the service, they showed a lot of pictures of the two and had various eulogies from commanders, platoon leaders, friends, etc. It reminded me that although we are trying to get out of here, bad guys still want to kill us. I also came to the conclusion: no matter how much evil there is in the world, there would always be sufficient “good” to offset it. One thing that kind of concerned me about the funeral service was that the Chaplain touched on things like the resurrection, but really never associated it with the two young men. I am thankful that I know and understand the eternal perspective.
17 Jul
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| "Lefty" eating a fruit loop |
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| Crabs like fruit loops as well |
One of my biggest leadership “pet peeves” is when someone masks a job or a task with the phrase “a chance to excel...” For instance recently I was approached by Lt. Col Standridge (J4 Trans Deputy), about “an opportunity to excel” by basically being a travel agent for our move out west. I get it, I am the Captain in the shop, lowest on the officer todem pole. Just tell/order me to do something and I’ll do it. Don’t add “a chance to excel;” what, have I not been “excelling” in the previous tasks that I have performed? Rant aside, I have basically set up a small Installation Deployment Readiness Cell (used to run one up at Bolling AFB), where I can track flights, set up cargo load dates, and really take control of this process and keep the Army from “screwing” it up. So, yes...I will be out of Victory soon and after the last couple of nights I am really glad.
Friday I was coming home from work and the gym and as I got to the final bus stop, I heard the sirens. They had us evacuate the bus and hit the dirt. There were probably 4 or 5 “Incoming, Incoming” announcements and I could hear some “booms” in the distance. That was the first time I was outside during the alarms, which freaked me out a little, because I was nowhere near a bunker to take cover. Now when people ask me how I am doing, I reply, “well, I’m not shot and I’m not blown up, so I must be having a good day!” I do this is in jest, but to some degree it seems like you are either lucky or VERY unlucky when it comes to indirect fire.
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| ...You're Welcome Ladies!!! |
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| SOOO much better than the Chow Hall!! |
Last night I got to hang out with one of my Major buddies from CAST (pre-deployment training). He and several others from the J3/J2 staff have a BBQ every Sunday evening to just sit and talk, network with other people, and overall just relax after a hard week’s work. One LTC who was there coined the days in Iraq as “365 days of Monday;” so true!!
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