Another day

So, I sure don't have anything new to update....it's been a while since my last post...I know I'll have some new pictures and I'm sure a story or two in a few days, so please bear with me. A couple of random thoughts...


As you've seen in the news, Secretary Gates visited here recently. We saw his plane arrive here a day or two ago. Kind of hard to miss as it's a big 747 type aircraft that looks like Air Force One with US painted all over it. Evidently his plane really can fill in for Air Force One as a command and control type plane if need be. Anyway, it was also interesting seeing it leave today. As Secretary Gates arrived in a couple of CH-47 Chinook helicopters, accompanied by a few other helicopters. Quite the show.


The end for me is inching closer. A couple days ago I was informed a bit about my departure schedule. I will have to go through at least Bagram, then Kuwait, and eventually BWI back in the States. Probably another stop or two thrown in there. A few days of travelling, but should be back Stateside at the beginning of May. I've also been in touch with my replacement. It's another Marine Corps Captain, who's currently stationed in South Carolina. He's active duty and voluteered for this deployment which are always good things.



Gordon (Team UK) is leaving about 2 weeks before me and Larry (US Army) is going on R&R in April as well, so we're all basically looking forward to leaving soon. We manage to pass the days here largely by 'pissing on' (UK term) one another. Basically poking fun at everyone's quirks. Everyone has a pretty good sense of humor so it manages to keep things moving along. Plenty of those 'inside jokes' or 'you had to have been there' stories, which of course don't lend themselves well to an online post.



Finally, I must comment a bit on my actual job. A basic way to put it is that I do everything 'Fuel related' in theater. I've found it to be an extremely rewarding mix of different levels of work. For example, I do a lot of very menial customs paperwork signing and stamping. Basically stuff I could train a monkey to do. But it has a direct effect of allowing our fuel trucks in or out of the county, so you can see a tangible result of your effort. On the other end of the spectrum, I feel I have a lot of 'strategic level' influence. Meetings with General Officers about strategic fuel posture and subsequent policy. A lot of power point briefs and philosophical discussions; which you seldom see any immediate tangible benefit but which will surely affect future operations. Anyway, I had been begging to get on deployment for several years, so at least when I finally did (and missed significant events at home :) it's been a more rewarding experience than most (that what I would have been doing if I was doing my real speciality of Aviation Logistics).


That's it for now. Promise to have some more interesting material on the next post.